Crystal Palace secondary schools & clubs

[Tournesol]

Hello everyone,

Hoping you can help! My sister lives in New York but is hoping to come back to the UK (to their existing property in Gipsy Hill) but probably not before the summer. Her eldest son is 12 (13 in October 2015) and she is very worried about getting him into a school as she cannot apply before they are actually back in the country.

Like everyone in that area she loves the look of Kingsdale, Dunraven and Harris Academy CP, does anyone have any experience of getting into these schools? Can anyone offer any hope?

Also if her son didn't get into any of these (at least initially) what are the likely schools that he might get a place at and what are they like?

Final question: What is life like for a 12/13yo in Crystal Palace? Is there lots to do, clubs to join etc? He is into music, climbing and comics.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[sydenhamhiller]

Hi there, my son is 11, and year 6, I think 2 years below your nephew.

We live in Sydenham Hill, so not a million miles away from your sister (our GP is at the bottom of Gipsy Hill).

We've just gone through the secondary allocations and we looked at Kingsdale and Harris CP.

Kingsdale is our closest secondary and about a 15 minute walk from us, but because of the lottery system it was a bit of a long shot, and we ended up going down the grammar route.

We also looked at Harris CP, and had both kingsdale and harris on our list of 6. I think looking at schools can be like looking at houses, and sometime a personal 'feel' as much as a rational one... so I know lots of my fellow school hate parents had very different reactions to the same schools.

As you nephew will probably be entering year 9, he might be lucky and get a place as someone has moved.

I think the best thing would be to visit all 3 schools, see which one you like, and talk to them about the likelihood of getting in.

Otherwise, in terms of the area - lots going on, crystal palace sports centre has a climbing wall and a friendly climbing fraternity.

Hope your sister and family have a smooth return.

[Tournesol]

Thanks so much for the reply, that is really useful!

I think it is the uncertainty that is worrying my sister the most, not knowing where her son will go, especially if it is an in term application.

Great to see there are good climbing facilities nearby though.

[Tournesol]

Bump?

[Beloved72]

There is always lots of movement at schools over the first couple of years so if your nephew joins a waiting list he may well get in, even to an oversubscribed school. My daughter got a place in year 9 to a popular school in the area through a waiting list.

You might want to look at Forest Hill Boys as well as HCP and Kingsdale, as it's not far from CP. It's well thought of.

[MMMMMaria]

CP sports centre has amazing diving classes if your nephew like swimming. There's also fencing if I remember correctly. Usual things like climbing walls, scouts, cadets are all in the area. Grammer schools are also nearby if thats a route they'd like to consider. Lots of good schools so tell them not to panic!