Thinking of moving to camden - can I have some thoughts on Camden School for Girls, St Marylebone Girls and La Sainte Union and any other state secondary schools really!

I know this is an old thread now, but Acland B recently had its Ofsted and it has gone down to a 3 from a 2. All reports I have heard from parents who have had kids there or have kids there currently, are not positive overall.
CSg is massively over subscribed and you have to be living within half a mile to even be considered (unless you are lucky enough to get in on a scholarship).
Parliament Hill Girls is now outstanding (since 2010) and still improving - next Oftsed out to be very soon and everyone watching it closely.
I recently met a supply teacher who covered a maternity post there and she was very impressed with the behaviour, lack of bullying and the overall kindness of the girls towards each other and staff.
However, I talked to the head of English at AB back in 2010 (met him at a swimming pool, with his baby daughter), who categorically said it was a school riddled with bad politics and weak management issues, problems with too many temporary teachers and he would not send his own daughter there.

I have heard that you have to have lived within the catchment area for Camden School for Girls since previous December if you want to apply for a place this October. Does anyone know if this is true and if CSG have changed their admission criteria?

I used to teach at CSG. It was a fantaastic place, inspiring. I would love my daughters to go there (if it is still as good, I taught there a few years ago)Unfortunately we live in Bournemouth so way out of catchment!

BeattieBow, Greycoat is oversubscribed. If you don't live on the doorstep then you have 2 routes in from what I understand. It selects 10% (?) of pupils on a 'language aptitude' test which I think does not take into account - in the first instance - where you live. The second route is the CofE one and you and your daughter would get allocated points for church-type things. You do get extra points for being extra involved with a church but if you genuinely are involved (not necessarily on parish council or similar) then you should score pretty well. There is a requirement to have that backed up with a letter from your vicar but your current local vicar should be able to do that to prove that your involvement dates back prior to a move to London/application to the school. But if you don't go actually go to church then that route won't work very well. By the way, don't worry that it's overwhelmingly churchy - just generally ethos and tradition like special services at Westminster Abbey.

Torriano is considered desirable, not rough. Obviously it's mixed cos it's slap bang in the middle of some social housing, but it's desirable in a middle-class liberal boho no-uniform kind of way.

I know at least one person who had gone private rather than accept a place at the perfectly normal primary round the corner, but pulled her child out of the private school when a place came up at Torriano six weeks into term. It's also a big feeder for Camden girls.

The area around Torriano is probably as close as you can get to being simultaneously in catchment for Camden and Acland Burghley.

With 3 girls and a genuine CofE record, have a look at Greycoat Hospital. Your girls will have to tube it to Westminster/Chelsea but if you locate yourself near a station that isn't a bad journey.

I think you'd probably have to just dive in, inasmuch as nowhere will offer you a place until you have a definite address. In fairness, I don't think there are any primary schools around here so terrible that I wouldn't send my child there. I guess the Y6 child could walk home by itself, so you'd at worst be juggling two sets of pickups. But once you get one in, particularly in a two-form entry school, I'd put good money on places becoming available for the others. Y1 probably trickier than Y3/4 though -- people are less likely to change schools after that age, so if people go private or move away the places often don't get filled, even in popular schools.

I don't know about primary schools closer to teh Camden girls catchment though, apart from Torriano which is meant to be v. good.

If your oldest is going into Y6 in Sept, then now would be the time to do it, as you'll be in place for the secondary transfer thing. Once you've missed that, it really does become more complicated.

Also, which primary schools have you looked at? When we did it, in-year admissions were handled by the individual schools, and I gather now it is dealt with by the LEA, so less flexible. But you could phone the individual schools and see if they are likely to have places coming up? There is a lot of movement in London schools, especially at the top end -- none of the Y5 or Y6 classes my dc have been in have been full, even in popular and over-subscribed schools.

Three, but one of them was already in secondary school so didn't need to change schools. I did have the two younger ones in two different primary schools at one point, which was not fun, but we got over it.

What age dc are you looking to move with? Once you've got one into a primary school the others are siblings so go straight to the top of the waiting list.

Ah yes, that'll be South Camden Community College, or whatever it's called. That's where you get if you don't get offered anywhere else. But having said that, there is a lot of movement in most London schools, so the odds are a place would come up, though not nec immediately. Holloway school is the other one locally that would probably also have places -- you should try Islington and Haringey as well, since Dartmouth Park is pretty much at the boundaries of all three. Marylebone is done on church criteria rather than distance, I think.

It's a tough call. Fwiw places do usually come up in the larger primary schools on quite a regular basis, even if they're full on paper. School secretaries will often know whether someone is likely to leave, though I believe in-year vacancies are now dealt with centrally. If you move back in May/June, I'd put good money on you getting places for September. WE moved in April a few years ago, and were offered places in a range of schools that were initially full. Tufnell Park Primary is nearby, otherwise there's St Johns Upper Holloway, and Hargrave Park, all in Islington.

Horsemad - have you actually visited any of the schools, or talked to anyone with dc there?

There are rough kids at all schools, even the private ones. And teenagers in general can be a bit unprepossessing. Some of the kids that hang around the crossroads outside AB are a bit off-putting, but the school honestly doesn't feel rough inside. Yes, it's urban, and obviously the kids don't have that private-school polish, but that isn't what the school are about. On the whole the kids are lovely, and the school has quite a funky, arty vibe, and is meant to have v. good pastoral care. It was our 2nd choice for ds, and I would have been perfectly happy for him to go there. The catchment area for AB is about 0.7 of a mile for the March offers, so not quite sure whether you could simultaneously be in the Camden Girls and AB catchments. Might be a bit tight.

Beattie - I realised after I posted that of course the Camden booklet won't have details for Marylebone, cos that's in Westminster. Youd' have to download Westminster's equivalent brochure to get the Marylebone admissions policy.

Hmmm.
I live very close to Parliament Hill, LSU and WE. Huge police presence is there for a reason. Acland Burghley is even rougher. Get into CSG if you have to sell organs to do it.

if you move to live close enough to Camden School for Girls you will get in so far as I know - they use distance.

Parliament Hill also uses distance.

My daughter was at Parliament Hill -it had its ups and downs for her, but overall appears to have equipped her well. Now at her second year at UEA, Norwich.

All Camden secondary schools are oversubscribed AFAIK- they just don't have enough school places.

Parliament Hill is a very good school, and would be my pick of the bunch TBH. Teachers tend to stay put there, and there is a good atmosphere amongst students.

If you look at Camden LEA website and download the 'starting secondary school' brochure, or whatever it's called, it will have the cut-off distances for last year's offers for each band.

It will also have the admissions criteria for Marylebone, so you can see if you fit them.

Agree with GypsyMay, Know someone at an academic prep school who has a strong chance of getting into North London Collegiate (finds out tomorrow) but didn't get into HB. No guarantees. Can't help on others, sorry.