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Secondary education

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Original poster

Secondary schools North London

31 replies

stilllovingmysleep · 03/04/2015 13:07

Hi all, we're looking to move from near Golders Green, more to the north e.g. High Barnet, Hadley, Whestone, Friern Barnet. We're thinking ahead though towards secondary schools in the wider North London (Barnet / Haringey) area and it all feels mind-boggling to me.

I would appreciate any suggestions in terms of:
--secondary schools that you would recommend and what they're like (e.g. Compton / Friern Barnet school / East Barnet school / Totteridge academy / Southgate / JCOSS and any others)
--secondary schools that you would AVOID
--and whether you would prioritise, at this stage (my son is year 2) a nice area e.g. High Barnet village rather than a good-school catchment area.

I'm concerned that we may make a choice based on school and not area, and feel miserable in an area we don't necessarily like...and schools do change a lot in 5 years. So what would you do? Selective schools would of course be another option as there are quite a few very good ones in North London (Latymer / Dame Alice Owen / QE Boys) but of course that's a risk as it may not work.

OP posts:
LePetitPrince · 05/04/2015 23:00

In Barnet, the catchment areas for any school you would want are very small indeed. If you look at the Barnet council website, they have an excellent brochure with all the distances per school outlined (except where they are selective and then the council is mute on how many even live in Barnet!).

The situation for JCOSS is that it has Jewish feeder schools that are miles away from the school resulting in kids being transported long distances. However I believe that is probably going to change to be more like JFS.. I am no expert though.

Original poster
stilllovingmysleep · 05/04/2015 22:41

Hi all, thanks for this info, it sounds quite worrying though! When you say 'feeder schools' do you mean particularly primaries nearby? Do those children have priority compared to others who just live within catchment? And when you say 'tiny catchments' that too sounds worrying as for secondary I always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that catchments were much larger than for primaries? Confused

OP posts:
Cantdecideondinner · 05/04/2015 22:26

I would also go for JCOSS but current admission arrangements mean that after siblings and feeder schools there are very few additional places. There's the new Archer Academy in E Finchley but that's also looking like having an absolutely tiny catchment. If you fit the criteria for JCOSS then JFS admit by lottery and has hundreds coming from Barnet but it's also massively oversubscribed and that's unlikely to change given that despite their drop in ofsted ratings last I heard they are currently sitting on over 20 Oxbridge offers.

LePetitPrince · 05/04/2015 22:16

Mill Hill County as a complicated entrance criteria, with a very tight catchment area of about 1 km if memory serves me correctly! East Barnet and the Wren are no better in terms of needing to live on the doorstep. Unfortunately the Borough of Barnet is very badly served for non-selective schools, which surprises many who know its very successful selective schools. But none of these - QE boys, Henrietta Barnett, St Michael's - restrict their admissions to children of the borough so you get no advantage whatsoever by living in borough.

JCOSS is meant to be good, but has no track record given it's so new. But the word on the street is very good.

You mention the Totteridge Academy - I would avoid as it generally doesn't fill the places it offers every year. There was a recent year where they pulled the 6th form offering at very late notice as they didn't get enough applicants with devastating results for those already enrolled.

If you meet the criteria for JCOSS, that's the one I'd go for in Barnet.

Original poster
stilllovingmysleep · 05/04/2015 08:06

Thanks MN164. That's amazingly small catchment indeed Confused!

What about East Barnet school & Mill Hill County? I like the look of the area between New Barnet station & Oakleigh road station & wonder what it's like? For the moment, we're focusing our search on East Barnet & High Barnet, so any advice would be great.

OP posts:
MN164 · 03/04/2015 14:46

Dame Alice Owen has a comprehensive intake too, along with the 11+ intake.

See if you might want to live inside the amazingly small catchment area?

www.damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk/documents/admissions/map_allocation_places_2012_2013_2014%20v2.pdf