North London secondary schools - faves please!

itssquidstella oh a local with insider knowledge-pins you to mat...

Is there something specific about the drug problem at AB you could tell us. I mean I know all secondary schools in London will have drug problems, but is this something larger? Funnily enough the only open drug use I’ve seen locally is children dressed in school uniform smoking in the local play area. Drug gangs is more scarey but I thought the gossip was that the local gangs targeted the
Private school kids more for that now-less likely to be found out.

I wonder what AB boys are doing outside school at 5pm? Do you know the kids? I’m never sure what child is what out of uniform and out of school time. But I’m not phased by groups of teens hanging out with their friends , maybe I should start!

Sorry, I should elaborate. I don't have children there but I know there is a problem with drugs, and there are frequently gangs of boys hanging round outside at 5pm ish.

itssquidstella* that’s interesting, it would be great to get an insiders view of the school.

Have your children been bullied there?

What makes you say that itssquidstella? Do you have children there?

I would avoid Acland Burghley, it's rough.

Haha Cracking I didn't know that about the PAN, my head was not in a secondary school place in 2013 but even then I knew we were well out of catchment. And unfortunately DD1 didn't turn out to be a musical genius (unlike our friends' down the road). And am v v happy with the alternative though we will have to sit tight on the waiting list to get it. Next Fri (next Fri!) very much the starting gun not the final whistle for us!

Where is that overinfested icon when I need it? [ant]

So...they used to have a PAN of 112, maybe pre-2013?

Yes, I know Camden have made it harder (not impossible if you’ve got cash) to cheat the system and the catchments have expanded because of this. DD doesn’t want to go there even though we are possibly in catchment but I’m still over-invested!

Hmm not as far as I know - it's been 120 for as long as I've been aware. The offer distances did go up after Camden (council) started really cracking down on fraudulent applications a few years ago, but they seem to vary quite widely within each band from year to year. So last year band A was 0.80 miles, band D only 0.35. The year before, it was band C that had the furthest reach. Genuinely cohort-dependent apparently. Not an issue for me as we're well out of catchment but I do love a school entry stat!

Thanks @Zinnia.

Yes, that makes sense. There are enough secondary school places but not necessarily at the “right” secondary schools! I do wonder if Haverstock will sort itself out in the same way as AB seems to be trying to.
Have CSG quietly taken on a larger PAN? Just a few more girls per year?

Just pooping back to share an update on this @Crackingeggs - Haverstock have reduced their intake because they've been undersubscribed for the last 3 years if not longer (this from a governor of the school). As has Regent High, in fact, though I don't think they've cut their intake in the same way.

Haverstock benefited when AB was in trouble but now the pendulum has swung back the other way. So there's clearly still an oversuppply of secondary places in Camden, but inherently those places are in undersubscribed schools. Obvious, but of course that won't help oversubscription in the others.

On the other side of the borough there will also be Camden kids heading to Barnet schools (SMSJ in Hendon is very popular with church primary families, for example, and that's a new school in the last few years) so it could still all even out. The Harris Academy just over the border into Westminster will now be attracting those who might otherwise go for Haverstock or UCL... there are lots of variables. But as you say we will just have to wait those 3.5 weeks (and the rest, not that I'm counting, you understand) to find out!

I think there will be fewer secondary school places in Camden next year. Haverstock has reduced its intake.

I’m not sure what effect this will haves on the current y5 and y6 cohort.

Islington put on bulge classes when the current Y5 needed reception places. This helped out Camden residents whose children didn’t get a local Camden reception place; A number of Camden children took these bulge places as they were in schools near the Islington/ Camden border.

I suppose we will have to wait until March to find out how much Camden secondary boundaries have changed.

Hi Zinnia,

There won't be any capacity in Harringay for example, all the schools are heavily oversubscribed. There are only 2 schools which aren't oversubscribed one is a girls school with a large muslim intake from outside of the area and one is a Christian school. There is going to be a very long wait for a lot of parents. 2 families I know who are yards outside of the local school are still waiting for a school up there road, they have both had to go to schools much further out and have not been offered a place as other kids are also moving into the borough. Its going to be a white knuckle ride!

@Crouchendmumoftwo yes this Y6 is the year that - when they went into Reception - had 50 unplaced children in my borough on offer day. The LA opened up a bulge class to take most of them, and they all found places in the end through the usual moving around. A friend whose summer born DD still had no reception place in September that year, despite applying to their 6 nearest primaries, got a place about 2 weeks into term at their first choice, closest school. My guess is similar things will happen this year, with the difference being there should be capacity in the secondary school system to accommodate everyone. I for one will be holding my nerve after 1st March ...

Henrietta Barnett has about 30 applicants per place

Yes this year 6 is a big bulge year and next year is too - although not as big as this years. A head told me there are 2 classes of year 6 children extra looking for places that don't exist. It's going to be very interesting to see what happens. Im on the cusp of a catchment and we are in a very difficult position as we just may not have a school at all!

As an ex employee and parent at Fortismere .... Well, I think you need to look at your child! It does not suit every child! No point asking other people and reading Ofsted reports!

I'm not sure about data (you may get somewhere by Googling) but I do know that the current Y6 was a big year, and the boom continued through to birth years 2010-11 but then drops off. There are empty places in current Reception-Y2 across N London, nearly all schools in Camden (my area) affected by this. Am assuming this pattern repeated in other areas. Current birth rate data indicates it's picked up again since 2014 and places likely to fill up again in the coming years.

@crackingeggs where do you think can get data of which years are the high birth years? it looks like in North London the current Y4 was high birth. On the other hand from anecdotes and also school allocation results, I know that the Reception year in SW London had low birth rates. is there any source that provides a hint of what is coming for future years?

There are always those who will not even consider a state school regardless of how good it is, so that attitude does exist. Additionally, it's fair to say that school kids rarely mix with other schools unless they do outside activities, like cricket or scouts - regardless of whether the school is private or state.

But I disagree that state school kids are worried about knives! There are so many schools in London where this just doesn't happen - Fortismere, Alexandra Park, the Archer, JFS etc. There may be issues in certain areas and that's awful of course.. But move out a little to the burbs (Highgate and North) and it is hard to find a school that is like that.

Just wondering because we are very early on in school years, but do you think north London schools in these areas are negatively affected by the huge number of seemingly amazing/full on/insane private schools? I just remember that Starbucks in Hampstead on the hill being overrrun by private school kids (channjngs, ucs, Highgate, etc etc) there seem to be so many private schools in the area!

Do the two systems ever interact, is there snobbism, rivalry? We are from the area and currently seconded away, tbh it put me off coming back for schooling as having such a two tier system where one is costing 300k per child and the other worrying about knives is bonkers.

Unfortunately i have tended to meet much more of the ‘of course we would have killed to get little Seb into The Hall’ types, so forgive me if my questions seem ignorant, this is the first thread I’ve seen talking about good state schools in the area. I’d love to come back to a good state school (was Mansfield road area) so this is all so helpful.

Just going through the same thing here, N19 and anxious... we visited COLA Highgate Hill which is very near us, and absolutely hated it. There is no way we'll send our DS there, but the options we think we like (Acland Burghley top of the list, Highgate Wood, maybe William Ellis, Fortismere) are all far enough away that we're on the fringes of past year cutoffs.
We are in a position where we will home school while sitting on waiting lists if we have to - but that would be last ditch!

If you are in N19 I think you are in the catchment for Latymer. It’s selective but not as fiercely difficult to get in as Henrietta Barnett because there are more places. It’s co-ed and seems to be a happy sort of place.

BARNET (my typing!

Barber has Compton, Archer and Wren (all good). Henrietta Barnett down the road.

On the selective side - Henrietta Barnet, QE Boys and school buses put on for Dame Alice Owen.