London secondary's

I went to an inner city east london comp, graduated 2005.

I did v well academically but would I want my son going there? No, no, no.

I’m in north London & very central. The catchment area for secondary schools is quite big. We get to put 6 schools down on the list & all 6 of mine were outstanding. I know that we’re very lucky, my preferences were mainly linked with SEN provision & wanting a casual approach to uniform or no uniform, I’d have really been happy with any of the schools I put down.

Sorry!! Realised I posted in the wrong chat.

I hope you get some good advice and good luck.

It's really hard to generalise.

Have a look at your local secondary schools, what are the Ofsted ratings likes? What are the secondary aged kids you see around like?
I live in an area where there has been quite a lot of gangs but actually we have a lot of good and a couple of outstanding secondaries. The ones I looked round seemed to have a really nice bunch of kids and very positive creative atmosphere. Obviously this isn't the whole story, but friends' children seem happy, and actually the problems I've heard of tend to be more typical teen ones - social media, eating disorders, than gangs.

Also in many ways London is a great city for a teen to grow up in.

Yes. Didn't think about schools when we moved here (pre kids). There are plenty of great schools in London but our local one is.. not one of them. Feel worried that a lot of peoples lives will be made tougher by a recession and things like crime/gangs will increase

Hello!

I live in Hertfordshire and looking at Independent schools for our son. Can anyone help with what the entrance exams were like-and the interview process? Which papers did you study for and what kind of questions they may ask? Any tips are greatfully appreciated.

We did worry about it and moved to outer London near very leafy comprehensives. But our son has mild SEN, is academically weak and will almost certainly be placed into lower sets. I am sure though that most of his friends will do ok at the inner London comp that would have been the alternative near our old house, but they do not have the same issues as him.
Of course we don't know how he will do at the comp near our new house but we wanted to give him the best environment possible to thrive.

Quite a few of the families we have met over the years at primary moved out of London for secondary. But quite a few are also staying.