Hackney schools, nursery and primary, HELP!

[lique]

I find it very difficult to choose a nursery/primary school (if there is a choice!). My son can stay at his private nursery until he turns four (Nov '05). I am going to visit Colvestone, Gayhurst, London Fields, Princess May, Queensbridge and Shacklewell. Colvestone, Shacklewell and Princess May seem in our catchment area. Any advice which is best, when to start him at nursery to avoid too many switches, how big is your chance to get in to primary if your child is already in that nursery?

Gayhurst is great, i know the head so I would say that, but it's very active and well motivated.

Being in the nursery of a state school in Hackney has no bearing on whether they get a place in the reception class. So i left my children at their independent nursery until they started reception, which worked fine for us.

Hackney does all admissions centrally now, so you have to choose three schools in order of preference, they have a booklet with gives you a lot of statistics about the schools and their entrance criteria. It's quite useful as working out which order you need to put your schools to ensure you get a place in one you like is quite hard.

I teach in Hackney but not at any of the schools you mention, so if you need any more info post a message.

Thanks for that, the only problem is that my son will be kicked out of his independent nursery the day he turns 4 (great service for a NHS nursery..)An then I am stuck until he can start in reception. Gayhurst is probably the least likely we would get into because they seem oversubscribed and we are out of the catchment area I think.... Since you work in education in Hackney, which of the schools I mentioned would you not go for? Is Princess May as bad as I heard?

My children are at a Hackney school, but not any of the ones you mention.

Don't know people with kids at any of those, but used to walk past Colvestone regularly and they seem to have quite a mix of kids with a middle-class contingent as well.

I know people who live v. near Princess May and definitely wouldn't consider it for their children.

In the absence of first-hand information, I would try standing outside the gates of each school at home time a few times, and maybe at drop off time in the morning as well, and see whether you like what you see, and can envisage sending your child there. And read the ofsted reports and visit the schools, obviously.

lique, i don't know much about Princess May, except that it's under subscribed (not a good sign) and is advertising for a new headteacher (also not a good sign). Both Colvestone and Shacklewell have pretty good reputations with Colvestone having a slight edge.

Good Luck Choosing.

We have two local schools and we chose the one that everyone said was weaker as it seemed to have a more individual attitude to the children. This year most of the parents i know have chosen the same school we did, so reputations can change quite quickly. Visit as many schools as you can.