Advice on Hampstead schools

[BeMellowHelper]

Hello! I'm new here and looking for advice on good options for my two DDs schooling. We are from SW London and moved to NYC 7 years ago. We have just made the decision to move back to the UK (to the Hampstead area) and will do so in the next couple of months in time to start school. I have been in touch with Camden Council who have been helpful in informing me of the process but I would love some insight into Haverstock school vs Hampstead school and whether there are other state secondary schools in the area that I am missing? My 11 year old will be starting year 7 and is pretty sociable, hard working and really likes extra curricular activities such as school play, crafts, dance which they are big into here in New York - they seem to be there too based on their websites?? Feel free to manage my expectations though. My younger daughter will start year 4 and there seem to be many good state options. Any that people are particularly happy with? It is a strange situation to be applying for schools with no reputation or word of mouth to go off!

Is he starting year 7 this September? Because if so you've missed the application process so it would be wherever there is space.

Dd went to parliament Hill lots of drama etc opportunities
Pays plenty private extra curricular activity in camden eg stagecoach. Camden arts centre. Jw3 etc etc

My DDs went to Camden School for Girls and they're doing well there. Lots of music and performing arts. Would be hard to get a place for Year 7 though. It is further south than Hampstead, we are in Primrose Hill and my DDs went to St Paul's primary which was excellent.

Hampstead School is in Cricklewood. I’d imagine you won’t be in catchment for it and Haverstock. They are miles from each other! (Sorry, I don’t have any useful knowledge about either). People seem very keen to get their DDs into Camden School for Girls, and Acland Burghley has a good reputation too.
Good luck with the move.

Do you know the area well? I'd be slightly careful and make sure that you check out the area for the property you rent carefully. Hampstead, West Hampstead, Queens Park are all lovely. Most bits of Kilburn are not and they are often described as "West Hampstead borders" on the blurb.

Hampstead school is much better than it used to be, we moved out of the area about 10 years ago and when we visited it had a metal detector in the reception area! I wouldn't send my children there personally. My friends who are still there send their children to Camden school for Girls, one went to Parliament Hill school and a couple of the catholic schools - which you can only really get into if you're catholic.

When you move back, I'd really recommend getting a tutor for your daughter over the summer, as she'll be behind for English and maths. They often test at the start of year 7 and then set and behaviour tends to be less good in the lower sets.

I think you need to come over and look at them. It's going to be a case of you get what you're given as you've applied late. But if you really dislike an option, you can always home school for a bit until you get a better one. People move in and out of London so frequently, that there is a lot of movement in school places. Some don't even turn up on the first day.

Hi I'd recommend getting a school advisor to understand the school dynamics in these parts of NW London, I'd also consider subscribing for the paid version of locating where you can find all the data about the schools in one place. Both schools you mentioned have rather large catchments of 2-3 miles on the national offer day and the actual catchment as of Sept will be even larger. there is a multitude of reasons for this but the main reason is that Hampstead and certain parts of West Hamstead have very specific demographics (depending on the area in Hampstead you get a high proportion of foreign middle-class professionals, generation wealth locals, and HNWI who tend to send their kids private for Secondary and this, unfortunately, sucks out resourceful families out of the state system so some local state secondary schools have a rather poor reputation. It might be worth visiting the schools and getting a feel of it as a starting point. Camden School for Girls has a decent reputation locally but they have a small catchment, check the admission rules on their website. Any particular reason you'd prefer to move to Hamstead? if you are renting, id certainly consider renting in other areas for state secondaries.

This is very helpful. Thank you so much

Thank you!

Yes good point about estate agent descriptions. They like the term 'hampstead slopes'

I know not the exact same area but there's a wonderful group called NW8 Mums and the founder also does education consulting work (and is a lovely person) if that might be helpful. Good luck!
https://www.nw8-mums.com/
https://www.maguseducation.com/en/homepage/about/our-consultants/