Need suggestion - I'm planning to move either in Bromley, Petts wood or Orpington. Which primary school shall I consider?

[astha02]

Hi everyone,
My family and I are planning to move to the Bromley/Orpington/Petts Wood area and are currently looking to rent a home near a good primary school. We’re aiming for an in-year Reception admission, so we’re trying to decide which school catchment to move into.

We’re currently considering the following Outstanding-rated schools:

Crofton Infant School (Petts Wood/Crofton)
Perry Hall Primary School (Orpington)
La Fontaine Academy (Bickley)
Warren Road Primary School (Orpington)

I’d really appreciate any local advice on:
Which of these schools you recommend (and why)

I don't have experience of any of these schools. Hopefully someone will come along who does.

Just for more general information, for in-year admission, outstanding schools will likely be full, with a waiting list. This means that you would be very likely to not be offered a place quickly. In fact, you may be waiting quite some time for a place and may need to have an alternative that is not fully subscribed. It may be worth calling the council to find out which schools have places. This will change over time, but could give a good indication of where you'd likely be successful.

Why do people always assume they can waltz into an outstanding school mid-year? The classes are very likely to be full. Call the council and find out which schools have places and go from there.

You seem surprised that not everyone has an intimate knowledge of the school application process.

Given that a lot of this kind of information ends up being passed word-of-mouth rather than through any easily obtainable or reliable guide, why is it so surprising to you that some people don't know everything?

Or is it more of a faux-outrage, meant to show off just how much cleverer you are?

If you have a child, you should surely be in the loop with these things 🤷‍♀️

For in-year applications, catchment matters much less than there being a place available. There are 2 basic situations:

1. The Reception year is not full to PAN. In that case, an application from anywhere will work, and you will be offered a place even if you live 40 miles away BUT you will usually only have 1-2 weeks from the offer to start in school.
2. The Reception year in your desired school is full to PAN. You will be offered a place in the nearest school with a place, and can ask to be added to the waiting list. The waiting list is kept in order of the original oversubscription criteria eg siblings, distance, faith if relevant. If distance is the main oversubscription criterion, to give yourself the best chance of reaching the top of the list at some point, you need not only to be in catchment, but as close to the school as you can possibly manage.

To give yourself an example of this in practice, we moved to a new town when DD was just about the start Reception, too late for the main application round. DS was given a place in Y2 (which was not full) when we lived 40 miles away; DD was 24th on the waiting list. He started on the day we moved. DD became a sibling of an existing pupil, so moved up to 3rd on the waiting list. We provided proof of our new address, a few streets away from the school, and she was briefly top of the list, then moved down to 2nd when another family with 2 children moved in literally across the street from the school and gained a place for their elder child. Over the next few weeks, 2 places became available and so DD was admitted. It’s worth mentioning that no other places at all became available in that year group until Y2, as sometimes happens.

Unless someone is moving to the UK from abroad, then if its a mid-year place they are looking for, they have already gone through the application process in the area from which they are moving. So it is not showing off how clever one is to expect that the OP in question - generally, not just on this thread - could at least have a little look at the schools application section of the LA they are moving to.

(Re the always expecting to walk into an Ofsted Outstanding school bit, its amazing how many people, even arriving from overseas, claim to know nothing about the area, but somehow know which school(s) they must have and which - usually the one they are likely to be offered - absolutely wouldn't be suitable for their DC).

They're all very different schools:

For example - Crofton is a 6 form entry school which feeds to the juniors next door. Perry Hall is 2 form entry. I can't remember if Warren Road is 3 or 4 form entry.

All have good reputations.

As PP has mentioned when you move to the area you will be offered a place wherever there is one available. You can then go on the waiting list for the school that you want and move schools if/when a place becomes available. In general places are more likely to come up at the larger schools. Waiting list criteria are published by the school. Usually it is looked after, ECHP statement, siblings and then distance. There may also be a children of staff option. I don't think any of these have a faith criteria.

Usually places open up in Y3 as class size increases to 32.

Open days for reception happen at the start of September so might be with booking into a few. Some of the schools also have virtual tours from COVID times available

Rental properties are hard to come by in the area as the rental market is quite competitive so that may impact your choice too.

I know Crofton best as that is local to me (wouldn't guess by the username!). It has a great reputation. When our neighbours moved in with three children looking for places they first got offered Southborough Lane, they said it was ok but stayed on waiting list for Crofton, I think it was two terms and as they were quite close to the school got the places before some who had moved earlier and were on waiting list longer but lived further away. So do check the oversubscription criteria for places as if it is distance then this may be important.

Perry Hall is also nearby and also popular, both Crofton and Perry Hall seem to remain oversubscribed despite the lower birth rate as some are moving out of central London to the area for the schools so we are slightly less affected by falling numbers than some areas.

Crofton some find it too large but they manage the size of the school well by splitting the infant site from the junior site (literally next door and you get automatic entry from one to the other at the transition stage), they have language and music programmes that some schools just can't do as they are too small. They also have good additional needs facilities.

Perry Hall is seen as slightly more nurturing bu think that is due to the smaller size, the reception classes still do nice things like having animals in the classroom (chickens and the sort).

Can anyone please shed some light on Warren road primary school. It too seems to be sought after. However it is being identified as academic school. Can someone please elaborate from their experience of the school please. Your input will be much appreciated since we live in a different borough. Many thanks

@KKIy i have a friend who moved close to Warren Road for the school, they had to wait about one term for a place for one child and another term for the second child and the logistics of going to two schools about four miles apart was a pain for that time. They’ve been very happy with Warren Road. Eldest did excellently in the secondary school grammar entrance tests this autumn but think a lot was not just the school but the parents too, like most schools.

Former La Fontaine parent here

I think it’s a great school. Well resourced, good SEN provision, decent (enough!) trust managing the whole thing. The only thing lacking is a really good playground and grass for the kids to run around. The field is out the back of the school and they need to be accompanied to use it. But from what I understand other schools can also struggle with this.

If you can book them in, go for tours of your shortlisted schools and see which one you like the feel of. When we did our reception tours way back when I had a gut feel for which schools I liked.

Even though secondary is years away for you, unless you plan on moving again for a place I would consider where you might want your child to go and finding a house that’s in catchment for that as it’s much more competitive.

Bromley generally has very good schools, bar a couple which have a poor reputation so you can’t really go wrong.

Many thanks Petts wood Paradise for sharing this

Many thanks LFAParent for sharing this