Primary: Croydon - any recommendations?

[madamez]

Other than Parish Church because I am not sending him there, what are the other community schools like?

Is that your nearest? If so then Howard is meant to be better than Duppas.
A lot of the East Croydon/South Croydon schools tend to be over subscribed so your location is key.

I appreciate that it may be some years away but you may need to think about which senior school you are thinking about and work backwards. The reasons that some familes try for Parish is that most kids go on to St Andrews or ABT.

IME, you don't really have many choices in Croydon. From where you live you will have a choice of say up to 3 local schools, and you can see which are the good and which are the not so good simply from the application numbers. Eg in East Croydon it is easier to get into Oval, hard to get into Park Hill, South Croydon it is easy to get into Purley Oaks, harder to get into St Peters.

I was thinking of Waddon Infants as that is pretty near. Not worried about senior schools (DS is only 3), and someone mentioned Lanfranc as not bad.

Waddon infants is merging with Duppas. They have had falling numbers for a while, as they are rarely people's first choice.

If you are close to Waddon Inf and Parish then you would have a chance to get into Howard.

Go and look round Waddon and Howard but bearin mind that the Waddon/Duppas merger may mean that things change.

Why not Parish out if interest?

Ofsted wise Parish has an "Outstanding" ofsted for infants and "Good" for junior, Howard has a "Good" and Waddon and Duppas are just "Satisfactory"

Are you near the border with Sutton, and have you considered the primary schools there? (I don't know much about them, but it's another possible option for you).

I think you're making religion into a bigger issue than it need be. You're not going to get away from it in an ordinary state primary, it's just in a different form. And you might find C of E preferable to standing around in a circle in a public park singing about the sacredness of non-existent deer... or similar generalized spiritual woo-woo...

Isn't Parish Church "outstanding" according to OFSTED? Is it the religious stuff that you don't like?

You could always consider moving close to one of the primaries that feeds into Riddlesdown - that way you get primary and secondary sorted in one fell swoop (although you'd have to avoid Selsdon primary......).

Moving house is unfortunately not an option (low income household and the horrors of trying to find a new place to live that will accept someone on HB is beyond me), and I have a strong ethical objection to state funding of faith schools. Not only are they socially divisive but I think the way some people pretend to be superstitious to get their DC places is pretty toxic for the DC ('It's wrong to tell lies but hey, we did')
So it looks like Waddon/Duppas or Howard (though there are shedloads of schools on the list the council sent me, will be looking at all the ones that are accessible by tram/bus)...

It's really not true that you can't get away from religion in an ordinary state primary, IME. My dds' school is utterly secular. And utterly wonderful! but not in Croydon, I'm afraid, so no use to you.

Oh, I agree re faith schools (which is one reason I suggested moving).

You will find this a headache come secondary though - the best secondary schools in Croydon are all faith schools (bar Harris which has a lottery).

madamez, if you live between the Purley Way and South End/Brighton Road, then your options are Parish, Howard, Waddon inf/Duppas Junior, and possibly Kingsley though that is further north and Regina Coelis if you are Catholic. Depending on how close you are to the Purley Way then you may have the option of High View and Beddington Park which are in the LB of Sutton.

There are shedloads of primaries in Croydon, but it is a large borough! When LB of Croydon looks at applications priority is given to children with SN, siblings of those at the school and then any first time children are considered on the basis of walking distance to the school. It is rare that anyone is allocated a school that is over a mile from them under the distance rule. It is also very rare for anyone to cross over the South End/Brighton Road boundary as the East Croydon schools near it tend to be oversubscribed. So whilst you may be able to reach some of the other schools by tram/bus you only have a chance of getting into a school that far away if no-one else wants to go near it. Eg the one exception to the rule that families don't cross the Brighton Road is Purley Oaks school.

If your child has SN then of course it is a different ballgame.

DS is NT (and at the risk of attracing stone-throwers, often described as advanced for his age). We live a few minutes from the Purley Way, close to Wandle Park so it sounds like our options are Howard, Waddon, and I should look into High View or Beddington Park as we might be close enough to Sutton.

(so, does that mean Purley Oaks is awful?)
Thanks folks.

Ooh, I used to work at Parish Church - briefly, unfortunately, as we moved abroad. It was a very nice school to work in and I can't remember the religion thing being overly prominent.

I think that parents who live close to Purley Oaks will usually try to aim for the 3 very good schools in Sanderstead (Gresham, Ridgeway, Attwood) or one of the church options.

I think that you need to consider what sort of environment you want for your son. I'm clearly missing some of your other threads, but it seems that religion is very important to you. But that it simply one aspect of school life. You have a month or so left of this term - I would look around each of your 3 closest schools incl Parish and see what you like. If nothing else it will give you an opportunity to consider what it is that you are looking for in a school rather than merely the absence of religion. For example the adult:child ratio varies significantly ime, as does the amount of times outdoors, the amount of outdoor space, the turnover of staff and pupils (though obv you need to ask this), the breadth and depth of activities available, the age, gender and ethnicity of the teachers as well as their experience and enthusiasm. FWIW I found it to be a very hard decision to make on paper but much easier when I went to look around the schools.

IMHO school should be somewhere that enspires children to learn rather than just forces in information. You know your ds better than anyone - have a look at the environments and see which one inspires you. I would look at Parish as well if only because if you do see things that you like about it some of us here might be able to point you towards similar schools with those particular attributes (and hopefully without the CofE aspect). Dare I say it it might even have some positive aspects that, given the selection available, might mean that you could live with the CofE aspect.

I can say that without fear that I'm putting you into a dilemma because I think that one of the generally shared views is that the church schools in Croydon do well because they attract the right sort of parent - not that the parents are religious, but that they are motivated to get into the right school and want to ensure that their children thrive at school. Generally the keen and interested parent will make up for any lack on the part of the school. So other schools may in fact be better schools with more inspiring teachers etc, but Parish and its ilk appear to "do better" on the back of the strength of parental involvement.

In terms of ds being advanced, the main thing to think about here is what his age is. If he is a Sept/Oct born then you do need to consider how he will be accommodated within the school. If on the other hand he is summerborn then whilst he may be advanced he may not be more advanced that the Sept/Oct born ones in the same class - if you see what I mean?

I don't know how strict Parish are about religious observance - madamez, not being a church-goer may knock you too far down the list of applicants to get in anyway.

There is a big shake-up going wrt to secondary schools at the mo, so forward planning in that department may not be worthwhile anyway.

I know a primary teacher who was very impressed with Howard when she went to look at it.

I agree with LadyMuck that you should take a look at all of the schools, including Parish, just to get a clearer idea of what is out there and how it corresponds to what you want. If your son is bright you may be better off with an unpretentious ordinary state primary that does its best for whoever goes there, and has a good reputation for special needs, than at one that appeals more to aspirational types. My younger children's primary school (in Streatham, so no use to you I'm afraid) fits that description and has, by and large, suited them well. Quite often there are threads on here about inflexible reading schemes and other such policies at the more up-market state primaries. And, as LadyMuck has mentioned, many of them ride on the back of heavy parental input and even tutoring.

I have taken a quick look at Parish's admissions criteria and suspect QueenMeabh may be right about you not having much chance - there wouldn't appear to be a limit on the numbers within the local church/other Anglican/other Christian criteria, which may not leave many places left. I don't suppose secular humanists come within "those who have found a different way to God", even if you do believe in a bit more than us unprincipled atheists...

I will be looking around schools over the next few weeks: for the moment my thoughts are that if the school seems happy and a pleasant place to be then it will do fine for DS.
At least two other families I know have DC at Parish church despite being athiests who didn't pretend not to be - apparently 5% of the places are given to non-Christians and the applicants are chosen by the council. Basically I think they choose on proximity to the school.
But like I said, I don't approve of state-funded faith schools, so won't be applying for a place there. I think I will give Sutton council a ring though and find out if we are near enough to apply for schools in that borough.