Primary schools in Hackney

[fyefoot]

Hello, need some advice. We are in living in Stokey & love it but about to move again and I think we need to start thinking about schools etc. Our DD is only a year so I know things can change drastically but we have seen a good size place on Hackney/Stoke Newington borders but local primary (Northwold Primary) hasn't got a good OFSTED and not rated well on Good Schools Guide, although has a new head and seems to be improving things (slightly!). We have also been looking towards Alexandra Palace but it would mean getting somewhere much smaller. So, I guess the dilemma is do we buy somewhere in Stokey which is bigger with big garden etc but schools not so great (although could change) or look towards Alexandra Palace and compromise on space and outside space? We can't really afford the places round Church Street. Am I worrying about schools too early? I really don't know but has to be said that when we move this time we don't want to have to move again for a long old while. Any advice would be great. Thank you.

[shiftynamechange]

What about Lauriston in Victoria Park?

It's not quite the direction you've been looking but it's a great area, with a great feel.

And the school is truly amazing - creative and nurturing. Masses of school trips, music and extra-curricular stuff.

[Mamonaku]

In Clapton, Millfield's Community School and Rushmore School have good reputations.

There's a good school near London Fields. Forgotten what it's called....Gayhurst?

In Stoke Newington Betty Layward has a great academic reputation and an equally notorious reputation for the pushiest parents in Hackney.

[cluttered]

Hoxtonchick where in Hackney are you and what school is your ds at? We are in Clapton, anyone else from that area?

[madameDefarge]

oh, Umi, thank you for being so brave and sharing! I was a stokey mum, but I've gone cold turkey...I just wasn't intense enough....

[Umlellala]

Ohhh dh hates Olvie loves Alfie. He wants to open the door and shout rude words every time we walk past.

Me, I sigh wistfully and wish I had time to make them clothes like that. If I won the lottery I would so dress them head-to-toe in boho frippery that costs a fortune from there.

Hmmm... micro scooter? check.
Tripp Trapp? check.
Scruffy Maclaren with buggy board? check. (either that or a Bugaboo)

My name is Umlellala and I am a Stokey Mum

[KeithTalent]

Colvestone about to get new head.

[vonsudenfed]

It's that baby shop that sells £300 high chairs and organic knitted cashmere vests that does my head in every time. But I have moved to the provinces now, so I clearly know nothing...

[frogs]

There's a designer kids' clothes shop on Church Street called 'Olive Loves Alfie'.

[vom]

[vonsudenfed]

Interestingly, what I've heard about the Stoke Newington S is that it's very good for girls - results almost as good as Camden High. But the flip side of that coin is that boys, or at least some boys, may not do as well...

I'm ex-stokie too - having moved in when it was full of hippies and impoverished 'creative' types who couldn't afford Islington. That was quite a while ago mind you; but I still come back once or twice a year to see friends and stare aghast at the insanely expensive shops. It was all second-hand bookshops round here when I was a girl...

[smee]

Grasmere's good - it's a sell a kidney to get in school now. Princess May still a bit woeful apparently. Shacklewell good down that end though, and a bit further still into Dalston, Colvestone is bouncing back too.
Stoke Newington Secondary is fab from what I hear. Though 'tis true it's full of BL kids

[MrsMattie]

William Patten, St Mary's on Church St, Betty Layward - all good primary schools in Stokey.

Grassmere and Princess May and that other one beginning with G (mental block..) aren't so well thought of.

We left Stokey a couple of years ago, so that could be out of date by now.

Shit secondary schools, though...

[frogs]

Round our way 'a bit Betty Layward' was a shorthand for slightly feral m/c kids of either gender with straggly unbrushed hair and intense parents.

[smee]

Nope, BL is not me. We're far too common
Am rather amused that the G school has them as parents. Can't imagine they have much time to Uberparent what with the country to sort as a day job.

[madameDefarge]

apologies to smee if that's her school!

[madameDefarge]

Hey, it could be worse....Betty Layward is the bastion of meeja luvvies....

[fyefoot]

They already scare me!

[madameDefarge]

Oh lordy, the Stokey Uberparent...

[vonsudenfed]

I have heard some very funny stories about that school (via friend of friend who was involved), of highly stokey parents turning up and demanding why the food wasn't organic, and why little Jack wasn't going swimming every day like he did at nursery, and having to have it explained to them that, well, there were a few other things that the school had to deal with first...

[madameDefarge]

yes, indeed, smee! And very nice they are too.

[smee]

Is the G you're talking about the one with the how to describe them , high profile married parents, Madame..? Or is the other G?

[Umlellala]

Glad your son is happy now, madame. I don't have personal experience of G (except downstairs neighbour isn't very happy with it either), this was just what I had heard...

[hoxtonchick]

oh. or hoxton!

[hoxtonchick]

oooh, i love hackney school gossip . my ds is very happy at his hackney primary, dd will join him in sept. he's doing very well, fab school. we're not in stokey though....

[madameDefarge]

Well, as far as I am concerned G is not improving. everything that was good about it has been destroyed. the Apres ofsted blitzgrieg has ripped the heart out of that what was good about the school.

All because the Learning Trust was so freaked out at having taken their eye off the ball for seven years.

Everyone who worked there was gagging for an Ofsted to come and sort it out.

And the shame of it is how they came in and blamed everyone except themselves.