Primary Schools in Brentwood and Chelmsford

[maggie75]

Hi

We are looking at making the big move from London, my DH works in Essex, so the above towns and their surrounds make sense.

Ive been trying to suss out the good primaries as DD will start school in Sept 2012, but there seems a lot of church schools and not much else that looks any good.

Can anyone shed any light on which are the primaries to look at? I dont mind a church school but we dont practice and it seems that Essex church schools do expect attendance and involvement in the church (which is fair enough!) - but there seems to be an awful of them ... help!

I recommend Stock Cof E as an excellent school. We are not religous and do not attend any church, so don't worry about that side of things.

Boreham school is very good but you won't get in there unless you are in catchment as no-one has the last two years. It's not religious although our excellent vicar visits occasionally and there are end of term church services for the children and parents that want to attend.

Hi there, Mountnessing C of E Primary is worth considering as it is an absolutely lovely school. It's got a "good" Ofsted report and does all sorts of unusual things the children love (like Forest School). It is small (15 children per year intake), but not oversubscribed due to an abundance of church schools nearby. The children are brilliant, the Ofsted report graded behaviour as "outstanding" and rightly so. My daughter went there and we loved it! Very good facilities, too, like a big site and a massive sports field. And it is a feeder school for the Anglo-European school in Ingatestone, which is a very good school and you would be guaranteed a place there!

Billericay good for schools as well. mine are at Buttsbury, which although very big, is excellent.

I don't think that going to church/regular attendance is in any way, shape or form, a deal breaker with getting into a primary school in Essex, whether it is a Church school or not. Catchment is the biggest criteria, siblings, looked after children etc, but not Church attendance. So if you find a school you particularly like and it happens to be CofE, I wouldn't particulary pay any heed to this. I have never been asked about church attendance. It doesn't even come up. However, RC schools may well be different, as they are few and far between. Good luck with your research, I hope all goes well for you.