Whitstable and Joy Lane Primary school

[Uphill]

We are moving into the area and Joy Lane will be our local primary school - anyone have any children attending the school? What's it like? Are you/your kids happy with it? Are there clubs? Do children get the opportunity to learn a musical instrument? Is it a friendly school? The website looks quite corporate to me, no colour in sight! Also, it looks like the kids have to wear ties as part of their uniform which seems a bit unusual for primary age school children. Anyway, I'm trying to keep an open mind and would love to hear from anyone with first hand experience of the school - both positive and negative.

I would also love to hear from those of you from London who loved everything about where they were but moved to Whitstable to get more for their money. That's us basically, such a hard decision to make. How was the transition? Do you miss London? Are you glad you moved?

Thanks.

I am sorry I am not able to offer any help other than to say we are in exactly the same boat and both excited and nervous. We are moving into the town but only Joy Lane has places for my two girls (reception and yr 2). I have a few friends living in Whitstable but no one seems to know much about Joy Lane as most of the DFL families go to schools in the town centre.

We currently live in Dalston, Hackney and our girls go to a lovely school with a good community feel and they encourage art and music. We visited Joy Lane and liked the feel of the place - child led topic learning, enthusiastic/creative teachers, and supporting and encouraging children. But not sure what it would be like day to day.

Where are you coming from? Moving to? What ages are your children?

Hopefully some of the local mums will have some advice for us .....

PS I hear nobody really regrets the move out of London although the commute into London for work can feel hard in winter

Joy Lane has a fantastic reputation and is just about to have a three-form entry at Reception. I have plenty of friends with children at all our local schools - including Joy Lane.

The people I know at Joy Lane are on the whole very happy and impressed. Every week I use their on-site swimming pool for my toddler's swim classes. I believe they have a policy that no child leaves Joy Lane primary school unable to swim. The children's SureStart centre is amazing too and very supportive - especially to new families.

One reason more and more local parents are going for Joy Lane is that it's a Primary school so once your child is in they will stay there until Secondary school. For some parents, they prefer the security of this rather than the infant schools and then having to re-apply for the junior schools age 7 in town.

One nice Joy Lane story I heard from one mum this September was that her child was crying in the playground about leaving her mummy. The headteacher came out of her office, walked over, gave her little girl a hug and carried her into school. That's a head who cares.

Be careful about many comments on our local schools. So much has changed in the last two years. I'm doing the tours just now and you'll be hard pushed not to find a good one. It's all down to personal taste. There will always be pros and cons. Whitstable is a fabulous place to live and I'm sure you and your children will be very happy.

For other newcomers, see St Alphege, Westmeads, St Mary's, Endowed and Whitstable Junior school.

Good luck!

@EastKentMum

As for your comment on people moving into the area. There's loads and loads of newcomers and a fantastic network for families with young children. Over 50% of my friends have moved from London and Whitstable is a very welcoming, creative and family-friendly town.

I have to wake up and pinch myself every day that we made the move.

Thanks so much for the info on Joy Lane. We are going back to Whitstable today and hope to call in to see Joy Lane again and finalise things with our house. All being well we will be there for January!

Hope the visit goes well today!

I know this thread is old but just wanted to add Swalecliffe Community Primary School, Whitstable to the list of potential schools for future searchers.

Hello, we have just looked at a house on sceptre way so joy lane would be the nearest school for us. Is that a nice school with good results and is that a nice part of whitstable, thanks.