which primary to choose in bromley?

[shura]

Hi,

I am new to Bromley and I am considering following three schools for primary education of my DS:

1. Clarehouse
2. Highfield
3. Valley Primary School

I am not sure about positive and negative points of these schools so would highly appreciate if someone can throw their views on what is positive and negative about these schools.
Appreciate your help and time.

You seem to be under the impression that you choose a school - Bromley Council may have other ideas!

The schools you list all have catchment areas of under half a mile, and that could shrink even further next year. Of course I use the term "catchment area" loosely - you'll find that most of DS's classmates are commuting miles to school, but qualified for admission because they're the half-brother of a sibling who several years ago was admitted to the school because the parents used the grandparents' address to cheat their way in.

Also, schools judged "outstanding" 5 years or more ago are now not being fully inspected. A lot can change in that time and complacency can set in. Schools with a less affluent intake are now attracting higher levels of funding and many of them are coming on leaps and bounds.

No direct experience of any of the schools though - we're well within the catchment area of one of them, but because we were late arrivals (and all the places have been taken by people commuting many miles) we in turn have a 3 mile journey across Bromley with DS for his school. This is one we'd never have considered originally, but is brilliantly run, has some excellent teaching and our son is loving it.

Hiya, We are moving to Bromley - close to the Bromley North station towards Bickley end in May with our two children who are currently in Reception and Yr2. We aren't familiar with Greater London at all. This was a sudden job relocation from Cardiff to Kings College in London and hence the sudden mid year transfer to schools. The schools near our place would be Scotts park , st joseph , Bickley , St george , valley primary in order of distance. I have heard good things about Bickley Primary but not familiar with the rest. I am getting conflicting opinions about Scott's Park. On paper and the website the school looks fab and few of our friends have said its good however Ofsted report has gone from good to needing improvements but then again I suppose Ofsted isn't the be all and end all esp if children overall are happy there.
I am just trying to gauge our chances in getting in any of these schools given we are applying now as a in year transfer!! How helpful is Bromley Council?
I am very apprehensive about what might be our chances!! Being such late arrivals I am pretty sure we will be thrown in a school miles away from home and worse still possibly even two different schools.

I really really liked st George's when I looked round. Was interested in the 45 intake/mixed classes. The head is very impressive. The requires improvement should be taken with a pinch of salt (as should Scott's park) - doesn't reflect the school but the fact that they've relatively recently been inspected - harder to get a good.

Scott's park was hit because of governing body/perceived weaknesses in senior leadership team. I think st George's had relatively recently had a new head and high staff turnover.

Bickley v oversubscribed. As is valley.

I just spoke to the council and they advised us to apply to Bickley, Scott's Park among a few others and we may be quite close to the schools. Also we may get some preference as our children are moving from
A different city so would technically be without a school in Bromley unless they got one soon. I think both Parish and St Joseph are good. However still not sure about St George's where we would be top of the waiting list! Has the new head there turned things around and is it a much better school now compared to what it was during the last inspection?

I can only say that I really really liked st George's when I looked round and the head was approachable and great.

I tame ofsted with a massive pinch of salt. They were ofstedded having had a tricky time of it, under the new framework. I don't know of any schools locally that have managed to improve their ofsted rating under the new framework, and from what I can see, most have been downgraded from a good to a requires improvement.

Their results are good.

I was looking as I recently applied for a reception place for ds2 and it occurred to me that while sibling rule would get me into the schools that dd and ds1 attend, I should at least look at others. I love the school they're at (incidentally, a requires improvement ofsted school with worse ks2 results last year, better expected this year) but if I had been inclined to move ds1 to facilitate school runs, st George's would have been ideal. As it stands though, ds1 settled and happy and ds2 got a sibling place.

It seemed a happy and well-organised school with a good head. Grounds are a bit small and sloping. Inside is cosy and well maintained. Liked the 45 intake/year group arrangements.

Does anyone know anything about Parish CE Primary school? just moved to Bromley a few weeks ago and Parish might be one of the schools which will be given to us for one of our DC, don't know where the other one will go to as Parish might only have one place if at all. This is based on what the council told me.