Primary schools- Beckenham/Bickley/Penge??

[Mucky72]

Moving to London in April and therefore the utter nightmare of in year school transfers! DS is currently in Yr2 and DD in Reception.
Trying to decide on an area based on good primary schools. Between Beckenham, Bickley and Penge, which area has better primary schools please and what are our chances in these schools given that we are mid year transfers. Does anyone know of any good primary school which has a three form entry and therefore better chances of getting in?

If I were you I would call Bromley admissions before you move. Schools are very oversubscribed in all areas really. Penge has one good school and the rest improving. Beckenham again has some very good schools but catchments are very small and has one or two not so good. Can't tell you much about Bickley but as its fairly affluent guessing schools are genrerally ok. We tried to move our DD when she was in reception and there were no other places at the time! That is a year ago and things may have changed.

No three form in Beckenham. In fact Beckenham/penge is the worst part of Bromley as completely over subscribed for schools.

Marian Vian Primary in Beckenham definitely has a three form intake and while it is still over-subscribed and hard to get into, my son's Year 1 class has had 3 children leave since he started in reception. He left last week (so 4 leavers since start of reception) so there is churn and if you live close to the school you'd likely get in.

Why did he leave TheHappy?

There is a "bulge" reception class in Balgowan this year, check their website, so they can take more children.
Good luck!

We were moving to a different area, too far to continue at the same school. He was heartbroken as is my older y3 daughter. It is a good, well run school, with an active PTA and committed board of governors and both my children have made very good progress while there.

I didn't realise the Balgowan bulge year has gone ahead. I know there was some local resistance to it. A bit out of touch obviously.

Hiya, thanks for the replies. 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!!

Hi Mucky and welcome to Bromley. Sounds like you will be fairly close to us - we are just waiting for the Primary Schools allocations day tomorrow to find out where DD will be going for Reception so I am afraid I can't really help with in-year admissions.

I did visit the first three of the schools you list, however, (we were way out of catchment for Valley for which you practically have to live in the playground) and I can say that I liked all of them for different reasons. St Joseph's is small - single form of 30 per year. It has been up and down over the years in terms of how good it is but since the current Head took over a few years ago it has been doing well. It is also warm and friendly (so far as you can tell as an outsider) but you really have to be a practising Catholic to get in (it is not essential but I get the impression on a practical level you need to becasue of the priority given to this). Of course, that may not apply in-year so you might want to consider it.

I liked Scotts Park too - they had a lovely buddying system for younger children and they also have relatively large grounds which is great. However, they have moved from two form entry to three in the last two or three years and it doesn't look like that is going to stop any time soon because of the pressure on school places in the area. As a result, there may be a need to build over some of the grounds if that hasn't already happened. Also, the school is going to get bigger and bigger as time goes on which you may or may not like. I think this expansion also may have contributed to some of the school's problems with their Ofsted grade. It seemed to come down to communication and problems with management rather than teaching from what I could gather.

Bickley seemed lovely and is a very popular school. As a result, unless you live very close you won't generally get in but, again, that may not be the case for in-year applicants, so definitely worth looking at.

Best of luck with it all and I hope you get a school you like. Look forward to maybe seeing you around!

Hi Mummypig :)
Thanks for the very informative reply. I spoke to Bromley council a few days ago and they told me based on our distance from school we should apply to Scott's Park, Bickley Primary and perhaps St Joseph and Valley Primary too. There is a possibility they will allocate a school to us soon as we would be given preference coming from another city and hence kids being without a school unless they are given a space.
I am also considering Parish school and Raglan. I know Parish has good reports but don't know much about Raglan.
Yes hope to see you around maybe once I move in May. Pls send me a PM if you wish. I can't seem to get my head around how to send PMs or even receive notifications of replies which is the reason it takes me a while to reply!

Hi Mucky, we moved to Bromley north area end of January this year. We applied at all the schools you mentioned which were all full at the time and we were so stressed but because we were new to the the area and reception dd was out of a school she got priority to the next available space. She got a place within 2 weeks from application.
Dd is loving her new school. Just wanted to share my experience. Hopefully will see you guys round

Hi there
We moved to Bromley finally few wks ago. I am hoping the council will get back to us this week regarding schools. More than likely DC will have to go to separate schools as Reception places are like gold dust! There is a chance in Parish CE school but only for one. Super stressed would be an understatement. Besides kids are now starting to go potty staying at home for weeks! We are on Widmore Rd (north Bromley) so if anyone lives nearby and fancies meeting up for a coffee send me a PM. Looking fwd to meeting some Bromley mums.
Mucky