Churchfields primary school

[Chiod]

Hello!
we will move to Beckenham soon and we will be within the catchment area of Churchfields primary school. I can't find much online... Any opinions?
PS. My child is in Reception in another primary school and he seems happy there, so I don't know what to do...

Does church field have a space is what you need to find out. If they don't then whether you are in catchment or not you would have to join the waiting list and wait for a space to come available.

The best thing to do is ring Bromley council and find out which schools have vacancies. They are sometimes reluctant to give this info out or alternatively ring the local schools and find out directly. As I'm sure you know many schools are oversubscribed especially in that area. I know Harris Beckenham have spaces, brand new school and good reviews from current parents.

Thanks for your message. I called the Council but they can't do anything until I legally own the place. There is another school nearby (Balgowan), but Churchsfields in much closer and it seems like everybody tries to get into Balgowan. If they can't, they will have to opt for Churchfields

Yes they can't do anything unless first you have moved and second you have taken your child out of their current school. Balgowan is very popular and without a doubt will have a waiting list. If church field have no spaces then they will offer you a school that has space closest to your house within the borough.

They didn't mention anything about taking my child out of his current school... I just wanted to find out what parents whose children go to Churchfields think of the school... I will try to have another look online...

Just giving advice on how admissions worked as was in a similar situation.

Hopefully some churchfield parents will come along soon to give you some feedback. We are quite fortunate as the majority of the schools in the Bromley borough are good. Of course some better than others which probably reflect on the catchment.

Good luck with it all

thanks!

Welcome to the 'hood!!

Churchfields has a great local rep (my DC1 will start school in Sep '16 so I've been researching - I allegedly live in the Balgowan catchment but predications for this year are a little unsettling).

The general view is that people are put off by the fact that it's next door to the tip but actually, once you get into the site, you'd never know. Everyone says that. Their results aren't as good as some other schools locally but are impacted by their inclusion unit and that doesn't affect the day to day progress of children in the mainstream school.

I know a few people who already have children there and a few more who've put it as first choice. All are confident it's a good decision.

Thank you very much for your encouraging message. As you said the tip can be off-putting :)
Do you know if it has been recently inspected? (The last inspection was in November 2013 and as it wasn't great, it should have been inspected within 2 years)

They were subject to an interim inspection 6 months later (it's on their website) which said there were good improvements but some areas still to be worked on. Word on the street locally is positive!

Oh yes, I saw that... I was wondering if they were due for a proper one soon.
Thank you so much for the feedback (especially because my younger one could go to nursery there too in September). If you can think of anything else, please do post it!

I think you will find Churchfields has shot up above all the other local schools in Beckenham:

here

You need to visit - the grounds are fantastic, they are developing a Forest School, have a very wide range of enrichment clubs, lovely community feel.

It does not have kerb appeal as you can't see it from the road at all!

School vision: