Lympne primary school?

[saltyann]

Hi there
We are hoping to buy a house near lympne/Hythe and our closest primary schools will be lympne, saltwood, palmarsh, St augustines and Hythe cofe. Does anyone have any experience of these schools that they can share?

Many thanks
Sally

Hello!

My daughter goes to Hythe Bay CofE and it is a lovely school. It's so much freer than her last school which I like. Originally, she was going to go to Palmarsh as it was the only school with a place when we moved here last year, but a place came up at Hythe Bay just in the nick of time. That's not to say there is anything wrong with Palmarsh as we loved it, it's just that it is 3 miles from our house and we wanted to walk to school.

I have not visited any of the others but, anecdotally, Saltwood and St Augustines seem quite highly regarded although I have heard that they can be strict and pushy. But again I don't know any of this from first hand experience, just hearsay. I don't know anything about Lympne I'm afraid.

One thing I would mention is that if your children are already school age you are unlikely to actually get a choice of where they go initially, as there probably won't be spaces. But you can put them on the waiting list for a school you prefer and if you're lucky, like we were, you may not be waiting long.

Hope that helps! :)

All of them are pretty good . St martins in horn street is lovely too but parking is hard
What is important to you in a school ?
Results ? Pastoral care ? Feeder school ?

Thanks lucky
Yep, am pretty resigned about not getting a choice as my DS is to start reception this year so it we will be treated as late applicants by the council. Ideally we'd love to be able to walk to school too.
In terms of what's important to me in a primary school, onthebeach, I would say pastoral care ranks highest when they are so little. Ideally a small friendly caring school.

a friend has a child at lympne and is very happy with it
It burnt down a couple of years ago and the whole community and people within education rallied together to rebuild it . It was heartwarming
Not sure if it has a learning mentor but I've heard the staff are lovely
I think for your DS social life , which is important , it's good to stay local

I agree. If all the schools are good, go for the closest you can get. Makes life so much easier for playdates etc.

The only one we have direct experience of is Saltwood and I can highly recommend it.
The head is very dynamic and it has a great community feel.

Religion is important though, so if you don't want your child exposed to that on a daily basis, I'd steer clear.