North Croydon Primary Admissions

[CronxyMum]

Anyone fancy a chat about primary school admissions?
We're in North Croydon/Crystal Palace and are looking at primary schools.

We've been to see a few primaries and wondered if anyone has experience of: Downsview (really rated the school and head), Cypress (worried about it becoming an academy), David Livingstone or Heavers Farm. Any others we should look at?
Rockmount is great but no chance of getting in

My kids go to David Livingstone and up till last year it was fab. We have a new Head and management team, plus virtually a complete new faculty and at the moment it is in flux.

I'm not saying that it's bad, just that it is a very different style and ethos and they haven't really found their feet yet. Some of the changes I like, some not so much (getting rid of half the TA's has gone down like a ton of bricks).

I would visit if I was you as I'm not 'fresh eyes' as I've we've been there for almost 8 years and a big change is always a shock to the system.

BenLinus Thanks for sharing. I'm hoping to visit soon as it's the only one form entry around and DS is quite shy. The results and extracurricular stuff looks good on paper though cuts to TAs is worrying. Which changes are you happy with?

My daughter is at Downsview...We love it!
As an aside,I've worked as a teacher with the Step academy.
Not a great experience.
Academies are for-profit organisations & from a teacher's point of view not nice places to work...
Things might look impressive from the outside but it's all a gloss. They are more like factories than centres of open, progressive & real education.

Interesting Muse Cypress is being taken over by Pegasus. Do you know anything about them?

I am wary of academies but there is very little choice here as they're all being taken over!

Good to hear positives about Downsview. Is the head as good as she seems? Why is it undersubscribed?

I like the change in homework. They now have reading, timestables and spellings that are specific to the work they are doing that term, then they have a project to complete every half term. It's more specific and means we don't have to plough through vague worksheets that neither I or the kids knew how they were supposed to complete.

I'm also happier with how they are dealing with DS3 who we suspect may be dyslexic/APD. Far more pro-active than before.

I'm not surprised to hear that Muse - Step seem to think they are running a merchant bank rather than primary schools. I really don't like the corporatization of the school. All the men now have to wear suits and ties which I find absurd and the administrative side of things is frankly shit at the moment. This is probably because the stalwart of the office, who had been there a bazillion years, retired last year.

Being one form entry is nice. My husband rarely does the school run but did the other day and commented on how all the teachers seemed to know all the pupils names even if they weren't in their class.

My first choice would be a toss between Downsview or Rockmount but we're not in a cat in hells chance of either.

Glad to hear positives about Downsview as I really liked it and the head. We're nr to All Saints so should sneak in if it remains less popular.

Any others I should consider? Cypress looks nice but seems to be some upheaval after the second ropey Ofsted.

I'm also looking at Crown Lane soon though the playground by the main road puts me off.

No idea about Pegasus but yes generally the whole commodification of education is scary!

It's hard though because choice is becoming a rare thing and while I was pleased Downsview is not an academy, you never know what plans are afoot!

The whole Step(ford) approach is odd. I did rate the former head of DL. To be fair not sure what it's like with the new head but it's unbelievable the amount of TAs they've lost (across the academy)...Where is all that profit going??

As an aside, I was in a school last week and it seemed even the drinking water was not free to all! On the water machine was a list of children who had paid and so could enjoy it! Others had to get their water from the tap. So weird. Some kind of water privilege!

Not sure why Downsview has been under subscribed in the past...I find the head really approachable and like her energy. From a parents' point of view, it feels very positive. They are really keen to get parents involved too and I find communication good.

All the best 😉

Thanks Muse. The water thing is awful - talk about knowing your place. So much for social mobility...

Looks like we've got a few good choices though I'm still keen to know more about the current situation with Cypress and the Pegasus group. Any further thoughts/advice welcome!

Hi all. Dd recently turned 2 and were thinking primary schools already. We live around 750m as crow flies from rockmount (off fox hill). 18/19 catchment data shows furthest accepted was around 850m. Are our chances very very low? Would there even be any point applying to Paxton?

Many thanks in advance.