School advice please!

[Lilybutton71]

Hi there- we are hoping to move to Cardiff in the Summer and would love to hear people's thoughts about which are the best primary and secondary schools within a five mile radius of the city centre. Additionally, how have people that have moved to Cardiff found it in terms of settling in etc- any views or advice gratefully received! Many thanks :)

Are you looking at a particular area?
Be aware a lot of the best schools its very competitive to get in. Being in catchment not always enough.
Cardiff is great though. Loads going on.
How old are your kids?

You definitely have to live as close as possible to the school. Cardiff Council publish the greatest distance that pupils got in the year before on their website in the pdf "starting primary school". My DD goes to Lakeside and we've found it a warm, friendly school. She's made good progress. Rhydyfelin and Ton Yr Ywen are also excellent. I live in Cyncoed. Good train links and a few handy shops and good places to eat, but there's not a community venue (except the Discovery). Safe and nice area though.

I think pinkpanther may have meant Rhydypenau rather than Rhydyfelin!

In all honesty, Cardiff is a pretty small city so 5 miles from the city centre in any direction will almost take you to the very edges of Cardiff.

Good high schools are Cardiff High, Radyr Comp, Whitchurch High as well as faith schools Corpus Christi and Bishop of Llandaff. Most of the primaries that are catchments for these high schools are good (but not all of them).

Look at Rhydypenau, Lakeside, Rhiwbina, Whitchurch, Llanishen Fach, Lisvane, Ton yr Ywen, Radyr, Bryn Deri as a start (although not all of these feed into the high schools I mentioned, some feed in to Llanishen high which while not the worst would not be one I would pick).

Are you looking at any particular areas?

I can't help with schools yet I'm afraid.

I moved to Cardiff on my own 10 years ago for my job. I absolutely love it here, I consider it home now. There is always something to do,no matter the weather. It is easy to find your way around, decent roads and public transport in my area. Love love love it x

i did mean Rhydypennau. Llanishen Fact is good too. What are you looking for in an area? Whitchurch is a nice village, Rhiwbina a garden Village, Lisvane feels more rural and has a very active community. I live near Roath Park and that's great for kids. I loved living in Penylan too but that's rubbish for trains.

You can also look at Welsh schools of you want your children to be fully bilingual. There's loads of options.

Thanks so much for your responses- all your comments are really helpful and will definitely help inform our decisions! We like the Roath Park area but are open to looking at other areas depending on availability of houses, schools etc- kids are 14 (going into year 10 in sept and likely to be very unimpressed when she finds out about the move!) and age 4 so starting in reception in September - so quite a lot of people to try and please!!

Roath park should get your oldest into cardiff high. But do check distance as towards penylan its the edge of catchment. Roath park primary supposed to be good, as well as lakeside and Rhydypennau are apparently two of the best in city. There is a lovely welsh school but given you have a 14 year old that might not be practical.

This is quite outing, but I live in Roath. Feel free to pm me. I have a daughter who will start reception this year and a baby

I guess where you end up living and which primaries you'll go for will be decided by which high school your eldest will get in to.

Assume you are aware you missed the deadline for this years applications. Could mean waiting lists or similar?

I am worried we will be up against it a bit due to missing admissions deadlines so hope to get on the case this week to try and get an idea of what may be available- and yes you're right about needed to be led largely by which secondary school we can get into into- a bit of a catch 22 as without an address at the moment will that affect our chances of getting a place- fingers crossed it won't!!

We have to reply to high school offers by the 15th when they will then start the 2nd round of allocations. I reckon you'd be best waiting another week or two and the council may have a better idea of what's available. Right now they're still in the midst of allocation hell.

Actually, ignore that, just realised you're looking for a year 10 place so year 7 allocations make no difference to you! Oops!

I just get my DD enrolled in Roath park primary school and we are moving into Cardiff next month. We are really lucky to get it and it took lots of work as well.

Space in any good primary schools in Cardiff are very limited. I started with a list of 14 "good" primary schools based on the good school guide at beginning but was told by council that none of them had the space. My DD is 5. There are schools always have the space but you do not want to send you kids into.
Famous ones like lakeside, I was told that they currently had 10 kids on waiting list for year R. Other good ones also have waiting lists but the situations keep changing so I kept rang the council in year transfer team about twice a week for 3 weeks and finally got the space.
I would suggest you to phone them asap with a list of desired schools. Cardiff High is the best secondary school but you need to be close enough so probably need to rent then get your kid into the waiting list and wait. Primary schools in this area are very good, such as lakeside and you could consider Malbourough and Roath as well. it seems easier based on my experience.

Thank you so much- this is really useful information- we are a bit stuck in terms of when we can move which is basically mid August so need to try and figure out how to get into decent schools asap really without even having an address yet!! I have printed all the admission forms off to complete this week and was wondering if it's worth ringing the local authority too so good to know that's worked for you - Albany, Roath park and lakeside seem favourite at the moment and Cardiff high as you said- hope all goes well with your move- thanks again for your response :)

Lol! Thank you for your response- I have been waiting for allocations to be finalised as looking for a reception place too so hoping some kind soul at Cardiff Council will give me an idea of what's left in reception and year 10 and then into attack mode!! :)

One piece of advice regarding reception allocation is tour the school you want and get to know headteacher, this Is how my dc got in to my preferred school after a move. The headteacher told me he had a space available in reception whilst the council told me there were none. Ring the council every day, legally they have 30 days to reply to your appeal with reasons for refusal, if they miss this you have legal recourse. We managed to get dc in one of the school listed above

Hi any views please on Kings Monkton school for a year 10 entry, in Cardiff. All others full cathedral, St John’s . Movingvto cardiff in summer and looking for a mixed, independent school to start GCSE!! Would really appreciate some opinions! Thanks ladies

Hi,
Looking for comments on Westbourne School in Penarth?

NEED HELP!!

My daughter has got a place in Llanishen High and Radyr comprehensive school. I am not sure which school has a friendly environment and good in academics too.
Any suggestions or experiences ?

Appletart2308 100% Radyr Comprehensive for academic achievement. Can’t comment on either in terms of School friendliness though. Radyr has a fantastic reputation in Cardiff for pupils academic success where as Llanishen hasn’t always had a good reputation. Although I have heard Llanishen have made a lot of improvements in recent years. Personally though I’d go with Radyr. Good luck with whatever you choose though 😀