Choosing a primary school EN1

[User1288]

Hi,

I am looking at primary schools for my 4 year old. Honestly, the main priority has been the opening times of breakfast club so I can get to work on time (whilst also being a half decent school!).

I live in EN1 so my closest schools are Worcesters, Carterhatch and quite possibly George Spicer if they take slightly further afield than the last cohort (we are 0.95m in comparison to last year's furthest 0.77).

Now this might sound insane but I wanted to put Grange Park as first choice and George Spicer as second. I'd be over the moon if she got in to any but GP is better in terms of me actually getting to work and the school seems lovely. I am obviously very far away! Enfield have not published their furthest distance but the school advised they have a 'few EN1' kids. This could mean anything (siblings, SEN, LA etc). However, it gave me hope that there MAY be a chance to get in.

Anyway...would you put GP as first choice and potentially ruin the higher chance of getting in to GS? Or would you put GS first?

As for the rest of my 3 choices - no clue. Any advice would be good! And thanks if you got this far

Hi there. See pages 19 20 of the admissions booklet: new.enfield.gov.uk/services/children-and-education/enfield-primary-admissions-2021-information-for-parents-education.pdf

You’ll see at the footer of the table that describes how offers are made, that Grange Park is one of the schools in both years where all applications were accommodated. I.e. It wasn’t oversubscribed so was able to offer to all that put it as first choice or was the highest up on their list after other schools higher up on their list were taken out where they weren’t offered a place.

I don’t have any direct experience of GP but understand it’s not often oversubscribed as it has a large intake. So it has a lot of places to offer and quite a few people are put off by the size of the school so ergo it’s not oversubscribed.

I don’t personally know much about the school but hear it’s well regarded even if it’s not the most sought after in the area.

What I will say is that you put the schools down in true order of preference. Because that’s how the system works. They will match your application to criteria and give you the school as high up your list as possible. Ie if you don’t qualify for your first choice they will offer you your second, if not the second the third and so on and so forth.

So if you really want GP then put it first. As if you put a closer school first and were offered it, you’d be taken off GP’s initial list and if you then decided you actually really wanted GP, you’d have to join the waiting list and might find yourself behind other families who live closer.

On previous intakes I think you’d have no issue getting into GP if that’s what you want. School offices can always be a bit cagey about admissions, particularly if they’re initially undersubscribed on offer day. As they’d not want to advertise that.

Good luck. Must be tough making choices this year when you can’t tour the schools in person.

Wow thank you so much for your detailed response. This has been really helpful as I have clearly misunderstood the process. I am grateful that you have taken the time to explain this to me properly.

I will put GP first as the online tour seemed quite good - a lot of effort put in to it. And results seem decent. More importantly, a 7:40 breakfast club which means I may just get to work on time.

Do you have any experience with George Spicer? It seems like a homely school (despite how large it is) and has a 7:30 start. However, I do worry about traffic on Southbury Road and the A10 which might be avoided going down back roads if we get accepted in to GP. I know this shouldn't be a priority with school selections but needs must...

You’re welcome. Afraid I don’t know anything about George Spicer. We are on the other side of the borough.

Maybe try posting in the primary section of the education board? Think they get more traffic than here.

Good luck.