Primary school allocations - Bernards Heath

[HenriettaJones]

Hi, I live a mile away from Bernards Heath, fairly near the Abbey.

My DS has recently been allocated Bernards Heath and is due to start in Sept.

I like the school but it is our 8TH nearest school, and will be a bit of a trek!

It would be great to meet other families who have children starting Bernards Heath in sept, who also live this end of town.

To families with younger children, do your research before applying for schools! My situation might seem bad but I was one of the lucky ones!

We live nearish to you and our DS1 started last September (DS2 will start September 2010). All of the families in our immediate vicinity have also been allocated Bernards Heath this year, though those just one street over (who put Bernards Heath down as one of their 3 choices) have been given Margaret Wix, so there must be some kind of zoning going on. At the moment the parking at the school isn't bad, but I fear it will get a lot busier from September. We should really get some carpooling going on as we now seem to be a Bernards Heath area. It is a lovely school

It's great that there is a community of us! My road is all Aboyne Lodge and Abbey kids so it's been a bit hard to take! But I do like Bernards Heath. Are you pleased with it? What were your actual choices?! And which nursery did you use?

(By the way, I can't drive so we'll be walking!)

We are very please with Bernards Heath and wouldn't now move DS1 if a closer school became available. I hear that the smaller, closer schools put a lot of pressure on the children to keep their scores/ reputation up, which is not what we want. The headteacher started in 2007, is lovely, and is improving it all the time. All of the parents that I have met are happy that their children are there.

DS2 is at Toddlers-In which is handy to our house! We were abroad throughout the application process, though I did apply anyway (Aboyne Lodge, Maple, St Peters) knowing we wouldn't get anywhere but hoping it would be to my advantage somehow! When we got back there were only places at Bernards Heath and Mandeville, so we opted for Bernards Heath.

Good Luck with the walking. I did it briefly back in September, before we had a car, and it was tough going up the hill pushing one child in a buggy and one on a buggyboard!

Yeah, I'm kinda adding that to the "pros" list rather than the "cons", I have been moaning about being unfit for ages!! Careful what you wish for eh?!

I have had the same feeling about the pushiness of some of the schools, and BH seems so relaxed. When I looked round the infants I was anxious because the little ones looked so petrified, but when I looked round the juniors they were all so happy, and after all, that's what we want from our kids right?

I get the feeling that BH is a great balance between the high standards we expect in St Albans and a relaxed attitude.