north bristol primaries - which of these would you choose?

[preta]

Looking into these primaries as will be moving sometime next year and would like to have an idea of which, in an ideal world, would be our first choice.
Bishop Road - is its size an issue?
Henleaze Juniors
St Bonaventure -would non RC families feel properly included?
Colston -lower ofsted, but results ok/ seems nice vibe?
Westbury Park
Ashley Down Juniors.
Not entirely sure exactly where we'll be, but definitely somewhere in the middle of that lot.

If it makes a difference we would like somewhere welcoming to incomers and that is a bit more arty/music orientated. I'd love to hear some local views!

My nephew goes to Bishop Road and is very happy there but it is very big.

Thanks! yes it does sound huge - do you know if it's an issue for him/the other kids? I would worry about the children feeling a bit anonymous, but maybe it's fine?

I think he finds it ok with the large numbers as he knows no different. I would think more about it as there are 30 children in year 1 where my dd goes to school but Bishop Road there are about 200. I know this year he has a brilliant teacher and loves it there.

We are applying this year for schools and the best advice I can give you, if you haven't already that is, is to really visit them. I know it sounds clichee but every child is different and I think you will know in your heart whether a school is right for your child. Even if a school is good on paper, it doesn't necessarily mean it is the best suited to your child. The area in which kids get into Westbury Park is tiny by the way! Once you have made your choice, I would have a look at the cyps website so you can see the furthest distance from the school in which a child got a place. Good luck! x

DD is at Ashley Down at loves it, I would also fancy Colston's. My niece was at Bishop Road but went to St. Bons as too pushy.

However, you may have very little choice in the matter. The schools are all massively oversubscribed and you have to live very close to get in. About max of 400 metres for Ashley Down I think.

Interesting! "too pushy"? does that mean too focussed on academic success above other things like social skills/art whatever???

My sister's view was that her DD is not particularly academic and they were focused on academic achievement over some of the softer stuff. However, my sister tends to have strong opinions about things, so I would take it with a pinch of salt.

Different kids need different things and I would go with your instinct.

Will you be looking for a reception place or one for further up the school? All of those schools are tough to get into for reception but some have more spaces in older years. A friend of mine with children at Henleaze says that they lose quite a few through the Juniors to independent schools. People start getting them into the preps a few years before so that they pass the exams to the senior schools more easily. I would guess that that might apply to Westbury Park too, maybe more so than the others.

All of them are difficult to get into you may also what to take a very quick look at secondary as being in catchment for one primary school may rule out some senior schools. I know a child that goes to westbury park and although it just to be the case that children would leave early to get into a private school I don't think that is the case now as most children that close enough to get in may also live close enough to get into redland green school

Redland Green is getting incredibly difficult to get into. My colleague was telling me that her neighbour in Bishop Road applied for her daughter, but ended up getting a place at Monks Park (sorry, Orchard). The incredible shortage of secondary places is going to become a real issue in the next five years or so.

My daughter is at St Bons and likes it but if you're anti-religious you might not enjoy it (morning and afternoon prayer, saying 'thank you God for our food' before lunch, going to church etc.).
Colston's was my second choice as after looking round Bishop Road thought it was too academically focused (all about the SATs results), (that was just my feeling from visiting and also from a friend who moved her child from reception to St Bons). It depends on your child and how you feel when you look round.
Colstons's seemed lovely, the headteacher is really dynamic and they make 'performing arts' a priority - their closest secondary in Cotham is a 'performing arts specialist school' or something so they try and get their kids into that afterwards and have some links there. I think it's good as it's all about the individual and making everyone feel valued. On the downside(?) I think they have a large number of children with English as second language so not sure if that makes it harder to make friends in reception etc.

There is a real squeeze on places in North Bristol now so you probably won't get much choice over where you're allocated, unless you live VERY close to the school you like. The distances showing how close people had to live to the school the previous year are usually published in the local authority application book which you can get from the website or from schools in the autumn term.