Clapham Primary Schools

[emben12]

Hi - I live in Clapham and it looks my two nearest primary schools are Wix School and Macaulay School. I haven't heard great things about either of them - does anyone have any experience of either school they could share? Apparently Honeywell and Belleville have much better reputations but I think the catchment area is so small for both of these. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Look at nappyvalleynet.com for more local opinion - good luck, but I think you are right to think they have small catchment areas!

well if you're closer to Macaulay and Wix then you'll certainly be too far away for Honeywell and Belleville. Part of the reputation enjoyed by the latter schools is the catchment - lots of yummy mummies terribly smug at not paying private fees - and part of it is down to quite a bit of tuition going on in the last few years ...

A friend of mine's son is at Macaulay and she's very happy with it (elder siblings at private secondary so it's a conscious choice for her, she's not sending him there just cos it's her only option iyswim)

I know Wix didn't get a great OFSTED but it has the bi-lingual programme which has always sounded interesting

Macaulay is a CofE VA school with consistently high SATS results; a small school, it prides itself on its pastoral care (which includes the pastor, Father David).

It has one class per year. Of those 30 (after usual looked after and SEN priorities) 21 are Church places and 9 non-faith. There is prioity for siblings in both faith/non-faith places, and then decider is based on distance from school. For a faith place, you need a priest's reference and there are 6 parishes with priority links - the school is on the bombed out St Saviour's site, and 3 of the six are the other parishes of the old benefice (Holy Trinity Clapham Common, St Peters Prescott Place, Holy Spirit off Abbeville Road), another is St Pauls Rectory Grove, and I can't remember the other two off-hand.

The school is a mix of affluent families (saving school fees, and with later tutoring for independents) and a genuinely small local footprint. But it does have the drawback inherent with small schools: lack of "buzz" and limited extracurricular activities.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write with your opinions. That is really helpful information and much appreciated.

The new lambeth guide to primary schools has a full set of info about how many people applied to each school, how many siblings and how close you had to be to get in. You can pick it up from Clapham library. I assume you're out of reach of Clapham Manor then?

A good friend sent her two girls to Macaulay and really rated it for the eldest but the younger child struggled a bit with lots of children In her class not having English as their first language. This meant she didn't get as much time reading and doing one on one with the teacher as her older sister had. I believe there may have been one or two children with behavioural difficulties as well. She took her girls out when they got a place at a local faith school. She liked Macaulay itself but just had issues with the makeup of the class for her second child.

Thanks Jafina - that's interesting to hear. I had heard the opposite also, that brighter children suffer there because a lot of time is spent with children who have learning/behavioural difficulties and it has double the national average of children with these difficulties. It said as much in their ofsted report.

MrsVincentPrice - I think I am too far from Clapham Manor - it is about a 20-25 minute walk from me. Wix is literally around the corner so I have a feeling that would be where she would be placed.

Heathbrook is another nearby school you may want to look at, and there's James Burns on the Shaftesbury.

I see jefina's point that Macaulay is small, and there's nothing to be done in one-form entry if the class doesn't gel. But most years it does: results on SATS are equal to, and last year higher than, both Belleville and Honeywell.

And Macaulay most definitely is a faith school.

Macaulay is a lovely school.

A friend has children at Macauley, and what she has told me about their pastoral care really impressed me. It does sound lovely.

It's clearly academically sound, too.

(Sorry not to be first-hand, or specific, but just adding a "tick".)

H and B v. small catchments.

Thanks everyone - I really appreciate the continued feedback.