Is Grasemere primary in stoke newington any good?

[princesss]

Does anyone have children at grasemere primary school in stoke newington? I am looking to move house my son is is 17 months and we want to move close to a good school in stoke newington. I have been researching and St. Marys and Grasemere seem to be the two top schools....does anyone have any experience of these schools? of experiences of other schools which are good in stoke newington?

Yes, Grasmere seems to be the school that everyone wants to get in to in Stoke Newington but it only has a one class intake and so the catchment area is absolutely tiny, something ridiculous like 0.1 miles so don't count on getting into it unless you literally live next door! I have a couple of friends who teach in Hackney primary schools who think any of the ones in that part of Stoke Newington are fine - Grasmere, Betty Layward, Grazebrook, William Patten. WP and BL just got quite bad Ofsted reports but the kids I know who go there are happy and doing well and BL has sacked their head I think and are bringing in new staff. Grazebrook used to be the one that was failing and was in special measures but is now becoming popular again and doing well. Not sure what the situation will be like in a few years when your son is having to apply but the catchment areas are really small at the moment and the amount of school age children in Stoke Newington very high so there is a lack of places. Not sure what the solution is except for hackney to introduce 3 form entry in a couple of the schools.

yes. but ridiculously small catchement. All the schools mentioned above have ridiculously small catchement - and improbably, shrinking (there are a lot of siblings round there). if you move now, you will have to move much closer than the current catchment. I've also heard from teachers in the area that Benthal school is good, just over the high street.

thanks for this information,i found out today that my friends daughters friends! who are 17 ish and i have known since they were at secondary school all went there and are all really nice teenagers, were going to the open day in a couple of weeks to see too......my friends got a son at Benthal whose husband is a primary headmaster not at benthal though....and they say it is a very good school, not for me though as they dont wear school uniform or have sats!!!

Benthal is a GREAT school. Outstanding Ofsted. Lovely feel if look around. Mine would have gone there if we hadn't moved. They opted out of Sats (with good reason IMHO) along with many other schools in the borough.