best state primary schools in kensington and chelsea

[tafi]

I have two DDS in years 1 and 2 and would like to transfer them to a state primary school in the borough of kensington and chelsea. Can anyone advise me on which are the best schools in this borough. Thank you.

I moved from there a little while back, so am stretching my memory a bit, but I'd suggest:

• St Barnabas and St Philip (Earls Court Road, just off Ken High St)
• St Mary Abbotts (Ken Church St)
• Bousfield (sp?) which is on The Boltons
• Fox (Notting Hill)

All fiendishly hard to get into. The first two are church schools.

Thank you,I'll be looking into them. I guess I'll just put DDs on waiting list and just hope for the best,figured it'd be easier since I'm applying for years 2 and 3 so maybe better than reception or year one but there'll probably be loads of other people waiting.

By the way, do i just apply through council or to the schools directly?

I'm not sure; if I were you I'd check with the council first (or look on their website - it will be under primary school applications).

Not sure where you'll be living, but I was near Hammersmith border so also looked at schools there. Avonmore, near Olympia, seemed very decent.

A friend of mine has her child at a school near Notting Hill - what's it called, I can't remember - which has had a bad Ofsted report but is rapidly improving. She's very happy with it. Will post its name when it comes back to me.

Colville!

Also I just checked on the website - you need to apply through the council.

Another school I looked at was St Cuthbert and St Matthias. I thought it was a pretty good school, but it has many of the problems you associate with inner London: very transient population, lots not speaking English. Oh, and a very high preponderance of boys, for some reason. it wasn't my dream school, but I would certainly consider having my child there for a year or so while they waited for a school place elsewhere.

That's the thing with the school my DDs are currently at in, It has a heavy Arabic population and would like to have them in a school that is more mixed and hopefully a better representation of London. Their school only has 2 English families and 2 black families and then Cosovo etc so maybe you can see my dilemma here. They are doing well though but I've really battled with this and decided that it is important to me that they attend a school with a good mix of kids.

It does seem to be easier where there is a good mix, rather than a single dominant group. I think you will find that the first three schools I suggested are probably quite white-dominated for inner London, with the possible exception of Fox. Avonmore is very mixed, and has a nice family atmosphere I think. The headmaster was quite inspiring; said that lots of the children came from families that are quite newly arrived and facing all kinds of challenges, but very motivated and committed to education - which obviously makes a huge difference. Fox is probably quite a good mix: it is considered a very good school, but you do have to live very near to get in. Colville typically London - very mixed, children from all round the world.

Good luck.