Primary Schools - Bristol, which one of these three

[HouseyMouse]

We've decided to move to Bristol and think that these three primary schools are good:
Elmlea
Westbury (on-Trym)
Henleaze
Our daughter is due to start Sep 2012. Am I right in thinking that these are good schools? Are there any (state) primaries that you could recommend over these, please?

Any tips to getting in to these schools?? I appreciate that there are very few places. We're looking for houses close to the schools.

Thank you very much. :)

My understanding is that Bristol can be a complete nightmare for both primary and secondary schools - a combination of lots of young families and undesirable schools. I think they were several hundred reception places short this year.

Maybe post this on the Bristol Local board too.

And do visit all the schools before you decide where to move to. I know a few people who have moved based on an Ofsted report and have been very disappointed.

If you can live slightly outside of Bristol (north but with good motorway and A road links) the local view seems to be that the schools are better i.e. in the South Glos area. The Thornbury schools are thought to be ok - St. Mary's, Crossways Primaries for instance from what I hear although I don't have personal experience. This area seems to be better for both primary and secondary (Castle School in Thornbury although it is a huge school). Schools in Bristol do have a reputation for being poor and massively oversubscribed.

Ooops read that back - Think I should add that of course there will be exceptions and it is only by hearsay..

Ha ha good luck with that! Have a look on the Bristol council website and see how close you would have had to live to get a place in any of those schools this year. Tips would be to conjure up a sibling.

I did my teaching practise at Elmlea and it was a very good school back then,fed all the local private schools but it was nearly impossible to get into.

South glos, which is half tge city, has better schools

You'll need to be living within about 500m of those schools to guarantee a place.

Even 500m wouldn't have got you into Westbury or Henleaze for this year. I would say less than 250m to be really safe.

As the others have said, you need to be practically living on the doorstep to get into a good school in Bristol. Not many schools have a good reputation in Bristol. I'm sure kids are happy in a lot of the poorer schools but educationally they aren't desirable and there are quite a few 'rough' schools too.

Is there a reason for moving to Bristol? If you could find somewhere slightly outside of Bristol (Gloucester or Bath direction) then there are much better schools