Advice re Oxford Primary Schools

[tessa56]

Hi - does anyone have recommendations re oxford primary schools - so many of the popular ones seem massively oversubscribed and you only have a good chance of getting in if you live really close and siblings are already there - does anyone have experience/knowledge of any schools which are are really good but also tend to have places available.

Really appreciate any help :)

There's some discussion about Oxford schools in the Local Oxford topic. Problem is that most schools in Oxford are very full/oversubscribed. Perhaps one of the village schools outside the city?

Better to have an idea about which areas fit your price range (assume you are moving here?) and people can sort you out that way.

Mine go to Edward Feild in Kidlington, we got in despite living 28 miles away last year (we've moved to Kidlington now though).

Bear in mind there are a few schools in Oxfordshire where the OFSTED has massively changed in the last six months - make sure you check the updated reports - for example, Middle Barton has gone from Good to Special Measures in the last month alone. Lots of people are getting caught out from this late round of checks just before application close date.

The other thing to say is that the admissions authority are great in Oxford. I called them and said 'where am I likely to get our kids in' - Eynsham you haven't a hope in hell unless you live within half a mile, Edward Feild has some capacity, I'm told the schools around Cuttislowe are not fairing well and one has had a recent bad report. But the admissions officer for the area you are considering will tell you their PAN and also you can look up how many out of area places they awarded last year on their website. Hope that helps :)

On the plus side, the city has a very mobile population so you may have a good chance of getting in via a waiting list if you are in a position to wait. Despite the fact that I live near not-very-popular schools, changing demographics meant that last year three of my neighbours were initially offered places only at schools which they couldn't reasonably get to. They all held on and all eventually got places at schools nearby. Two had been prepared to sit tight and home educate if necessary while waiting for a place to come up locally.

It's still the case that if you are seeking a place at a hugely popular school then you'll only get in if you live on its doorstep, so the strategy of waiting does not always guarantee a place. But if you have an eye on a pretty good, slightly oversubscribed school then you might ask the head how much movement there is. Many families are not prepared to wait past September and will accept a school place elsewhere, and then won't want to unsettle their children by moving them a few months later when a place does comes up at their desired school. This can work to your advantage if it isn't essential for your child to start school in September.

There is a very busy home education scene in Oxford so children needn't be at a loose end while waiting for a school place. ohed.org.uk/

That's very true. We had two new kids in November and one left in December. And that's just one reception class.

My dc are also at primary school in Oxford and I second what's been said about movement in the city schools. Chances of places coming up during the year are quite high. I think you need to narrow down your area though - which part of Oxford are you likely to be living in?

Thanks so much all - really really helpful. We are in the south of the city and none of the schools close by seem great - hence trying to identify some that we may be able to get into even if not in catchment. I will definitely phone the admissions authority next week and see what is likely. I think because of the baby boom in the city more likely to be one of the schools on the edge of the city/villages. I will also take a look at ofsted because it has been a few months since looked and as you say things may have changed.

Will let u know how I get on

Thx!

Hi - it is worth checking out St Swithuns in Kennington, assuming it is reasonably close to you (just south of Abingdon Road/Grandpont). It had a really Good Ofsted just before xmas Our friends kids go there and they love it...apparently really nice atmosphere, good behaviour and results higher than most of the schools in the city. Another bonus is kids from there also go onto Matthew Arnold at aged 11 which consistently gets the best results of any of the Oxford State schools. I think they will have places becasue the admissions numbers has just increased like alot of schools in the city. Other than that some of the Abingdon primaries are good but a bit of a treck if you are in Oxford

Good luck!

"Other than that some of the Abingdon primaries are good but a bit of a treck if you are in Oxford"

Oh yes, Abingdon is a good idea. I've also heard that all the Abingdon secondaries are reasonably good and are not hard to get into.

Tessa, are you thinking of moving house or not? If not, be sure to try the school run at "school run time" to see how manageable it would be before you commit to doing it for years! You have to know just what the traffic will be like along the route you'd travel at the time you'll be going. Living at the edge of Oxford, I was surprised at just how quick and easy it was to get my child to a village school quite some distance away, whereas it would have taken forever to get her a couple of miles to another Oxford school through city traffic. The downside to a village school, of course, was that I had to be prepared to drive every day and ensure I had a backup plan in case my ropy car wouldn't start!

We live in a village about 5 ish miles out of central Oxford and my children (well dd now and ds come September) go to the outstanding (and it really is) village primary. We are always over subscribed however it seems this year we have a lower then normal number of children in the village who are due to start school in September, lower then the PAN so do look at village primaries, even the over subscribed ones as it is possible to get places. Our PAN is low and over the last 2 years we have gone over PAN as there has been a shortage of places in Oxford so so the LEA asked the school (CofE controlled) to take on some overflow so we do now have quite a few (for the size of school) children coming in from Oxford areas who have no village connections. If you just looked at the info published in the admission booklet you would think there was no chance as if does not show the extra places given just that it is oversubscribed and places to PAN were filled from catchment. The PAN is set to increase for the 2013 intake to reflect these changes taking place but at the moment you would either have to know someone at the school or really dig and know what questions to ask of the LEA, I would not be surprised if we were not the only school to have this kind of thing.
I am not comfortable with posting the name of our school on forum as it is a small school in a small village and way to identifiable but if you PM me I would be happy to tell you.

Thanks RKB! What do you mean by "PM" me?

I checked out St Swithuns in Kennington and it seems really good - parents seem to love it and whislt it is not all about results, they are much better than most of the schools in city.
St Swithuns seems the same as your school in that I think the LEA has also asked it to take children from outside of the village and the admissions number is increasing so possible to get places even if you live outside even though historically over subscribed

How far south do you live? I understand St Ebbes has a great reputation.

I hear quibbles and concerns from parents whose kids got to schools with the best of OFSTED reports and great things about those that do less well by OFSTED's standards - talk to parents, visit schools and judge for yourself.

With the pressure for places you may not get much of a choice - but there's a huge benefit gained from the sense of being an active part of the local community that comes from attending - and supporting - your local primary school.

We checked out St Ebbes but apparently there is no way you will get in unless in immediate grandpont catchment. Agree re ideally we would send to local school. We have looked into a few now and I think we are going to go with St Swithuns in Kennington - it only took about 5-10 minutes to get there as well which is bonus!

Thanks all for your help and thanks serendipity for suggestion re SS

My dc are at St Swithun's and have been very happy there. As someone mentioned, they had a good Ofsted report just before Christmas after a not so great one about 3 years ago when they were given 'notice to improve'. There have been lots of improvements in the school over the last few years, although the head is retiring in July.

That is really good to know! They mentioned the head is retiring and said they were determined to find someone who could build on the significant progress of the last few years and get it to outstanding in next couple of years. Thx Gradgrind