help! moving to Hackney and no idea about schools!

[colourmummy]

my 7 year old son is in year 3 in a school that is supposed to be outstanding grade 1 across the board. His class is very rowdy and his teacher does little to keep them under control. He is 'extremely bright' (her words), creative and sporty. Essentially a good all rounder but pretty naughty too. The school has lots of good ideas but coasts. I am beginning to think that the national curriculum just isn't challenging enough for him and that the school is not going to fulfil his potential. I'm very wary of the whole hot housing tutoring syndrome, but... I also want him to have more sport and yet I don't want him to lose his creative ability. This year's 11 plus mostly didn't get their first choice of school and were given little help from the school. At the same time we are moving, probably to Hackney, so it strikes me that rather than spending 2 hours in a car doing the school run every day this might be my chance to get him into a better school. Does anyone know of any good schools, probably private I suspect, or Catholic as we are committed Catholics that would be a good option? In Hackney, or nearby? We are looking at buying near the Haggerston train line and ideally would like to cycle to school.

ps I really want him to be educated, rather than forced through an exam factory. He needs a fair amount of competition. What is Gatehouse like?

HI, I'm in Hackney. There are some good primary schools and some excellent ones here, and it's very family orientated, which is lovely. I have to say that I think you will be very hard pressed to find a school that will challenge your DC academically and also provide excellent sport and creative challenges. Frankly I don't think a place like that exists within the state system (in London). If you find one, please tell me about it! So I think that you will probably have to settle for excellence in one area (probably academic) and provide the rest outside of school. Again, Hackney is extremely well provided with sport centres and terrific music education programmes. Please let me know if you want more info about the music.

If you're looking at year 3 or 4, then a lot of previously over-subscribed, impossible to get your kid into type schools have openings. Have a look at Jubilee in Stamford Hill, if only for research. Probably out of your geographic range, but an extremely creative school and a very diverse intake. Also, you may be on the border of Islington and/or City of London, which might open up other schools to you. Or might just make things more confusing, in which case, forget it.

On the Catholic front, there's Our Lady and St. Joseph, which is not far from Haggerston, certainly bike-able. I don't know it personally, but the Ofsted reports are good.

Good luck!

State schools in Hackney are overall not to great to be brutally honest. We have friends at the gatehouse, they find it a nice friendly school with a mix of children (not like some private schools), their daughter got into the good girls school at 11 e.g. francis Holland, SHHS and Channing. The Gatehouse also got it's first feature in the Good Schools Guide this year.

i am going to see an outstanding school in Hackney in my role as a deputy head, it is called London Fields. i know nothing about it other than it recieved an outstanding ofsted grade last year.

Missmap, it's outstanding because it has an associate head who is one of the super-head types. I went for a job interview at one of his other schools and really didn't like it - they are very regimented and work their staff incredibly hard. Im not sure that it is the sort of school that the op is looking for as they are very focused on getting good sats results.

The best Hackney school I know of is Grasmere. TBH this is probably because it has an extremely high number of children of highly educated middle class parents (it is ridiculously white compared to some of the other schools) and is well supported by teachers and parents and children alike. It has a weeny catchment. Parents also rate Betty Laywood - similar kind of demographic though not as extreme - and very by the book - but kids progress on to good schools with help from their parents. Neither state school is near Haggerston. Your most likely local is Queensbridge which has a good reputation, but is unlikely to be quite what you are looking for. Nearest private schools are Rosemary Works at the end of Southgate Road (although there has been a lot of parental flight from there recently), Gatehouse (parents seem to like it, seems quite traditional). The Lyceum is also meant to be good - near Liverpool Street station. If you are willing to go into the city there are other schools, but I don't know much about them.

That's really helpful everyone, thank you so much! Does anyone know whether Gatehouse is strong academically?

Queensbridge is very popular as is Lauriston, near Vicky park, for which Gatehouse seems to act as a waiting room. GH lists its leavers destinations on its website, and look at Lyceum tho v small and no outside space.