Holy Cross RC Primary School Fulham

[Mamabear12]

Anyone have children or know someone that has kids that attend Holy Cross in Fulham?

This is another school we are considering, as I am Catholic. Would love some feedback on the school. I read it has good reviews in ofsted reports.

Is it very difficult to get into? I understand you have to attend mass every Sunday for Catholic schools, which we already do.

It does have an excellent reputation, which it seems to have kept despite losing an apparently inspirational head a few years ago.

Bear in mind although it is a two form intake, it actually serves two parishes and all places are most likely to go to church going (ie with a priest's reference) families from within either of the two parishes.

However given the large intake for that area of London, if you are happy to sit it out on the waiting list you are in with a good chance.

It is in the process of moving sites as well which puts it much closer to the 'super sewer' which is due to be built amid great controversy in Fulham. Not that that will affect the quality of the teaching but may be a consideration for transport etc.

I live in fulham and am a member of one of Our lady of perpetual help :) we go to mass weekly, I volunteer at church so hopefully we will get a good reference.

If you got mass weekly, volunteer etc, and have a good referal does that get you in? Or is it still competitive in that even w good referral, u might not get in due to large demand.

Also, do you have to send your kid from nursurey age 3 or could you wait and send during reception age 4? Would it hurt your chances if you wait until reception age? Is it better to send them as soon as they can go to school for nursurey?

If you are in the Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish and are a regular church goer I cant see you having issues with getting a place as normally all children from within the two parishes get in.

You dont have to send them to the nursery as that is totally seperate. Unless anything has changed recently the nursery has a smaller intake (30) and is is allocated to church goers by distance from the school. So you could live in either of the parishes and not get in the nursery.

However having a place at the nursery does not guarantee you a place at the school and vice versa as it is a totally seperate admissions procedure - the nursery is organised by the school itself and the school is organised by the LEA.

So there is no relevence whether you are at the nursery or not in terms of admission to the school.

I see you also asked about the bi-lingual French school. Although part of the Holy Cross school it is regarded as totally seperate ie you apply to that seperately from Holy Cross when doing the admissions process. There is no religious criteria and places are allocated on disntance from the school alone. And there is no automatic right to transfer from the bi-lingual school to Holy Cross or vice versa.

Many thanks letsgetreal for your responses :) Another question, you mention HC is going to move near the super sewer and I also read that the bi-lingual school is also supposed to move...although it does not say where. I am curious, when exactly will these moves take place? I looked online, but it does not really say or confirm location. How do you know the move will be near the super sewer? If that is the case, the schools would be near a big construction site for the super sewer? Do you think this might pose any health risks or concerns? Traffic is not such a big deal, bc it looks like from online, the super sewer will be located near south park/hurlingham park near the water...which is a 5-10 mins walk from where we are....so we would walk to school every day instead of drive.

I cant seem to get into their website but I assume all the details were on there.

But from memory they were due to move from the Basuto Rd site to the Clancarty Rd site this Sep to accomodate the extra class intake and the bilingual school.

But I seem to remember that this may have been delayed until next Sep. I am sure the local council will be more informative than me!

This would put it on the north side of South Park with the construction site on the south side so if you can walk to there then I'm guessing that shouldnt pose a problem. Theres lots of info about the sewer online, espcially on the Hammersmith & Fulham website as I couldnt possibly comment on the health and safety stuff, but it does seem controversial.

Oh that would be great if they moved to clancarty rd! That is a 5 mins walk from us!

And what's supposed to happen with the Basuto Road site?

Yea, I'm curious about the whole thing! Walked by hc the other day and there is construction work going on.

my children go to the nursery and they love it, admission is all down to distance from school (trust me), when i went to get the priests stamp on my admission form he showed me a map of the school &surrounding areas and asked me to point to where i live (2 min walk from the school) so it was no problem for me, i also attend holy cross mass every week and the priest knows me & the children, the school is NOT moving and has just had major refurbishment & looks great, hope this helps.
what is very frustrating is that a few parents there dont go to mass at all but just because they live extremely near their children were accepted!

i just went to look round this school today post refurbishment - its great and what an inspirational head, Kath, australian. It was clean, organised and all on one floor (much easier for kids) - amazing art up on the walls and even a nurture room...will definitely put my son down for this school.