Primary schools in charlton london advice please

[Babyhayden]

Can anyone provide me information and advice on some of the primary schools in charlton? I can't decide which one to choose. I have the following in mind

Thorn tree primary
Our lady of grace
Sherrington
Charlton manor

Are invicta and fossdene any good?

What do you mean by 'choose'? When for?

If you're thinking about Sep 2017 YR entry, I suggest you wait a couple of months, as Greenwich will then release their primary admissions booklet and also update their interactive offers map with last distances for this year's reception.

Are you Catholic? Where do you live? What's your closest school?

The catchment areas for those schools don't overlap much, if at all - the last distances currently published are for 2015 when several schools in the area expanded, either permanently or temporarily, so the figures are misleading. Invicta, Sherington, etc were around 400-500m in 2015 and shrank this year. AFAIK, neither would overlap with Thorntree, so if you had a chance of Invicta based in distance, you'd have no chance of Thorntree. I don't know admissions data for Our Lady of Grace but they prioritise Catholics so you'd need to live extremely close indeed to be in with a chance if you can't prove faith.

Realistically round Greenwich/Charlton/Blackheath etc, 'choice' is an illusion. You hope that you live near enough a decent school to get in. If you do have a choice, it'll be through faith and distance (eg meeting faith criteria for Our Lady and living next door to Sherington) or being close enough to an excellent school and having a not-great school as back-up. There is, or was, a little overlap between Sherington and Invicta (both outstanding schools) in the roads nearest the Standard on the Charlton side, but that may well have gone this year, and both those (and much of Charlton/E Greenwich) would overlap with Fossdene.

If you're looking at YR 2017, best thing is wait for the admissions booklet (available from libraries, nurseries, etc) and the offers map, look at the distances and work out what you have a reasonable chance of getting, then find out when the schools' open days are (often Oct/Nov time) and go and look round.

I'm completely new to London, didn't realise that a school that's 10mins away by walk and I could be out the catchment area. London is sure a competitive place. the city I used to live in, the catchment area can be as wide as a 15 min car drive away. Oops think I need to do more research.

Seems like my only options are charlton manor, fossdene, Wind rush etc

Having looked at the catchment areas, some schools seem to cover a large, I mean large area? While a lot cover only a handful of streets. My silly question is can I still apply for a school that's out my catch,net area? Is it worth putting it down or am I wasting my option choice in the list. Also I always wonder, are there that many children born in the same year trying to get into a same school from that small catchment area (just a handful of streets large?)

Any successful stories on apply for a school that's out your catchment area? Or I'm I just dreaming?

Try this site and pop your postcode in.

It doesn't have the church schools as they have their own admission criteria. But most all other schools are on there.

www.schoolcatchment.co.uk

It's a really helpful visual example of what happens and where 'catchments' are. They aren't really catchments. Nor choice.

Generally speaking you're the least important person to get a place. Those in care are the most, then anyone with other extra special needs (medically proved type thing) then siblings of children already at the school. (If a church school then there can be lots of levels of importance about just how religious!) Then your child. So if you don't live within a whisper of the school you won't get a place.

But you could put it at number one on your form. They might be expanding. They might have an odd year with few siblings. To put the school at number one is your choice.

As long as you put a nearby school, even a really poor one you don't like on your form, even at position 6, one that every year the catchment well takes your house in, then you will be given that school. If you don't put it on your form, you could get it anyway or a similarly less popular school at the other end of the borough.

Good advice here

Oops pressed post too soon.

Good advice here, just adding a couple of comments. Do pay close attention to catchments so you know what schools you can realistically get a place at. You would be surprised how many people fail to appreciate this and put down a scattered list of schools each with small catchments.

You asked why the catchments vary so much - it's mostly a function of size (some are only 1 or 2 form entry others are three or four) as well as how sought after the school has been historically. Our school is four form entry (having originally been 2) and therefore usually has places available in the larger years. In the last few years for the first time we're seeing people who put the school a long way down the list of preferences purely because of this.