Highgate primary vs Tetherdown

[JonnyDory]

Has anyone got recent experience of Highgate primary or Tetherdown schools? I am under the impression both are great schools.
I am trying to guess which is likely to work for my child who would be one of the youngest in the year.
Prompt feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Bumping for you as I was wondering the same thing! Are you applying for September 2017? Have you visited the schools yet?

Tetherdown has very involved parents and most children are tutored from the middle of primary school - for 11+ private/grammar or to get into the top set at Fortismere. I think Highgate primary is a bit more laid back, but this is second hand from a friend who had children at both (was at one, moved to the other)

Thanks for replies. I have seen highgate and liked the laid back vibe. @bluecarpet do you know if they moved from highgate to tetherdown or the other way?

It is not for 2017. We are very unexpectedly at the top of the waiting list for tetherdown and have a few days to decide for 2016. we live 0.9 miles (not crow flight but Google walk) away. I will see tetherdown today as the headmaster has kindly offered to show me the school as only my wife saw it. It seems like a great opportunity but we like highgate a lot. My wife has started going to the playgroup and is claiming she can walk it in 15 mins. Any info appreciated! Many thanks

There is a Facebook group for Muswell Hill Mums and Dads which might prove more fruitful.

We are also trying to decide between Highgate Primary or another school for 2016 entry. Think we are going to go Highgate Primary. I've never heard a bad word about it and suspect that if it had a smaller catchment there would be more agitation to get into it. But would welcome thoughts from parents, particularly for more academic children. Not that ours are, but all I ever hear is "laid back" which makes one wonder about the academic side.
Sorry I can't help more - basically in the same boat and need to decide quickly!

We decided on tetherdown ourselves. We couldn't get any first hand info about highgate and we did get some from someone who's son goes to tetherdown and he is very happy and the feedback was also that the parents are in general more diverse than you would expect and not uptight also community spirit etc.
When I visited tetherdown this week the kids looked remarkably happy and the headmaster said all the right things in terms of making the kids enjoy school and confident, independent and deep thinkers. The aims at least struck a chord with me and some of the strategies were made explicit when kids in a class were asked about what they did recently and how they learnt different things around the theme of bfg. Response was enthusiastic and nearly every child in the class had their hand up.
They were quite discouraging about using after school club in the first year and the settling in is not as well organised as highgate. They don't go to the woods every 2 weeks like highgate and I guess won't learn sign language and foreign language (French) starts in year 2. they are looking into the possibility of mandarin and have a mandarin club.

We knew some kids going to tetherdown this year but not one in highgate. These kids are not yet good friends with my daughter but at least familiar face. In the end there was not much word of mouth info about highgate but I noticed on their website that they might be able to put you in touch with some parents to talk to. I saw it too late though. Best of luck. I'm guessing there is no wrong decision. I was concerned that my daughter will probably be the only black child in her class or even year at tetherdown, but there was some diversity and the kids did look happy.

My daughter is in Y3 at Highgate Primary and my son at the Nursery. We're very happy with it: 'laid-back' means no uniform and teachers called by their first names, neither of which has any bearing on academic rigour. As someone who wouldn't fake the CofE belief required to get into St Michael's and had no realistic chance of getting in anywhere else (Whitehall Park hasn't opened when my daughter started), I'm very pleased to have such a good school in an area dominated by private ones.

Did you end up going to Tetherwood?