Brooklands Junior Barnet

[Eesha]

Hi,

Just wondering whether anyone had children here and what their views are? Just thinking about where to move to for decent primary schools in Barnet. Anywhere near this school is very pricey so just wondering whether the school really is amazing and worth moving there. We are also considering north finchley and high barnet where you'd get a bit more for your money but the secondary options don't seem as good. Many thanks

Bump

In and around barnet - the town not the borough- the primary school admissions are quite tight, so most only take around half a mile from the front door so you need to make sure you are within that. On the plus side virtually all the schools are good so generally wherever you live there will be a good option.

Secondary is more tricky. If you have girls you have more options as QE girls takes from all over . For a mixed school you need to be within a mile of east barnet or Southgate otherwise you are stuck with Totteridge academy. There are also a number of selective schools if they are academic.

Hi Bean, we are near cricklewood so was thinking where next. Isn't the Archer academy meant to be a good secondary? Ideally would love to go private at that stage but conscious need a backup. I have girls.

I know someone with 2 kids at Archer. They are very happy. The school is very strict though so depends how you feel about that.
I guess you are considering Brooklands as it is now a feeder for Archer but beware it doesn't guarantee entry - they are only proposing 15 places for Brooklands kids, and I believe it is a PAN of 60 (having said that some may choose other schools and some may get in on distance outside of feeder status - worth doing a bit of research on that).
I don't know much about Brooklands, have one friend with a DS there. She is happy I think, just moved him from our school to there as they relocated (they didn't relocate for the school, they were super happy with our local school and their older children went all the way through; they relocated for a bigger house and garden and Brooklands became their new local school). No idea it had reputation for people moving to be near it, though admit I am more familiar with Brent and Camden schools than Barnet.
Regarding area though, I lived in Golders Green for 10 years and wouldn't be in a hurry to move back. Much prefer the area of NW London I live now as there is just a lot more going on. I find GG and HGS quite bland. I think I would prefer Cricklewood over GG and HGS. If you stay where you are what are your options for primary schools (or maybe you already have a child in primary and want to transfer them)? Or are you just not considering staying put as you are focussed on the right secondary?

Sorry, didn't read the bit about you having girls. Bean mentions QE girls upthread. We have friends with girls who recently moved to High Barnet specifically looking ahead to QE girls for secondary, it has a very good rep.

Hi Banana,

We literally have Wessex Gardens and also Claremont as options though my children are still small. I don't really like either so if we didn't get garden suburb in hgs (out of catchment), we would probably consider private. That's the option should we stay in our current location. East finchley, north finchley and high barnet were all options but the former is so expensive that I'd almost need a guarantee that it's amazing and worth it. I don't mind somewhere very academic either.

OK I think I know where you are, I was thinking you were perhaps more south Cricklewood as in near Hampstead School, but you're more north of there. I have been getting Brooklands and GS school mixed up. My friend's son is at GS Junior not Brookland, sorry. I just looked on Barnet website and both are a PAN of 90 now (did they expand?) so both offered out-of-catchment this year. This makes the Archer feeder thing a big issue, I think you would have to try and live v.close to Archer to be thinking of a place for secondary. Brookland infant is more East Finchley-ish than GS, which I do think is more appealing (to me anyway) for living.
Have you thought of faith schools (not sure if you would consider)? As St Agnes RC must be near you, would require church attendance I would think.

Hi BananaD,

Thanks for being so helpful. Is your friend happy with gs? If we could go there, then the house move could potentially wait however if no decent options, then we would have to move/go private. We don't attend church so St Agnes would be out of the question.