Primary schools in Lewisham

[samar1222]

Hello all,

DS will be starting Reception next September - according to the locrating website, I can see that Modern Mount Primary and St Stephens Church of England are in our catchment (just inside). And these two are the only 'Good' schools in the catchment. We live close to (neighbours) the Prendergast school but its rating is 'Needs improvement'.So that one is out of question. I can also see Lucas Vale Primary (Outstanding) and Ashmead which are closer to us but we are out of their catchment areas.

So my 3 questions are -

1. is there any foolproof website/way to know whether we are well within a catchment area of a school?

2. is anyone living nearby and sending their kids to Modern Mount/St Stephens? How are these schools?

3. St Stephens is Church of England school - so does it only take faith into consideration (only Catholics allowed?)

Many thanks!

Do you mean sept 2018?

Lewisham website has all the info you need. Including figures for admission distance for previous years, so you can get a good feel for your chances.

It also has all the admisssions criteria, so will tell you of there are faith based admissions.

Bear in mind there is no "catchment" area, admissions are on home to school distance. So the area will change every year.

Bear in mind their are a couple of schools eg monson which give you automatic admission to a linked secondary, so they are well worth considering even if not currently good schools.

Hello Micah,

Thanks for the info. I did check Lewisham council's website on admissions in previous years but could not find St Stephens Church of England in the list.
And yes, I mean September 2018.

Many have had name changes- brockley primary is now beecroft gardens, for example.

There will be an admissions booklet printed in sept for 2018 entry :).

Best thing i found was go and visit as many as you can, and when it comes to application, include at least 1 you will definitely get. When i applied lucas vale was failing, and had a 2km admissions radius. So that was my "will definitely get in" choice, especially as a visit convinced me they were making changes.

St stephens is on the list of schools-www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/education/schools/Pages/School-detail.aspx?directoryid=506. If you mean admissions i think it may be in a separate section of the list as it appears to have faith criteria- this is why it's worth studying the admissions booklet! There is a table with the community schools historical admissions, but faith schools are listed separately as it's not solely home to school.

In answer to your first question, this is a good website:

www.schoolcatchment.co.uk/

You can look up the last few years' admissions distances. Bear in mind that you can get into schools from the waiting list, outside the circles it draws.

Primary school places in Lewisham can be a bit of a nightmare depending where you live in borough. Best way to decide which schools to apply to/how to rank is by visiting. As PP said there isn't a defined catchment area for each school, furthest distance to school varies each year depending on how popular school is in that year & how many siblings are admitted.

Morden Mount is actually in Greenwich borough so admissions info is on their website. Although it's now Good it was failing a few years ago so hasn't been popular and has a large 'catchment' as a result. But we thought it was great when we visited, it's 60 places per year, enthusiastic and dedicated staff.

St Stephen's is small - 30 places per year. It's a faith school and, according to admissions doc on school website, children of 'faithful and regular' worshippers at St Stephen's church (the one by police station) are given priority. I didn't visit school so can't comment on it.

Lucas Vale is a big school, I think 90 places per year. Again it was failing a few years ago so wasn't popular. Is outstanding now it's joint leadership with Grinling Gibbons. It made a good impression when I visited but it is old Edwardian building with lots of stairs and not much outdoor space for the number of students.

Meant to add, doesn't matter what borough school is in - single admissions form through your home borough.

Finally (not doing well at getting all info in one message!) DC is starting primary this September so above is based on visits in last year

Thank you Lewishamlass and Terentia

Which Prendergast primary - Vale or Ladywell?

I don't know much about Ladywell but f you read the report for Vale it's pretty complimentary about the primary (less so about the secondary phase). I get the impression that the primary would have been 'good' if it had been inspected separately.