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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Good schools guide - does it matter if it is 2006 or 2007?

45 replies

chocolatequeen · 21/05/2007 13:15

I need to sort out schools in London for DS, rather urgently, as he needs to start in September (he´s 4). A friend has the good schools guide for 2006, but will it be out of date and useless, or are they pretty much the same year to year? I can order one for 2007, but they´re 30 quid. Is it worth paying or am I wasting my money?
Anyone got any good recommendations for other books to help select a school? London area?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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PrincessPeaHead · 21/05/2007 13:17

they are pretty much the same year to year UNLESS there has been a new head in the last couple of years. If you have the 2006 one then don't buy another, unless you are really interested in one school which you know has had a head change recently. Even then you might as well just read that entry in waterstones!

It is the best book, most of the others are just paid advertising.

PrincessPeaHead · 21/05/2007 13:18

and I think they are £35

GameGirly · 21/05/2007 13:19

How much?! To be honest, if you're looking for a place in September you may not have much choice at this stage. Poor you - I don't envy you,

Original poster

chocolatequeen · 21/05/2007 13:22

Thanks - do they list all schools, ie private, state, church, international?

Does anyone know if we would have more luck going private? Starting to get nervous about this.....

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PrincessPeaHead · 21/05/2007 13:26

oh they list what they think are "good schools" so 98% are private, there are a very few state ones in there and I don't think they really cover the lycees and international schools.

the bbc website is pretty good for info on state schools although it is more statistics based than opinion IYKWIM

where do you live? you might be better off starting a thread on here tbh

Original poster

chocolatequeen · 21/05/2007 13:32

That´s the problem PPH - we live in Lisbon. Moving to London probably in July, but maybe not til August. No idea which area to live in, where there are nice schools. Totally clueless about school system, DS1 turns 5 in September. Not an ideal situation to be in really......

Aaaaaggghhhh!

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PrincessPeaHead · 21/05/2007 13:36

oh dear!
well certainly from teh private sector point of view, perversely aug/september is a good time to be looking. they are all so massively over subscribed years and years in advance, that everyone has their name down for 3 schools, and masses of people sort of string schools along and pay huge deposits to save places at more than one place.. which means that come the end of august many of the really over subscribed schools are in the ludicrous position of having empty spaces.

I think you do need to get a vague idea of where you are going to be living though (central, west, north, southwest of the river, southeast etc) otherwise it will be pretty impossible to work out.

Any idea where you want to live? where will you or DH be working? Any family/friends around you'/d like to be near?

GameGirly · 21/05/2007 13:40

Yes, try to give us more details and we'll help! Any areas you particularly like? How well do you know London?

Original poster

chocolatequeen · 21/05/2007 13:40

At the moment, we are favouring SW - Richmond, Kew etc, but not for any particular reason. DH will be working in the City or Canary Wharf, but will have to travel a lot, so also needs to be near to Heathrow. Family are outside London, friends spread all over. We used to live in Hampstead, but that was when DS1 was tiny - now we want more space, garden etc, which rules Hampstead out.

Do you have any recommendations?!?!

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GameGirly · 21/05/2007 13:52

Well, I'm a Wimbledon girl. I can recommend it from a transport point of view, some nice parts, some less so, good shopping, some decent primary schools but secondary (state) less so ... err, what else?? Richmond and Kew certainly lovely though. More expensive than Wimbledon, maybe (don't actually know!). My one "issue" with Richmond is that it appears to be under a flight path.
Whereabouts are your friends/family outside of London? i.e. if they live "Ooop North" you might prefer to be in North London.

PrincessPeaHead · 21/05/2007 13:54

you need to know if he is going to be in canary wharf or city ideally. richmond to canary wharf sounds like a nightmare, unless there is some mainline train that makes life easier.

richmond and sheen both v good for schools I think, you'll get more bang for your buck in terms of space in sheen but lets face it, richmond is much nicer. good schools in barnes as well. Chiswick also has good schools, convenient for heathrow without so much aircraft noise, and a bit closer to town for your dh and worth considering.

Original poster

chocolatequeen · 21/05/2007 13:56

DS´s are 2 and 4, so want somewhere with young families and decent schools. We are considering both private and state schools, obviously aware that we are unlikely to have a lot of choice in the matter at this stage in the game. TBH, what bothers me most is how it will affect DS1 - at the moment, he is in the equivalent of a nursery here, in a tiny class with a teacher he loves. It´s going to be tough for him. London is just so big, and we could go anywhere, so I´m now worrying that we could be missing the "perfect" place to live just out of ignorance of not knowing about it.

I´m looking for school listings on the bbc, can´t find it - can you do links?

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Original poster

chocolatequeen · 21/05/2007 14:01

Thanks you two -MN always has nice practical people who help!!!

Family are in Oxfordshire mainly, although a bit scattered at the moment, so near Heathrow is good too! Didn´t realise Richmond was under the flight path..... why is is so bloody expensive then?!?! Ahh, the joys of UK house prices!

Will add Chiswick to the list of search areas. How long would you think it would take from Wimbledon to Canary Wharf?

PPH, think he will be mainly based in Canary Wharf, so will work on that presumption!

Can´t tell you how helpful this is - thanks a million.

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PetronellaPinkPants · 21/05/2007 14:04

Actually Canary Wharf not too bad from Richmond, it is straight to waterloo then the Jubilee Line a few stops

Sheen, Putney, Richmond - all under the flight paths!

Re state schools, you need to have applied last year so I think you will have to go private. Putney and Richmond both have vg private primaries

GameGirly · 21/05/2007 14:06

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/league_tables/default.stm

I'm not very good at links, but I THINK this is the BBC one for school league tables.

Wimbledon to Canary Wharf is easy enough, I believe. Train to Waterloo then Jubilee Line. Probably about 35 minutes plus your time to the station.

I was going to suggest Amersham because of its proximity to Oxfordshire, but actually you'd have to cross London to Canary Wharf which could take a while.

GameGirly · 21/05/2007 14:08

Right, I'm obviously hopeless at doing links so I will try again.
Anything with a train into Waterloo sounds as though it might be suitable, though. Or London Bridge. Is that trains from Kent? I'm not entirely sure but I'm sure someone else will know!

PrincessPeaHead · 21/05/2007 14:25

oooh good, yes mainline trains clearly key when it comes to canary wharf.

PPP surely if you just move to london they have to put you into a state school? the whole apply a year in advance can't apply in that case. although you might not get your first choice.

let me see if I can find the bbc site hang on

GameGirly · 21/05/2007 14:26

I bet you know how to do links, PrincessPeaHead. I'm still struggling ... race you to it!

PrincessPeaHead · 21/05/2007 14:27

here

Original poster

chocolatequeen · 21/05/2007 14:27

Thanks for the link - will copy paste it in!

Think the problem with living further out is going to be DH´s hours - it is likely he will be finishing after 10pm most nights, and sometimes past midnight - it will be all but impossible for him to travel outside london at those times.

Think west london is our best bet, unless anyone else has any brainwaves!

OP posts:

GameGirly · 21/05/2007 14:30

If long hours are an issue, then you definitely don't want to be outside London. It's certainly the reason we're still here.
(Note to self: learn how to do links!)

PetronellaPinkPants · 21/05/2007 14:31

well pph the problem is that any half way decent school is full in reception now.

There were 230 kids who didn't get a place in any school in Richmond Borough. They are creating bulge classes I believe.

ElenyaTuesday · 21/05/2007 14:37

I actually have the Good Schools Guide for 2007 so if you find a school you are keen on I will happily look it up for you and see if its in there.

PrincessPeaHead · 21/05/2007 15:00

oh god that's awful! but useful info for you chocolate queen.

needs to be taxiable late at night then. somewhere like barnes will save 20 mins in a cab over richmond from the city... or wimbledon?

Anchovy · 21/05/2007 15:04

I actually don't think there are any private/independent schools in Barnes (I'm assuming there are some state ones). A lot of children in DS's class come from there and one of the mothers was telling me this, I remember (we are a couple of miles away).

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