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

[chocolatequeen]

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 A friend has the good schools guide for 2006, but will it be out of date and useless, or are they pretty much the same year to year?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?

Yes there are!
The Harrodian for starters
And an excellent Swedish school (which I admit is rather esoteric )

Oh and a little one called St Pauls

And I think there is a steiner school in Barnes (although it may be way down going towards kingston or somewhere)

Isn't Ibstock Place very near Barnes? Not sure of recent reputation fluctuations though...

yup that's it

no idea if it is any good, mind

harrodian is meant to be good. colossal grounds anyway which is a real rarity

Ibstock Place is not Barnes - its Roehampton or something (put another way, you have to drive there from Barnes and miles from the village-y bit).

St Pauls I always think of as Hammersmith as it is just on the river but I grant you it is technically Barnes (although much closer to Hammersmith!) but anyway, CQ's child is 5 and they don't take them that young, which is why I discounted it in my mind.

Harrodian is, I agree, in Barnes! I have not heard fantastic things about it, but I may be way out of date.

Note though that the transport links from Barnes to Waterloo are very slow as it is not on a fast line - you need Richmond, Wimbledon or Putney for that. That is relevant if you need to go from Waterloo to CW, I think.

ok barnes was clearly a shite idea

do what anchovy says

Ibstock's good these days, isn't it? What about Putney, Chocolate Queen?

There are loads around there

Putney Park
Lytton House (junior of Putney High)
Tower House in Sheen (boys)
Kew Prep
Prospect House
The Hall

Putney Park v near Barnes

The Harrodian looks scary and barren

Don't completely exclude state schools from the calculation, cq. Places do come up even in popular schools as people move, and they don't have the financial incentive to keep the school informed of their plans that private school parents do. We've just moved to a different area of London -- ds has just been offered a Y3 place in a very desirable school and another popular school has made positive noises about dd2 getting a nursery places for September even though we missed the cutoff dates by a long way. And in our previous address dd1 was offered Reception places in several popular schools even after the start of term.

So do apply to schools that you might be in the right catchment for, and keep jogging their memory incase you get lucky.

Hi you could also consider Ealing. That has a good range of private and state schools and the house prices are not as scary as Richmond (although not cheap). DH would have a number of transport options including Central line to Bank (for the City) or getting on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) at Bank for Canary Wharf. District line to Monument for the City or to Tower Hill for the DLR to Canary Wharf. Both the district and central lines also have interchanges with the Jubilee line. There is a fast overground train to Paddington and also a direct rail link to Heathrow.

Wow, thank you all so so much. I can´t tell you how much it helps. It´s getting stressful thinking about schools, haven´t even turned my mind to house hunting, movers, dates, flights, or even telling the DS´s what´s going on. Haven´t really got much to tell them TBH

So how am I going to finally decide which area to settle on? If it were you, how would you do it - find the school first, and then hope you can get a house, or find the house and then hope there is a school nearby with places available?

Depends on budget, of course, but I'd go for an area that has a selection of good state and private schools to give you the widest range of options and avoid the scenario where you pin all your hopes on one particular school and are stuffed if you don't get a place. Richmond would fit the bill well in this respect -- has a various highly-regarded primaries and no doubt plenty of private ones, although there are relatively few good state secondaries.

I would consider renting in an area first. There are usually a good choice of houses and flats available. There is no distinction for schools admissions between living in rented or owned accomodation. I think transport for DH will be an important factor. Perhaps go on the Transport for London website tfl
and check their journey planner to work out how long it would take him to get to and from work. If you pick the advanced options you can select different times of day.

I suspect the issue of school places will be similar whichever area you chose.

Co-incidentally I had a tour of the Harrodian this morning. Impressive grounds and facilities - interested in having well-rounded children rather than an academic hot-house, but still caters for more academic children. Pig to get to if you've got to cross Hammersmith Bridge, though.

well, what is your budget and what do you want?
It may to some extent be dictated by that?

We are in Barnes, and I'd like to stick up for it! Don't want to pick fights but we found you get more garden for your money here than you do in Chiswick. Though you will need to be walking distance from Barnes Station rather than Barnes Bridge (8 trains an hour not 4). It is true, there are more trains to Waterloo from Putney and they are faster, which will be relevant for your DH's hours.

When we moved here from SE London we rented and this is something I would recommend. You get time to check out the schools yourself, and to know the area. DS does not legally have to go to school till he is 5 so you could in theory skip reception class.

And in Richmond Borough, once DC1 is in school, you can move and he/she keeps the school place if you want; or you go on the waiting list for a school closer to your new home if you prefer. They operate a siblings policy so DC2 will be almost certain to get into DC1's school. I too am useless at links but the education admissions section at Richmond Council will be very helpful to explain this to you.

Thanks all of you - at the moment, we have a tentative place at a private school in Richmond, going to see it after half term while I am in the UK. State system can´t do anything until we have an address, so the next step I guess is to find the house next!

So stressful, just want to get it all organised, easier said than done!