Catholics primary schools in Portsmouth

[BraayTigger]

We are moving to Portsmouth this month as my husband is in the Navy and will be based there. Our 3 yr old DD will be starting school Sept 2019 so I need to get a move on figuring out which schools we will apply to. We are Catholic and I am hoping to find a lovely Catholic primary for her which has an excellent academic record.

I have been told that the schools in Portsmouth are generally below national average and will consider private if necessary but would prefer State for primary TBH (for financial reasons).

I'll start researching properly once move is over but just wondered if anyone has any experiences of Catholic primaries in Portsmouth?

Thanks!

Portsmouth is huge - whereabouts will you be based?

I wouldn’t say it’s huge, but traffic moving across the city is a nightmare so I’d be looking to avoid that if possible. All three schools are good, St Johns is the more diverse of the three and has lots of children for whom English is not their first language (typically Polish & Filipino children) but they manage it very well.

Do you know you will be based?

I'm not sure where you will be based but I used to work at a secondary school in the north of Portsmouth where some of the navy accommodation was based. None of the primary schools that fed our school were RC, but were better than some other schools not all that far away. It's a diverse city but with many schools that are or have been requiring improvement. It would be worth spending some time in and around the area if you have some choice as to where you will be living?

Hi all and thank you for your replies so far (& apologies went quiet didn't have alerts on..).

We will either be Drayton (so North), Southsea OR Lee on Solent. I have heard the traffic is bad given Portsmouth is very populated for the size of the city and is essentially made up of near Islands and I will need to work so proximity to the M27 is somewhat of a consideration.

I am not too worried if Junior isn't a "feeder" school to senior as we are likely to only be in Portsmouth a few years and will likely go Private for Senior. I just want a relatively academic junior with nice kids and parents (as we all do!).

Thanks re comment re diversity of some of the schools. I get there will always be different nationalities which is not a negative necessarily as long as well handled by staff (as you mentioned).

Thanks for replies, will look at St.Johns (Southsea) and am also looking further out towards Havant so St. Thomas's and also St Peter's (however the later was marked as needs improvement in last Ofstead).

Solent Juniors looks OK too and being near Drayton Patch might be OK.

I need to look at the schools on Lee next ...