which areas of Greater London have most top state schools

[cuhk]

We are relocating to areas near to London and would like to know which areas in Greater London have most top/outstanding state schools to choose from, in order to increase in-year admission offer chances. Our kids are going for in-year admission to Year 3 and 5. We appreciate any advice. Thank you very much.

Surely you are much less likely to get in year admission in a top school.

Oh no. So there is zero chance. Any strategy to advise. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Lots of excellent state primary schools have a few places further up the school as families move/ relocate and as the demographics change. Depending on your budget you could try the boroughs of Richmond or Bromley. I don't know all the schools in detail but I know there are places in really excellent primary schools in Richmond LA.

I have no idea but I am just assuming that outstanding schools are less likely to have places.

You need to explain a lot more about what you mean by a "top" school - for example would you actually want a school in a very deprived area with the associated difficulties that the intake provides yet achieves great things with them.

Or do you actually mean a school that gets lots of high grades because it lives in an extremely advantaged area and has an easy time where the parents are able to intervene even if there are problems?

Lots of the more advantaged areas have lots of good schools, and London generally has lots of movement, so I actually think there'll be little problem finding a good school for a year 3 and 5 kid. I certainly wouldn't choose an area to live based on "top primary schools" for just a couple of years.

A lot of Central London schools have lost of movement, like Westminster, as they tend to have lots of EU and other country expats. But it depends what you want to do after, as I find that you would only benefit if you wanted to send your DC private afterwards, because top state senior schools are hard to come by centrally.

Why not call up borough admissions and ask which schools have places available in the years you need? Yr 5 was a bulge yr but Yr 3 better, I think.

Richmond has excellent primary schools but less than excellent secondary schools.

Most of London's state schools are pretty good, so it would be a better strategy, I think, to decide which area you'd like to live in (based on liking the area but also ease of transport for you/your partner to get to work).

Once you've narrowed that down, then have a look at the schools in the area.

Redbridge !

I'd look somewhere like Kingston. There are plenty of good primaries, with Tiffin on the doorstep for later on if your children are (very) academic.

Thank you very much for all the advice. Yeah , I’m looking for schools based on academic performance mainly (in an advantaged area) plus other things like care and respect.

And I would like to ask if only those “outstanding” (by ofsted) schools are good ones. What about those “good” (by ofsted) schools?

We are looking at places (preferably with more top schools) that are not too far from central London for commuters. We looked at Orpington Bromley but there are not many top schools, just a few there. So we really appreciated all your advice on other places provided above

Wandsworth borough has a lot of excellent schools
At primary, the most sought after are:
Honeywell and Belleville in the Northcote road area of Battersea
Beatrix Potter and Allfarthering in Earlsfield
Henry Cavendish and Holy Ghost in Balham

The desirable secondary schools in borough are Bollingbroke Academy and Graveny, and the Harris Academy is getting some amazing results, but isn't as as smart an area

The in-year admission may be a problem, but they have a lot of places open up at year 3 upwards, because a lot of parents do 'state til 8' and then move to private preps

The school year ends in 7 weeks. Are you going for in-year in the next 7 weeks? Will they be Y3 and Y5 or Y4 and Y6 from Sept?

As the PP says, current Y5, soon to be Y6 seems to be a real bulge year so if you have a child in that cohort I would target getting a place for them and fitting the younger one around. If your eldest is the year below and going into Y5 in Sept, that will be a bit easier as that year group is smaller.

Another one that says Redbridge. MAny , but not all , primary schools are excellent. THere are very good secondary schools and 11 plus grammars. Easy ( well, ok, central line!) access to Central London.
Downside is that this is an area with a rapidly expanding population, so pressure on school places is intense. You would be lucky to get in year places in two year groups in the best primary schools, and could well end up with being offered school places at opposite areas of the borough.

Yes, we are also aiming at top secondary schools in the future, especially those academic ones. So good areas with both top primary and secondary schools are within our consideration. Thank you very much for all the advice.

And by ofsted standard, are those "good" schools still good to attend? Or just those "outstanding" ones are good to attend? I mean in terms of academic and personal value (respect, care, etc) development. Should I also look at those "good" ones by ofsted standard?

And my children will be going for in year admission to Year 3 and Year 5 after we relocate. Commuting to central London needs to be considered as well.

Thank you very much again for the advice. We appreciate.

Look at the borough of Sutton. It has many of the top performing secondary schools, mostly grammar.
Primary schools good too.

Have a look at the ofsted criteria to understand better the inspection criteria. That aside, I think fit is the most important point. You might choose a good school over an outstanding one because it feels right for your children.

Have you looked at Beckenham? The Langley secondaries are very good, and a lot of primaries - two new ones in the area in the last five years, so places aren't as stretched at the moment as in other areas.

Good schools can be better than Outstanding ones.
Outstanding ones can be so busy meeting all the Ofsted criteria that they forget to do what is best for the individuals.

Our local 'good' school has a far better academic performance than the outstanding one.

I would completely ignore any Ofsted report from more than three years ago (many Outstanding schools haven't been inspected for a decade), and any school should be OK unless it got Requires Improvement, in which case it may well have improved in the last couple years.

I used to say Outstanding schools should be avoided, as they tended to weed out difficult/quirky/SEN kids and do a lot of teaching to the test, but then my kids' school got one despite not being like that - the criteria changed a few years ago.

I'd go for somewhere with lots of international families so there will be churn in the schools and local ones should be able to find places, and focus more on your commute.

Ealing borough has good state schools, primary and secondary. Northfields and hanwell have many good or outstanding schools.
Well connected transport wise too

Thank you so much for all the valuable advice.

Just want to double check, when my November-born elder one is doing Year 5 now, with the cut-off point of birth date Jan--Aug for intake each year in the UK, it means my November-born Year 5 one will repeat Year 5 in the UK after we relocate. Am I right?

How old will your eldest be in November this year?
And when are you moving?