Super confused novice, naive...call me what u want..I need advice

[confusedhubby]

Hey Mums and Dads (if any around)

I am super confused about a few school choices and would appreciate some advice. There are three primary state schools I am keen on

• Marlborough Primary
• St Vincent de Paul
• St Peter's Eaton

Marlborough has a bigger and newer campus. St Vincent de Paul is a walk from me and St Peter's Eaton is a short walk and seems high on acads.

The cons:

• Marlborough has lower acad scores and seems laid back in the class room
• St Vincent De Paul is small and doesn't really stand out
• St Peter's Cofe seems to be good in acads but has almost no space outdoors and the last Ofsted was in 2006 (its rated outstanding)

There is a dark horse in this one - pimlico primary

My child is smart, intelligent and sensitive. I don't wish to be pushy in acads but also don't want to do injustice to a bright one. The dads not too bright tbh. I have put him in sports, drama, and piano and he enjoys all a bit but isn't outstanding. He is good at reading and maths.

Any suggestions on these schools or general guidance will be helpful. I am talking about year 1 admission. Schools are in Westminster.

Thanks

If they are state schools, do you have a realistic chance of getting into all/any of them, especially as a year 1 admission (do you mean into Reception?)
Go and look at any you can realistically get into, don't rely on stats and OFSTED reports.

Is your child currently in Reception elsewhere and you are planning to move into catchment for your chosen school and hope it has a space for Year One entry?

If so, surely your choice will need to be dictated by which school is most likely to have a space available?

If you want specific advice about specific schools, I'd suggest putting the school name or area in the title. Most people who click on a thread with a general title will never have heard of them.

I agree with PPs, if you want Year 1 entry you need to find out what schools have a place.

My reading of the figures you posted is that all the schools have reasonable academic scores - the higher results are most likely dictated by intake, and may be dictated by the school turning into an exam factory in Year 6.

Have you visited and asked specific questions?

Do you meet the criteria for CofE or RC schools? You've shortlisted one of each.

Out of the schools, St Peter's look like a decent primary for London. I wouldn't say the lack of outside space is a deal breaker necessarily. Primary children in state schools get very little outside time so you'd need to make sure your son has a chance to run around outside of school anyway.

The other two schools I wouldn't even want to consider and personally would move somewhere with better options. And even St Peter's would be somewhere to settle for slightly begrudgingly but I'm definitely a pushy sort of parent.

And if you are a family of faith, goth you have a chance in one of e really good faith schools in Kensington and Chelsea?

Thank you all for your comments. My notification was switched off and I didn't realise that you were trying to help me out.

@RedSkyLastNight There is a chance to get into all of them even though they are oversubscribed for reception. There are 1 or 2 places available in all of these schools due to some families emigrating.

@Patchworksack
No, we aren't a family of faith but I am not hassled by him attending a Cofe. I am keen on him learning the right values and don't mind if he gets influenced by the faith.

@PCohle Yes, he is in a school at reception which has lower scores than St Peter's Cofe and St Vincent De Paul. We choose his current school for more than average playing area that it offers for a central London location. But, we are thinking of a change.

It seems that St Peter's Cofe has so little opportunity for sports-related activities that they are ending up topping the acads due to their extra focus on it. St Vincent De Paul has a good mix of sports and acads but the average acad scores aren't as close as St Peter's Cofe.

@JoJoSM2 I don't have the option of moving out of this area.

May be answering these questions can help me firm up my choice:

• Are the scores of St Vincent De Paul of an acceptable standard?
• Should I choose St Vincent De Paul over St Peter's Cofe and end up choosing sports and settle for the lower acad score of St Vincent De Paul?

Many thanks

I'm not from your area so don't have experience of any of the schools you mention. I'd say the best predictor of how your child will achieve is how involved/supportive you are as a parent. The results may be to do with a different demographic of families and not the standard of teaching - obviously you want to ensure that there are opportunities to learn but I'm not sure results are always reflective of what goes on in school. I'm still slightly worried by your assumption that you can 'choose' which school you want - for state schools you express a preference, and then it's up to the LA who most closely meets their admission criteria - for some schools you need to be literally on their doorstep to stand a chance. Ensure that for at least one of your three choices you will definitely get in, otherwise they can offer you anywhere - likely to be the school nobody wants that is undersubscribed.

Sorry - just read your update that you are applying for Yr 1 place. You may still be on a waiting list though.

OP, it's a very individual thing. Parents will be happy with different levels of academics in their schools.

My perspective is slightly skewed as I'm down in Sutton which is one of the best LAs in the country. Alongside Kensington and Chelsea, Richmond, Kingston and now Bromley. If you search by borough on the comparison website, you'll see what truly academically desirable schools look like. By comparison, St Vincent de Paul, would be way below average in any of the above boroughs.

Having said that, it's still a bit above the national average attainment-wise so perhaps that's good enough for you.

OP I used to live in Westminster, namely Pimlico and Marylebone. I will try to tell you what I know and hope something helps.

Mr Scott-Cree, the Head of St Vincent du Paul was the deputy head at St Vincent's RC, Marylebone. He was a very sober minded young deputy who struck me as strict and friendly all at once. At some point, the Head of St Vincent RC, had to go to St Vincent du Paul to act as Head, and put things in place - but I never knew what the background was except they did not have a Head at that point. , this must have been around 4/5 years ago, and may explain why they are not "outstanding' just yet. Mr Scott Cree acted as Head of St Vincent, Marylebone at that point and did a great job and I think most parents agreed on this. When the original Head of St Vincent came back, Mr Scott Cree was appointed Head of St Vincent de Paul - we all just assumed that she had recommended him. My thoughts are that he is trying to bring the ethos from Marylebone to this school, and will try his best to make it 'Outstanding' as well. But that is just an assumption, hopefully a present parent would tell you if that is the case, but his personality is of a determined person from what I saw.

Before I had children, I lived in Pimlico and we had pamphlets through our letter boxes saying that Pimlico School - I think it was just a senior school back then, not sure as we did not give much attention - was so bad it was closing down. The community got together to try and get it into an academy or a free school rather than close. This worked, and now on that site you have Primary and Senior as well as a library and WAES operating from there - in the evenings I see basketball etc. In my view, even the students seem more motivated than over 10 years ago - those years ago, I used to see teens off to KFC, opposite Tesco and some were rude etc. I hear, there are also a few Oxbridge feeding from the Senior school.

I know little about St Peters Eaton. A friend had her child there, before moving him shortly to private. She was happy. She said the children have access to a nearby garden square and they are rated 'Outstanding' on ofsted.

Surprisingly, for me, I have never heard of Marlborough primary in this area.

Feel free to ask if you need more info.

I did some work in Pimlico School around the time it became an academy. It was a bit weird in that you had some children of politicians and diplomats etc but a real dive otherwise. There were loads of very rough kids, frequent violence and verbal abuse towards teachers, kids coming in drugged up/smelling of weed etc. Whilst schools can improve, you can't really change the catchment and the backgrounds of pupils so it's not a school for the faint hearted...

This is awesome. Thanks, @JoJoSM2 @Patchworksack @Feelbad1 for helping me out.

St Vincents results don't look great in comparison, then you see the high % eal and that's really good going!
They all look OK. I'd go have a look round and see which one feels nicest. I think outdoor space is really important in primary.

@User7777

EAL children outperform white British if you look at attainment nationally.

Tbh, OP, if you’re son is an intelligent kid, I’d be tempted to go for the school with the highest percentage of children achieving ‘higher standard’ as they are clearly able to stretch the bright ones.

The national curriculum is so advance in itself these days I don’t think you need to worry about academic stretch. Just go for the one you like the feel of best.

And looking at your data if you allow for proportion of SEN and FSM children there is literally nothing in it.

Is your child happy and achieving where he is?

Are you aware how upsetting it can be to change schools? Obviously you know your child but I wouldn't be in favour of moving a child unless there was good reason.

@JoJoSM2 This is primary, they might not have been in the country many years but still have to do sats. Language can make a big difference in ks2.
I still reckon go to each and see which feels best, there's v little in it.