Cypress School - South Norwood

[BBsouth]

We've seen a house we're considered buying really close to this school, but really umming and aahing as we don't know the area too well and heard mixed reviews on the school (was outstanding, now requires improvement) Can anyone give any insight? Thanks so much! Daughter due to start school next September

No idea now but my aunt went there many moons ago. It's a relatively affordable area (well it's still ridiculous because it's London but good for London). I moved 15 years ago, too urban and crowded

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/144626/cypress-primary-school/primary

It looks like the academic results have improved at the school. You'd need to read the Ofsted report to see why they failed. From experience, most schools that fail all atrocious but I've seen a couple fail over things (like schools policies) whilst the day to day working of the school was pretty good.

However, if you want affordable housing and fantastic state schools, you'd be much better off looking in the boroughs of Bromley or Sutton. Both are in the top 5 for primaries (in England), Sutton is number 1 for secondary attainment (in England) and Bromley also has many great secondaries.

I live in South Norwood/Crystal Palace and my DC attend Cypress. We've lived here for 10 yrs and love it.

JoJoSM2 is rightly proud of Sutton and it has some lovely areas. The key thing is whether you want to be somewhere that feels like London or are looking for somewhere suburban and more Surrey/Kent in feel. We looked at Carshalton, Sutton and Beckenham but chose Crystal Palace borders and are pleased we did.

We wanted that London feel coupled with great green space. We live in a quiet cul de sac with lovely neighbours and are 15mins walk to the Crystal Palace triangle for coffee, bars and restaurants. The SE25 postcode gives us cheaper housing. We're also 20 mins walk to Norwood Junction for fast trains to London Bridge (12mins) and 15 mins to South Norwood Lakes with its boat club.

Cypress Infants was Outstanding when we moved here but a badly handled merger with the juniors and a head out of her depth led to falling standards. It's been taken over by a local academy trust who have raised standards while keeping the community/creative feel. It's a lovely school with supportive parents. The nursery is brilliant (Ofsted singled it out for praise) They are due to be inspected next year post academisation. Behaviour is good and both DC have made good progress including my v able DD who is has been stretched academically.

Whereabouts are you looking?

Ptolemysghost, that's good insider knowledge and makes sense with the merger gone wrong.

Thanks very much for the replies, great to have some extra info on the school. The house we’re looking at is in Sunset Gardens so just a stones throw from Cypress. We’re currently in Sydenham and in the catchment of a brilliant school but need a bigger house so feels like a good time to move before our daughter starts school. We love Sydenham but can’t afford a much bigger house at the moment!
We definitely want to still feel like we’re in London and love Crystal Palace so round that way is top of the list. What’s South Norwood like in terms of community and family activities? We had a walk round the park and the lake recently and seemed very nice

Sunset gardens looks nice though school parking can be an issue - some local parents are looking into Cypress Rd becoming a school street (where Croydon restricts access to non residents at pick up and drop off) and traffic calming. The main challenge is that steep hill. Everyone hates it!

South Norwood can get a bad rap on MN and it is still rough around the edges. The high street is improving with new craft beer pubs and coffee shops. We also have an Aldi and a library (with good children's librarian). We're even getting a sourdough pizza place opening soon.

We have a community cinema screen25 which shows a range of arthouse films at Harris South Norwood school. Stanley Halls has choirs, bands, dance and fitness classes with live music.There's also a monthly farmers/ craft market.

In recent weeks we've had the South Norwood and Crystal Palace Overground festivals. Grangewood Park's annual picnic with bake off and dog show is tomorrow and usually lots of fun.

You're a few stops on the 410 or a walk up hill to Palace so you have all that nearby too. I do feel like we've got the best of Crystal Palace on a budget here.

Not sure if you're still looking in the area BBSouth but Cypress just received a good rating from Ofsted. The new report is here:
reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/21/144626