Abacus Belsize Primary and Rhyl Primary schools in Camden

[LioraGori]

Hello, just wondering about opinions on these. Both schools have their pros and cons, and both schools have a pretty lukewarm reputation despite having good ofsteds.

Great to know some insights, what you think, know or have heard!

Cheers,
and have a great day!

The Head at Rhyl is very highly-regarded and the school has worked hard to turn itself around from several years ago when it had different leadership and from which a lot of its local reputation still unfortunately stems. It's reducing its PAN I hear, due to the changing demographics in the area and the fall in birth rate which is affecting almost all the inner London boroughs.

I don't know a lot about Abacus except the controversy over the location and that obviously it's the only Camden school with a defined catchment. It too has vacancies, for the same reasons above presumably.

If you are closer to Rhyl (and not sure how that works out with the Abacus catchment?) I'd go there. There's a huge amount to be said for proximity at Primary level, for all sorts of reasons. If I lived near Malden Road I would not want to spend 7 years going back and forth to Belsize Park for play dates and parties and never having a neighbouring family to help out with childcare crises.

Organisationally there's also a huge amount to be said for being part of the Camden set-up (as opposed to a free school), they are a top-notch LEA particularly at Primary level and with everything that's going on with education at the moment I'd want to be under that safety net.

Zinnia makes some very good points about Rhyl. I have friends with kids in Abacus, and visited myself, and find the ongoing issues with a permanent home problematic, some kids will have gone though the school thinking they were 'just about to move to Belsize Park' and spending the time in fact, at a school in Kings Cross. Has this been settled yet?

Camden has some amazing state schools, i'd ensure that you are also visiting all schools within your catchment area - Christchurch, Gospel Oak, Fleet as they all have a very different vibe and so many parents I know have walked into schools and said 'yep, this is perfect for my kids' without expecting it to. Nothing to lose by visiting. Both my kids went to Fleet but friends have kids at wide variety of schools in the area. All have pros & cons, but on the whole, massive pros.

Zinnia, Sambee1, thank you for your feedback! Yes, the Abacus School still have these issues with the property and they don’t have clarity on when and where they could move... This is an issue for all parties. But my daughter is 9 years old and we have only 1,5 years ahead. So my main concern is: who will be able to educate her better during this 1,5 years for the 11+ exams. Especially taking into account that we just moved to the country and she will need to bridge lots of gaps

From distance perspective, we live in 15 min of walking to the Rhyl Primary school and in 2 min from the Abacus bus stop...

Sambee1, thank you very much for the school references. Unfortunately right now only these 2 schools have vacant places for our age.

You also have Primrose hill, St dominics, fleet and, carlton , kentish town coe and gospel oak around there too.

Or is it just Rhyl and Abacus you are looking at?

If they are inbetween Rhyl and Abacus they won't get into Gospel Oak or KT, but worth looking at Primrose Hill & Fleet.

Remember just because they are the only one's you're offered, doesn't mean other places won't come up.

A question re:

" But my daughter is 9 years old and we have only 1,5 years ahead. So my main concern is: who will be able to educate her better during this 1,5 years for the 11+ exams. Especially taking into account that we just moved to the country and she will need to bridge lots of gaps confused"

Answer is neither really. State schools in Camden won't train her for the 11+ as almost all students go onto Camden State Secondary Schools which do not require the 11+?

Maybe some Abacus kids may have private teaching (as a lot of international parents) but not in classroom. Are you sure you're not looking for private schools? Or you'll definitely need private tutoring? (Or as an alternative, just not care about 11+ as may have no relevance?). Just checking you're not at cross purposes if coming from abroad and someone has confusing told you all kids do 11+ etc

For 11+ teaching you need to go private. Neither of those schools will provide any 11+ teaching at all. Both are really strong schools, but you need to go and visit them and see which setting you feel will work best for your child.

Are those really the only schools w places?? I think it might be worth ringing up all the CofE etc. ones locally, as I think they run their own in-year admissions.