good primary schools in FINCHLEY?

[vannah]

also in education:

Can anyone recommend any exceptionally good primary schools in finchley? We live in crouch end at the moment, and although our local school is v good (coleridge) we desperately need a house and finchley looks sort of affordable, but have no clue about the schools there.

We recently thought about buying a lovely house in hatch end, near pinner. The local school there (grimsdyke) was excellent and the children and parents in the area looked very decent! But DH and I found it too depressing to move so far away from north london...

any other suggestions of other areas where there's a great school?
thanks

Where in Finchley? It's a big place, and there are loads of primaries around Finchley Central, North Finchley and East Finchley. I can do North Finchley and Finchley Central, but East Finchley is outside my comfort zone. Do you have any religious affliations? I went to a Catholic primary so know those particularly well.

thankyou shergar for replying, desperate for advice on finchley here!

Actually we have seen a property we love in north finchley, but not mad keen on the road - its woodgrange ave. Do you know if the primary schools in that catchment area are any good?
And although, driving around north finchley we didnt like much of it, we loved areas around east finchley like lincoln ave/rd which is quite near our favourite cinema:phoenix. But again, no clue about schools there.
Cant do catholic, but might be able to do church of england schools.

So, any advice?
Oh, we also drove around what might have been central or west finchley : gainsborough road. Lovely houses there but again, no clue about schools.

thankyou

Woodgrange Ave is nice, and the north end of North Finchley is nice, but south of Tally Ho corner it all seems to be kebab shops now! The ArtsDepot at Tally Ho corner is good for children - they have art classes and suchlike, and we went to a lovely show with the DCs on Sunday (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus). North Finchley is a nice, 'genteel' kind of place, and the local park, Friary Park, is lovely and has a fantastic cafe next to the playground!

Right, schools. My friend lives close to Woodgrange Ave and her son has started at St. John's primary (towards Friern Barnet), which is meant to be very good. It's C of E and so popular that going to the associated church (St. John's too) is pretty much essential. I haven't heard of any others that are good around there - all the non-Catholics seem to go for St. John's.

great thanks shergar, Im going to look into st johns maybe give them a call and see if I can look round school.
Nice to know that there are kids things happening and that a good park IS nearby, from driving around the area you really cant tell.
Called the agent re:east finchley this morning but a huge difference in property price!!! Obviously the lack of kebab shops!

thanks for helping x