Caterham / Old Couldson schools

[LillyC]

Dear mumsnet community
As I write, I just had my 2nd sale falling through (first one was where I live in twickenham, but this one was a big blow as I had made the offer in February and only now it just failed....). I need to apply for schools this year and I can't risk DD missing it (she's already a 1st of week september girl!)
I know about the schools in old couldson and this is why I had chosen the area. I saw an house today there but requires some work and modernization. However, I realized you can get a nice one in Caterham area. One I'm meant to see is close to Audrey and another one is close to St Johns. Any experiences from the schools in that area? I've tried to do my search online but everything I find is quite old. Need to make my mind this next week on staying in Couldson (as the properly I just lost) or moving down to Caterham.
Thanks in advance for reading this and more so if you share your feedback.
Thank you!

Hi 👋 as you have probably seen I was looking for similar answers last year! Now my DD has a place at a local school and starts in September. I obviously don’t have any advice on how good it is (as she’s not started yet) but I would definitely recommend going to all of the school’s open mornings. I think I visited about 6 different schools in the end! You can only put 4 on the application form and chances are you will get the nearest one to where you live anyway. Have you decided on Caterham or coulsdon yet? Honestly I think most of the primary schools are pretty good around here. You know your own child and if they would be suited to a bigger / smaller school and you also get a bit of a gut feeling when visiting the different schools. Not sure how they will run the open mornings this year with everything going on though that’s a different matter entirely!! X

I've decided for Coulsdon in the end. I was deciding between a house in Caterham close to st johns CoE and close to South couldson and decided for South coulsdon. I would have been happy with Caterham on the Hill as well but there were no chain free houses available. Not sure how the open days will work this year given the virus. Only one school has a plan already for open day in October. And also have to view nurseries as well because she only goes to school in sept 2021

Best of luck with viewing schools and nurseries! I know quite of the coulsdon ones too (feel free to pm me!) How is the school you’ve mentioned said they will do their open morning? Smaller groups? Hope your move goes well x