St James’s primary school, Muswell Hill

[Schoolschool7]

Anyone got any experience with this school? Is this the sort of Church of England school where you have to attend church to get a place? Do they emphasise religion quite heavily in the curriculum?

It’s the closest school to a house we’re looking at, and we’re not religious at all. So am interested to know!

The admissions policy on the school website will tell you.

I had actually weirdly never visited its website, jojo, and I just looked and its slogan is “Learning to live, living to learn, learning from Christ” probably not aimed directly at a secular family then!

But it does look like a good proportion got into the school on distance from its admissions page. Thank you, jojo! Don’t know why I didn’t look at its website, only its ofsted and a google about parent opinions!

Would love to hear about any direct experiences though? Do any secular families send their children there?

You must be within the cut off for other Muswell Hill primaries? There are lots of
v good primary schools around MH so you can avoid a church school if you're not religious. The slogan would put me off!

The house we’re looking at doesn’t seem to be in the catchment for much. But this school is the closest. I’m not sure it’ll fit for us! Tricky. Looks like some of Muswell Hill is a school catchment zero zone!

I went to this primary school and did not come from a religious family-was just our local/nearest school.
The lessons themselves were not religious themed-just lessons of Maths, English etc but yes, there were assemblies where hymns were sung and nativity plays at Christmas. Other than that, a pretty normal primary school!

Wouldn't you be in the catchment for Coldfall? My kids went there - lovely school.

Sadly not, savage, have also heard lovely things about Coldfall - the flat is on the streets near Highgate Wood / Queen’s Wood (Woodland Rise, Woodland Gardens, Onslow Gardens way).

But good to hear it was ok for secular kids too! Did you have a positive school experience, chloe?

Learning to live, living to learn, learning from Christ”

If you’re pulling that face at the school motto I would pick another school that isn’t Christian.

Also, there’s much worse people to learn through than Christ- his was a message of love, forgiveness, compassion and peace.

rainbow I meant no disrespect. The slogan sounded like it was probably not a school for secular parents (one raised with no religion and one raised in another religion) is all!

Yes, Schoolschool7 I did have a positive experience. A lovely school from reception to year 6. Good memories of school fetes, playtime, friends-all the usual really!

What about Highgate Primary as the secular alternative? You would definitely get in on distance from the roads you mentioned. It is a lovely school.

Highgate Primary looks interesting, thanks noregrets! Massive catchment 😮

I wonder if most people on the roads I mentioned use private schools? that’s not our intention, but would be interesting to know if anyone does know?

We are on one of the roads you mention and we are private but know plenty of children locally in the state system. Maybe it's 1/3 to 1/2 in private? But this includes secondary as well as primary and a lot go private secondary from state primary.

When we went through the process, 3 or so years ago, I think I had the same concerns as you about being in the admissions dead zone from our house. However, the published admissions distances for the schools in Muswell Hill can be misleading because lots of children do go into the private sector and don't take up their state offers (which they still apply for). The published data doesn't reflect where children are admitted from in the 2nd (or further) sift(s). For that reason, Muswell Hill Primary and Tetherdown should be on your list to look at too, although you might not get them from first round offers.

Highgate Primary admissions distance is so large because many of the children from the houses closest to that school are in the private sector (think of the houses in the roads going up to Kenwood). It doesn't make it a worse school than the others in the area - it would have been our first choice if we had gone state.

Is it the sort of area where people rent a house or flat very near to their first choice school and then move?

How old are the children? Highgate Primary and St Michael's, maybe some of the other schools too, often have places for Year 3 due to transfer to prep school at that point for some children. I think they currently have spaces for most existing year groups, although nursery and reception are often oversubscribed.
St Michael's is lovely, lots of outside space. It is a C of E school, but has children from many different and no faiths.

MoverOfPaper I don't know anybody who has done that. I think it's a lovely area for kids.

It's a lovely school. There are pupils there from a variety of religious backgrounds, including none.

Am I right in thinking all schools in the state sector have to perform an act of daily Christian worship, irrespective of whether they are nominally CofE? So ‘secular’ schools may not be as secular as you are envisaging?

The non-religious schools discussed here do not have daily christian worship.

Bosco I don't think this has been true, at least in practice, across England, for a number of years.

My niece went here and they were all happy with it. Did require church attendance to get a spot though so worth checking if admissions do typically go out to distance. Most faith schools don’t typically publish that info like community schools do but a call to the school office should help. As others have said lots of good primaries around the area but you do need to look at catchments. You might find this site helpful as a guide. This is the “catchment” on offers day so doesn’t reflect that it might go further as people don’t accept their offer as a PP pointed out. But should give you a guide.
primaryschoolcatchment.co.uk/

I toured the school and it's quite a nice school. They give preference to church going people. But they are open to everyone. I wasn't looking for a religious school but the school seemed nice. It's a small school so had a very good vibe to it, like everyone knew everyone. The headteacher seemed nice as well. I gave it as one of our preferences but got into a higher preference school.
People have mentioned Highgate primary, which is very well regarded where we live. They have a video on their website, which gives a peak into the school and it's really fun.
You might also be in the catchment of tetherdown and muswell hill primary. The catchment seems tiny, but the list moves quite a lot. All the best.

Thank you all! I’m definitely taking note. Good to hear such positive things... and that waiting lists move quickly!

Do you mind me asking which school you went for in the end, confined?

We moved to get into Coldfall Primary School. They have a huge campus, bigger grounds than any other local school. They also have direct access to woods and have forest school in their curriculum. They also seemed to have lot more resources than couple of other local primary schools.
We liked Rhodes Primary as well.

Another thing, I know my BIL and his wife were keen on St James’s more for the fact that it was a one-form entry than other things. I think it’s the only one form entry school around (if that hasn’t changed) so may be something to consider if year size is important to you. We used to live in muswell hill too. It’s a lovely place to live and all the schools are well regarded.