Bristol Schools

[David1980]

Hi Everyone,

Am after a bit of advice on primary schools in the Westbury-on-trym or Henleaze areas.

We are moving back to Bristol in the new year after having lived in South West London for the past 3 years.

New house is just off Falcondale road and we are researching schools for my eldest. She is just turning 4 so will be starting in Reception next September - as such applications need to be submitted in January!

We know Bristol pretty well as have lived there for 20 years before moving to London. However we don't have a clue about schools and even less about the ones we can realistically get my daughter in to.

Have done a bit of research online at performance & subscription levels and can see there are a few stand out options which look like they could be good: Elmlea, Henleaze Junior & Westbury-on-trym CofE.

In terms of "catchment areas" and distance, we would be very lucky to get into Elmlea, Henleaze is probably 50:50 and WoT looks like a cert on distance.

Really just keen to know if anyone has any experience of the above schools. Have read up on performance but am more thinking along the lines of happiness of the children, extra curricular & any problems or issues people have experienced.

Really appreciate any views people have and guidance you can provide as we don't really have a clue - its all a bit overwhelming as we understandably want to do the best we can for daughter no1!

Thanks,

David

If you go on the Bristol city council website under schools, there is a find a school service where you put in your postcode and it comes up with your closest schools.
Won't you need to apply to Henleaze infants rather than the juniors?
Have you considered St Ursulas academy - that would be one of your closest schools?
Have you considered any of the city wide options? Cathedral Primary takes children from a wide area for example.

Thanks for the message. Yes good point on the infants vs juniors front, I’ll be honest I didn’t understand the difference but do now! Will go on the site you suggested now and have a look. Don’t really know much about any of the schools really so definitely open to any that are nice. From reading some of the posts on hear it sounds like you generally get allocated the closest school to you regardless of preference so may well be academic (unless opting for a city wide option as you note). Any thoughts on elbow parents find any of the schools would be really appreciated thanks!

My understanding is that St Ursula's primary academy is the overflow school set up to create more school places in that area.
My personal preference is for all through primary schools rather than separate infants and juniors. The argument is that sometimes there is a drop in performance when children move from infants to junior school.
If you have more than one child I would also check the logistics for separate infant / junior schools. How close are they together? Do they have different school starting / finishing times etc and would this cause you a problem if there were differences?

You make your top three choices based on order of preference. Each school then allocates working outwards from the school until all places are full. So you won’t get allocated your closest one if you choose another and that one has space for you based on how many others between you and the school have applied there. As a result of this system there are no defined catchment areas but you can look on the councils website (search for the furthest distance table) to gauge how likely you are to get into each place, based on the last few years.

You make your top three choices based on order of preference.
You only have room for 3 preferences on the application form in Bristol.

Hi Both, thank you for the great advice. We do have another daughter who has just turned one so the infant/junior point will come into play at some point. Having looked at the past acceptance distances sounds like WoT will be the one we are most likely to be accepted into, closely followed by St Ursulas. Silly question but... are you aware of any way of contacting existing parents at the schools to see what they think of the school? I’d imagine most will be happy with the relevant school but you never know :)

You could try joining and posting on a local community Facebook group. I’ve seen posts on our local page asking about primary school options and people have been very helpful in responding.

Search for the BS9 Families Facebook group, lots of families from all three schools on there.
I'd say there all pretty similar schools really. Predominantly white, middle class catchment, not very diverse. Henleaze Infants failed their most recent OfSTED.

Henleaze infants did have a bad ofsted report, they hadn’t kept up to date with all the changes to the curriculum - so they were teaching kids english etc but not necessarily covering all the “fronted adverbials” and other stuff that has been introduced in the last few years but that most adults have never heard of. They’ve updated everything now. So I wouldn’t worry too much about that aspect tbh. It’s a good school and the children are happy.

Great. Thank you all so much for the guidance. Will check out the Facebook groups as suggested. Very interesting about the ofsted for Henleaze. I had heard that it can be quite subjective so not a be all. Very much appreciate your help everyone :)

I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the schools you’ve mentioned. I would say wot has a more village feel and is smaller, st Ursulas has great facilities and outdoor space, including its own forest school, the ofsted from Henleaze wouldn’t bother me, lots of people happy with the school, kids happy which is what matters.

Elmlea is the best of the schools you mention and is most people's first choice.

@bs9er

Why is it the best?

Ofsted outstanding doesn’t automatically mean it’s the best.

From what I gather lots of kids there have tutors and are affluent so the results there are bound to be good- that doesn’t make it the best for all kids, it means it’s pretty easy to get good SATS scores there

Also worth bearing in mind that Outstanding schools were often classed as such some time ago. They don’t get regular inspections once they’re classed as outstanding and sometimes get complacent or practices change but they retain the outstanding rating because Ofsted haven’t been back-look at what happened at Henleaze. From outstanding to requires improvement in the space of one visit. I wouldn’t put much stock on an outstanding rating unless it was recently given.

Elmlea is meant to be good but all these local schools are good. The new ish head at St Ursulas used to be at Elmlea too.

No more affluent than the other schools you mention. The vast majority of children go onto Bristol free school. It’s pretty difficult to buy a family house anywhere in BS9 for under half a mil these days. There are still some children from much less affluent backgrounds at elmlea though. Obviously. All I have noticed is that as children leave (and their are lots of medics so there is turnover) their places are filled with children who have previously been at st u’s, henleaze, stoke bishop and wot. I’ve got a lot of friends in the area and know of children being bullied relentlessly at both henleaze and st us. Henleaze has a new infants head and she is a brilliant woman so I suspect will turn that around though.

You are right that the demographic at elmlea is affluent though. It’s also proactive and in previous years the PTA has raised huge amounts for the school (£40k plus in a circus year). It’s got a different head now but historically the leadership has been excellent. The tutoring I’ve seen is to pass the indi school entrance exams not general tutoring for sats etc. It’s a state school and there are a mix of ability children but they are very good at putting children in additional help groups (or extension classes for that matter). Most parents pay the voluntary donation.

I haven’t said the other schools are sink schools. We are very fortunate in this area to have a host of good schools to choose from and op will be fine at any of them. But it is a fact that elmlea is by far the most popular and people move house and pay huge sums to get into it. We turned down an independent place when allocated it but would have taken the indi if we had got any of the other schools.

It’s a 3 form entry school and aside from sports provision (which is actually pretty good) and class size I thought the facilities were better than at bgs.

That’s interesting to hear your experiences @bs9er
I’ve lived locally for years and have never heard of anyone moving house to get into Elmlea. The reason being (I assume) is you’re then in the catchment for BFS at secondary level which isn’t great like so many Bristol secondaries. There are so many other great primaries that in my experience people move house later on, the other way towards Redland/Cotham to get into one of those secondary schools. Don’t get me wrong, Elmlea has a great reputation but I’ve never known it to be head and shoulders above other local options, just one of several great primaries.

I agree @SnailortheWhale, I live locally as well and have never heard anyone talk about Elmlea as being any more desirable than the other primary schools in the area.

@David1980 I've got 3 at WoT - very happy with it. Oldest in Y6 so we've been all the way through and kids very happy there, and all doing well. My experience is that they offer excellent support for students who are struggling but if you want a push for more gifted students you may have to seek it out.

I will try and appraise you of the possible negatives so you can weigh them up!

New headteacher came in a few years ago and she is fab - tough but fair, and she made a couple of contentious decisions during lockdown, but the school is doing well under her leadership. She really does know every child, and every family, and what's going on with them, and my kids all love her.

It's got a bit of a "villagey" feel and a lot of people there will have done baby groups together etc, and they are quite active in the local community, so if you're shy or don't want to get involved in things then don't plan to make friends at the school gate! But if you want to get stuck in it's a great community.

They are a faith school and they do attend church and do have the tenets of Christianity woven into their teaching, if that's something you would consider a pro or con. They have a balanced RE curriculum and pupils practising other faiths but worth taking into consideration.

Also since lockdown there has been a heavy reliance on "Seesaw" which is an online learning app. In the 6 years between my oldest and youngest starting there has been an increase in the amount of homework you are set with young ones, and it's been worse this year, especially as they are moving a lot of it online which I don't personally like. However we've found they don't expect KS1 to complete everything, it's more additional optional activities but it can feel overwhelming especially for new parents!

Finally, it is a two form intake and they mix up the classes at the end of each year. This isn't generally popular, especially in the lower school, but obviously they do take into account friendships and will keep children with close friends. It has been good for my older daughter as she has made new friends from being moved around and I think she's better prepared for moving on to secondary school and moving classes there.

Honestly by and large the BS9 schools are all very worth looking at - I know one person who was unhappy with St U's but this was a good 7 or 8 years ago and her son is now happily at secondary having gone via WoT.

Welcome back to Bristol - it's the best place to live!

Thank you for the great insight @Chocolateandamaretto. Have seen a fair few posts now talking about the vibe of the school being villagey which is good to know. I suppose we don’t know whether our daughter has any special needs as of yet but I’m sure that will come out pretty soon if she does. Thanks again for the balanced review. Lots to think about! Can’t wait to be back in Bris. Just need to push the house purchase through now!

There is much better choice in primary than when my two were younger. I must disagree snail when you say BFS is not good. I have two kids there and they are very happy and doing well. It has strong pastoral care. The head that started a few years ago is a very strong leader and has a great vision for the school. It is getting more popular. I wish people would have more faith in the local school. There is a lot to be said for children being able to walk to school with their friends. I am very impressed with BFS and would recommend it to anyone.

That’s good to hear @disappointed101

I’ve only heard not so good things, plus the Ofsted isn’t great but it would be fab if it’s turning around.

@David1980

How did you get on? Lots of friends live around the area you’re in and said the catchments were the biggest they’ve been in years!

My kids are currently at wot. It’s been lovely. Fab community feel to the school, good teachers. Both my kids are under the senco too and she’s been great. I’d definitely recommend the school.

[quote Chocolateandamaretto]@David1980 I've got 3 at WoT - very happy with it. Oldest in Y6 so we've been all the way through and kids very happy there, and all doing well. My experience is that they offer excellent support for students who are struggling but if you want a push for more gifted students you may have to seek it out.

I will try and appraise you of the possible negatives so you can weigh them up!

New headteacher came in a few years ago and she is fab - tough but fair, and she made a couple of contentious decisions during lockdown, but the school is doing well under her leadership. She really does know every child, and every family, and what's going on with them, and my kids all love her.

It's got a bit of a "villagey" feel and a lot of people there will have done baby groups together etc, and they are quite active in the local community, so if you're shy or don't want to get involved in things then don't plan to make friends at the school gate! But if you want to get stuck in it's a great community.

They are a faith school and they do attend church and do have the tenets of Christianity woven into their teaching, if that's something you would consider a pro or con. They have a balanced RE curriculum and pupils practising other faiths but worth taking into consideration.

Also since lockdown there has been a heavy reliance on "Seesaw" which is an online learning app. In the 6 years between my oldest and youngest starting there has been an increase in the amount of homework you are set with young ones, and it's been worse this year, especially as they are moving a lot of it online which I don't personally like. However we've found they don't expect KS1 to complete everything, it's more additional optional activities but it can feel overwhelming especially for new parents!

Finally, it is a two form intake and they mix up the classes at the end of each year. This isn't generally popular, especially in the lower school, but obviously they do take into account friendships and will keep children with close friends. It has been good for my older daughter as she has made new friends from being moved around and I think she's better prepared for moving on to secondary school and moving classes there.

Honestly by and large the BS9 schools are all very worth looking at - I know one person who was unhappy with St U's but this was a good 7 or 8 years ago and her son is now happily at secondary having gone via WoT.

Welcome back to Bristol - it's the best place to live![/quote]
I’m wondering if I know you 👀 as my son is currently in year 6

I’d pretty much agree with what Chocolate said too. I also know someone who moved her children from st Ursulas to wot not long ago but on the other hand, anyone else I’ve spoken to about st Ursulas has always been happy with it so either of those choices are good ones I think.