Primary Schools in the Blackheath area

[Purple1984]

Could anyone with children currently at primary school in Blackheath please tell me what you think about the local schools? We have 2 boys under 3 and we are considering making an offer on a house in the village area but we are unsure about schools as we don’t know the area well as we are from another part of London.

We are looking at both state and private schools. It would be particularly helpful to hear from any parents with children currently at Blackheath Prep, John Ball, Heath House, All Saints or St Margaret's (although I think this one might be too far from the house).

Any opinions on the teaching quality, extracurricular activities and the school in general would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Anyone?

My DD is at All Saints. We're extremely happy with the school and could not recommend it highly enough. We've always found the teaching quality to be excellent and for a small school it offers a very wide range of extra curricular clubs. My dd has done everything from football and hockey to mandarin and Spanish to Kung Fu.

That being said, all the schools in Blackheath are excellent and I'm sure that you'll also hear positive experiences of the other schools on your list.

My DD is also at All Saints. (Waves to @BlackLambAndGreyFalcon)

Absolutely amazing school, wonderful Head and teachers, who have gone above and beyond to ensure DD’s happiness.
Teaching standards are great, and it’s a very nurturing, happy school.

I agree that the pastrol care at all saints is generally good. i disagree re teaching standards, academically it is weak and does not assist students enough. some of the teachers had been there far too long. Parent/ teacher interaction is poor and many of the teachers accept mediocrity whilst telling parents there children are doing well. Lockdown was a wake up call for many parents. The schools handling of lockdown was dismal with no attempt to maintain normal teaching. All saints suits parents who are comfortable and prepared to do a lot of extra education at home. if you can afford to go private .. GO ! night and day between them and state schools.. dont kid yourself .. you get what you pay for. also think about where you children are going next .. ie if you want your daughter close to home at blackheath high then get her into the junior school. for your son a prep school will help their get ready for a private school or a grammar. so in reality the choice of school comes down to how much you are prepared to to teach them yourself at home.

@BlackLambAndGreyFalcon

My DD is at All Saints. We're extremely happy with the school and could not recommend it highly enough. We've always found the teaching quality to be excellent and for a small school it offers a very wide range of extra curricular clubs. My dd has done everything from football and hockey to mandarin and Spanish to Kung Fu.

That being said, all the schools in Blackheath are excellent and I'm sure that you'll also hear positive experiences of the other schools on your list.

all saints in sep 2019 was only rated good

Thanks for your reply. I think all saints is currently at the bottom of our list due to the poorer teaching quality compared to other schools although it’s good to hear that the pastoral care is good.

We are leaning more towards aiming for John Ball now if we do move locally although the results seem to be going down hill a little there. Do you know much about John Ball (or any of the other schools for that matter)? We only have boys so I think Blackheath High isn’t an option unfortunately.

When you say that you’d recommend going private, do you mean in general or do you think the state schools in Blackheath are significantly poorer than the private schools there (and were you just referring to secondary schools)?

Thanks for your help.

Thanks

That should have been @blackheathdad. Still working out how go use the website!

Thanks for your replies @BlackLambAndGreyFalcon and @tigerbear

john ball is a bigger school so there a pluses and minuses there .. it is different to all saints as non denominational. Both all saints and john ball are good state schools, john ball was last checked in dec 2013. If you want your boys to go to a grammar school you will need to tutor them yourselves or get tutoring. Blackheath prep and heath house are the best private schools for boys. Blackheath prep assess the children (and the parents) so you need to pass that to get in. If you want you boys to get into grammars should you be living in bexley, it makes life a lot easier ! i would be moving to an area considering which secondary school to go to rather than which primary school. in general, the difference between a state school and private school is that state schools need you to achieve the minimum, private schools need you to achieve your maximum so that they have a business. different pressures each way. a smart kid with good parents will do well in any of the schools. a child that needs some help and or parents dont have as much time will do better in a private school. it really is apples and oranges.

@blackheathdad thanks and I will keep that in mind when deciding. Which state primary in Blackheath would you say is the best for fairly quiet boys who are likely to be at least reasonably academic?

i dont know much about st Margarets but here decent things about the school .. that is more like all saints as both CoE. Best to go and see all 3, ask if you can meet the head teacher for a chat .. look out for their christmas fetes .. that will give you a good guide to the school .. gut feel is important. I think all saints has more local students than john ball one big plus for all saints and boys is that they use the heath as their playground. they are also very active in saturday morning football practice and participate in the lewisham schools competition which is played on the heath. So for an overall package all saints would be my choice just be willing to help steer the educaton side if you want a grammar or private secondary school.

goodness @blackheathdad seems to have a strong opinion on every school in the village!!

All Saints is v tricky to get into because its so small and has a sibling policy. Plus of course you have to be religious - or pretend to be.

They are all decent schools. John Ball is bigger and has better facilities. There's also Brooklands and Brindishe (in Lee) which have good local reputations?

If you are aiming for the grammars at 11+ then there is no need to move to Bexley at all - not sure where that comes from? Kids from the village go to various Bexley and Kent grammar schools.

of course you should have strong options on schools .

catchment area for brindishe is a very small , it is an outstanding school

of course kids form the village go to grammars ... the most gifted or the most tutored will get into grammars although many more private schools kids are going to grammars so it is getting harder and harder to be in the top 180

but if you live the borough you do not need to be in the top 180 candidates and you are taught the 11+ criteria so yes if you want your children to go to grammars then moving to bexley would be a smarter move to me than being in blackheath in my opinion

john ball vs all saints also comes down to uniform .. if you dont like uniforms then you will like the ethos of john ball ..

they are different schools with different priorities

john ball and all saints are both lewisham schools re sibling policies

at all saints there are open places and foundation places so you do not need to religious to attend but yes the school is CoE so again another aspect you need to make a decision about

your pretend to be comment was necessary

no the whole point is that catchment for the grammars often extends to include Blackheath - you don't have to be in the top 180. my dd got a place on offers day. a neighbour got an offer in late august. neither were top 180.

am all for strong opinions. just that having strong opinions on every school in a village (when surely you don't have personal experience of them all) is rather strong.

think the differences between john ball and all saints comes down to more than uniform. for one you need your application endorsed by your vicar so you need to be religious (or pretend to be. I stand by that)

@ChnandlerBong Hi and thanks for your reply. Can I ask you which school your daughter was at if they left recently (that’s if you don’t mind saying) and what your thoughts are on it and any other schools in the local area please? I think we would have to rule out all saints as we are not religious and it the academic record isn’t great.

Thanks for suggesting Brindishe. I would certainly consider it but I think it may be too far as we are looking to be as close as possible to Blackheath station for commuting.

@Purple1984 mine were both at the Prep. Not sure any of my opinions are relevant as the Head has since changed. Hearing good things though?

The other Blackheath primary school is Brooklands- inspirational head and only single form entry - catchment is easy walk to either Blackheath or Kidbrooke - as is Wingfield which is coming up and might be worth a look?

I've seen a lot of opinions about how the education standards of All Saints is low. Is this based on pure assumptions of rather some facts?

How about we check the facts, which are here:
www.allsaints.lewisham.sch.uk/Transition-to-Secondary-School/

There you can see which Secondary Schools pupils from All Saints end up at. And I see quite a few grammar school in the list. Let's take year 2020:
Bexley Grammar - 1
Newstead Woods Grammar for Girls - 2
Chislehurst & Sidcup Grammar - 5!

Using these numbers, some quick math gives me this: out of 25 pupils in one school year (that's what All Saints have), in 2020 we got 8 of them in grammar schools, which represents 32%. Now, @blackheathdad, I hope you did the same math, because for me, 32% doesn't look like "academically it is weak".

Also, a lot of them end up at Grey Coat Hospital, a very prestigious state school in Westminster - in the same 2020 they had 3 pupils going there, and in 2021 they had 5. Never herd of Grey Coat Hospital? Check where Michal Gove's daughter(www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/04/michael-gove-education-secretary-child-state-secondary-school) and David Cameron's daughter (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2983395/Cameron-s-daughter-state-secondary-Church-England-school-strict-detention-looking-clock.html) go to.

Another school where they had pupils going to in the last 4 years is Colfe's, which is a very well known local private school with great results.

Ofsted report was also mentioned - do not put too much into that, it's a single day inspection where a lot of things can go either way. Also look at when was the last time a school was inspected - John Ball is looking at almost 10 years soon. All Saints was outstanding for many years before 2019. Because of a single day inspection - things suddenly crashed and it's now "academically weak"? There's no logic in that.

All Saints is an outstanding school because of where pupils end up once they finish it. Judge on that, use that to compare it with other schools.

My bad for wrongly stating that one school year had 25 pupils - it actually has 30, in which case the percentage of pupils which end up at grammar schools in 2020 is 26%, which is still something that makes the case for the above arguments.

All saints children do get into grammars and other selective schools (just as other state schools do) but I suggest that is due to the efforts of the parents rather than the efforts of the school.

i would say the ethos of the school makes it outstanding (and the ethos is actually more important longer term but do fall into the trap that you are not in the state system which is mostly about gaining minimum expectations

the question was about local schools .. but for any parent choosing between state and private and they are considering where to go to in secondary school .. the reality is if you go state you need to be far more involved with your children's education than you do if you go private and yes this applies to the 11+ preparation

@blackheathdad

All saints children do get into grammars and other selective schools (just as other state schools do) but I suggest that is due to the efforts of the parents rather than the efforts of the school.

i would say the ethos of the school makes it outstanding (and the ethos is actually more important longer term but do fall into the trap that you are not in the state system which is mostly about gaining minimum expectations

the question was about local schools .. but for any parent choosing between state and private and they are considering where to go to in secondary school .. the reality is if you go state you need to be far more involved with your children's education than you do if you go private and yes this applies to the 11+ preparation

meant to say

i would say the ethos of the school makes it outstanding (and the ethos is actually more important longer term) but do fall into the trap that you are forget that you are in the state system which is mostly about gaining minimum expectations

Hi OP. Welcome to Blackheath! It's lovely.

My son went to John Ball for Year 6 (after we moved into the area) and it was truly amazing. Couldn't be happier. All the parents I met, who had their children there for all of primary, were really happy with it.

About half the class moved on to local private schools for secondary and this seems like a good strategy to me, why spend all that money in the primary years when there's an Outstanding state school right there. Save it for secondary.