Southwark Schools

[Lilipa]

I am trying to decide on which school to send out son for reception in September, in Southwark are but I am so confused. Any insights from any other parents that have been looking for a primary school in the Southwark council? I am interested in Friars and Charles Dickens so far.

Did you get any replies? We are wondering the same!

Hello. Which areas of Southwark?

My children go to Charles dickens. It's an outstanding primary school according to ofsted and it shows - it's a great school, with dedicated teachers and also very innovative. Both kids are best happy there and I feel so fortunate that they go there - it's an oversubscribed school.

I don't know much about Friars - I looked around when applying for primary schools for my eldest and liked it. It went ok our list but behind Charles dickens in terms of preference

When we looked round Charles Dickens & Friars we felt that the school's had similar ethos, approach etc and the main difference was size of schools. Charles D had Ofsted outstanding rating before it became an academy in 2020 but I have had mixed reviews from friends with children there particularly on pupil behaviour/ absenteeism not effectively tackled and it's impact on the rest of class.

Our child is at Friars, it has a good rating and we are so pleased with our choice. It has a very caring environment and does challenge children academically. Staff have been there a number of years and get to know children and families well. My child is thriving there and loves going to school.

I have also had great reviews on Riverside and Boucher if you are in the (small) catchment for those schools.

This is an old thread but I wondered if you ended up going with CD in the end? I’m relatively close by but I’m struggling to find the actual distance of the last offer on the Southwark website (I think because it’s a foundation school maybe they don’t publish it in the same way)

Thanks!

They don’t publish it but I emailed them and they said it’s usually around the 600m mark