Primary schools in Elmbridge council - cranmere, hinchley wood, Thames Ditton

[SazzieM]

Hi all,
we are looking to move to TD / hinchley wood / Esher way, but we have a 2.5year old and another on the way so trying to pre plan. Have seen some nice hinchley wood houses and a couple near esher station. From what I can see, both seem just out of TD infants / juniors (0.8miles) considering how over subscribed they are, one is in hinchley wood (which I know is a feeder to the secondary, but we aren't sure where we 100% want to be long term area wise yet). The places near esher station are 0.6miles from Cranmere, and just done the road from weston green prep.
Does anyone have good or bad things to say about those schools? I read a bit from a while ago that the governing body / head at hinchley wood primary was all over the place, but a few years ago so maybe it's settled?
Any reviews on Cranmere?
Weston green prep looks great, but committing to private fees from age 3 / nursery age for both seems a lot.
Any ideas on the catchment mileage if you don't yet have siblings at the schools?

Thankyou in advance, this school malarkey makes moving house so much more difficult!

If you look on the Surrey CC website you will find a tool for measuring distances from homes to local schools and also the details of offers made in past years so you can compare. Bear in mind that both Hinchley Wood School and Esher High have fixed catchment areas and also feeder schools. In the case of HW, if you are not attending one of the four feeder schools and living within about a mile of the school, within its fixed catchment, you won't get in. Going to Cranmere would mean Esher High not HW - this may not bother you, it's Ofsted Good. But if you are a HW or bust person (or want to keep options open) then you are looking at the feeder schools of TD Juniors, HW Primary, and Long Ditton St Mary’s (Claygate Primary also a feeder but check distance as many don't get in as too far). They are all feeder schools of equal status, it's not just HW primary, so definitely worth checking out Long Ditton on your search too.

Thankyou. I've had a look at the distance, but what it's hard to see is whether that would work for the HW feeder schools (which would defo be my preference just as we've had friends at a couple of them who have been happy etc, and I haven't heard great things about Cranmere but that was a while ago).
i don't really get how it works 'preference wise' - if our closest 2 schools are not preferences (1 is catholic and we are atheist, one would be Cranmere) but our other 4 closest and preferenced schools are 0.8 miles away - 1.1 miles away, do they have to give us a spot in one of those, or can they put my little boy in a totally diff school that we haven't preferenced?
None of those primaries have fixed catchments, and all seem oversubscribed and preference siblings etc etc, so it's really hard to know if we would be taking a gamble with distance, or if 0.8 miles for example would be ok.
thanks again!

You should always list the schools in your genuine order of preference, and include at least one school that you can be fairly sure of gaining a place at (if that exists), even if you aren't keen on it, as it is better to have a school you don't like that's nearby than one you don't like that you have to travel to.

Everywhere in England uses an equal preference system, which means that schools don't and can't use where you've ranked them to decide whether to offer you a place. If you list a school in your preferences, whether it's first or last preference, you'll be treated exactly the same, and everyone who has applied is listed in order of the admissions criteria. The only time the order of your preferences matters is if you are able to be offered a place in more than one school, in which case you will be offered the school that is higher in your preferences. If you aren't able to be offered a place at any of your preferences, you will be offered the nearest school that has places available after everyone else has been allocated places.

So no, they don't have to give you a place at one of your preferences, but the system tries to give you a place at the highest preference school it possibly can.

Hi. Have you thought about Long Ditton? Long Ditton St Mary's Junior School has just had an amazing Ofsted report. The school is on equal feeder status to Hinchley Wood Secondary. Long Ditton gives you the option of being in walking distance to Surbiton station.

What is your opinion on long ditton infant school

Good little school (smallest of the local schools as two form entry and just the infants), now in a federation with Long Ditton juniors so they share a (superb) headteacher. The tie up is really good news.