Primary schools Amersham

[Looking2Move]

My family are hoping to move to Amersham this summer. I am organising visits to primary schools in the area. Chalfont valley has offered a visit straight away as have spaces for my DDs current year group. I am assuming Chesham Bois, Woodside, Elangeli etc are better schools as are currently full ? We loved the feel of the area and could see ourselves living there. Very popular though! Thanks

Congratulations on your move! We moved to Amersham a few years ago and love it😀I'm assuming your DD is Y3+ as there are also infant schools St. George's and Chestnut Lane. All of the schools around here are well regarded, with a minimum of 'Good' Ofsted ratings, but like anywhere, schools have different reputations based on historical opinion or out of date info. This often means saught after schools with good reputations are not as outstanding as they used to be, and ones with bad reputations are actually much better now. Chalfont Valley falls into the latter category, I've only heard good things recently. Also look at St. Mary's in the old town and Our Lady's in Chesham Bois if you haven't already, but visiting as many as you can will give your a good indication. Good luck with the move!

Thanks for your post MudandParsnips, much appreciated!
We are viewing Chalfont Valley soon. Some of the others are saying they are full and are encouraging me not to visit. I will still try to see them so our DD can go on their waiting list if we like any of them. She is currently in year 4. I'd like to visit Elangeli, St Mary's, Woodside, Chesham Bois and Little Chalfont.
Do you know of these schools ? We spent the day there on Saturday and have always loved the area.

@Looking2Move I know all of them snd they are always popular. Historically Chalfonts Valley has not been and often has places. As the other schools have not expanded, they are always full. If they are not that keen on you visiting it’s because they might already have a waiting list or they know they will probably win an appeal. The school with the space is the one you will get and you cannot be in catchment for all the schools you list.

Our Lady’s is Catholic and doesn’t suit everyone. Bucks c c runs a list of schools showing spaces. However you need to have a Bucks address to get a place I think. I’m fairly sure they cannot hold a place open for you above a child in catchment for example. You need to check it all out on the Bucks web site.

Thanks TizerorFizz

We will definitely be moving into catchment area. The admissions team advised we give 3 choices and they'll let us know which she will get offered. They said people are moving all the time so it's difficult to give numbers. We will take our chances!
If you have any knowledge of specialist schools in the area I'd be keen to hear your comments. I also have a DS I need to find a secondary school place for. I've heard Stoney Dean has a good reputation but they are oversubscribed. Story of my life ! Thanks again..

@Looking2Move He would need at EHCP to get there and I’ve no doubt dc are waiting for places. No special school will have spare places I would have thought so you might have to look at secondaries. You will need to talk to Bucks about that too. @Looking2Move Catchment area for which school? You won’t be in catchment for every school you have named.

Thanks TizerorFizz he does have an EHCP. I will contact my local authority as know they will need to transfer to over to Bucks. There's no number for Bucks SEN department, only contactable via email !
I don't know which school catchment yet. We have visits booked in the next week.

If it is an In Year application catchment won't really be relevant especially with an ehcp.

Thanks LIZS The catchment relates to a mainstream primary school for my daughter. I am looking for both mainstream primary and special secondary. Thanks for your comment though. It all helps !

You might like to look at Great Missenden Combined, Chalfont St Peter Academy, Chenies and Robertswood Schools. They have vacancies and Gt Missenden was a surprise to me. I have not looked at Ofsted reports but as your other options are full, at a quick glance, you might need to think where else you might consider. I’m not sure that the popular schools in Amershsm and Little Chalfont see much movement. I was a governor at another school not far away and by y4 parents are focused on 11 plus and the vast majority aren’t going anywhere. We rarely had a vacancy.

@Looking2Move Depending on your son’s needs, Egerton Rothesay in Berkhamsted might be an option. It’s a private school but many children attend with places fully funded by their LA. Lots of children come from Bucks.

DibbleDooDah thanks for your comments. My son is not that academic, he's working to around 3-4 years below peers and has some sensory needs. Thank you though. Where do students typically move to as I notice the age is until 13 years?

@Looking2Move It’s a school that fills the gap between mainstream education and those who need a lot of extra support and it definitely goes through to 18 and has a sixth form. They offer vocational and functional skills qualifications as well as more traditional ones.

I know of two families there - one with ASD and one who is a bit behind. One of the main criteria for admission is that they do not accept children who are disruptive. The children are nice kids who work hard - just have a few barriers to learning.

It’s worth a chat with admissions anyway.

Hello! @Looking2Move Just wondering where your little one ended up as we are also considering in-year transfer to Chalfont Valley E-ACT primary. Did you manage to get into other school? If you ended up at CVEACT how is the school and are you happy with? Thank you

Hello!

Just returning to this thread. Keen to hear how you are getting on with St Georges.

Also to clarify -do children move from St Georges up to Woodside ? How is that?

Is the busy road outside St Georges an issue at drop off?

Thanks so much!