Amersham school St George vs Chalfont valley E-ACT, Also how is Thomas Harding.

[Activemom]

Hi All,

We are moving to Amersham soon in May24 as my husband is needed to travel london more often to work now, and I have 2 kids - Eldest year 4 currently and youngest due to start reception in Sept 24.

Based on the current vacancies published in bucks council website , all we would could see was mostly availability of St George school, Chalfont E-ACT school and Thomas Harding at Chesham.

Does anyone know how these schools are as I have read in report saying there are issues with behaviours area in CHalfont E-ACT. Do anyone have their kids going to this school and experience otherwise than in report?

Due to the move being within Buckinghamshire I have heard we cannot apply for in year transfer for my Year 4 son for immediately change of school.

Any advise is helpful for us.

@Activemom The primary schools in and around Amersham are nearly always full. They have been for years - decades! The vacancies show the pecking order. The Chalfont EAct is much improved. You know you can also look at 11 plus results and they aren’t bad at all. St George’s is not far away but they used to feed into Woodside Junior which doesn’t have spaces. You would need to check feeder schools and linked schools.

Thomas Harding is fairly easy to get to from Amersham on the Hill. It’s a horrible lane but doable! Hyde Heath infants is quite close if they are not full for Sept.

You might also look at village schools such as Little Missenden, Coleshill and Chenies. Great Kingshill is a drive but has vacancies. First 3 are infants but GK goes to 11.

As far as I’m aware DC must be admitted to a school if there are spaces, regardless of where you live. So y4 child could commute if that’s doable. As you are late application for yr, you would have to see what Bucks come up with. If you were GT Missenden side of Amersham, Gt Kingshill isn’t too bad to get to.

I think Elmtree feeds TH in Chesham and they have vacancies so might not be full in yr. However you will find these schools are quite different due to catchment areas. Chesham isn’t Little Missenden or Coleshill.

Thank you all for your valuable feedback :)

as soon as our bills gets registered we will apply for school. Fingers crossed hopefully for September 24 intake we will find school within Amersham or thomas harding

Why are you so keen on Chesham?

@TizerorFizz nothing in specific, just when we saw primary allocations , saw Thomas Harding has spaces and ofsted report seems to be good as well.

our priority is always amersham as it would be easy in terms of pick ups and drops. But worried we wont get any space considering my son will need space for year 5 which might be an issue.

TH isn’t too far from Amersham but what about YR in Sept.

How far will you be moving and are you retaining your existing property? I ask because of your reference to bills rather than purchasing a property or entering into a rental agreement.

You mean what vacancies are available for sept intake?

unfortunately, I already live in Buckinghamshire so within county in year transfer is not possible according to council website .

so we have to apply and list 3 schools and hope we get one of school from what we specify.

we know chestnut lane or little chalfont primary are high in demand so no chance we get .

The existing property is in process of sale to third party via agent and will be closing off on exchanging soon.

our bills would be only referenced to Amersham as that would be our place we live going forward.

@Activemom You aren’t correct about in year transfers . See attached. If a school has a vacancy they must offer it I believe. You could be in the far north of Bucks snd move to Amersham and ask for a school before you move but you would need to take up the place and commute. It won’t be held open. So obviously most people move but others move within the local area so they do move Bucks residents in year. You just have to be ready to take up the place.

Ah ok ok . Thank you @TizerorFizz . Once all of this is sorted will give a shout of final outcome . Thanks for all of the feedback.

The LA highlights they will only use the new address once evidence is provided that the applicant and child are living at the new address. As @TizerorFizz mentions, if they have a vacancy it they must offer it ( with certain exceptions) but there may be children on a waiting list for a place, or appealing for a place who may have a higher priority according to the school’s oversubscription criteria, especially if the applicant is still living at the old address, some distance from the school.

@LadyLapsang Yes but the list is updated very regularly so a school showing vacancies would be unlikely to have a waiting list. They might have other applicants being processed ahead of the op. This can happen if LAC appear for example.

@Activemom hello! Super interested to know what was the outcome of your school choices and whether your DC is happy? Thanks

esp if you ended up at Chalfont Valley E-ACT and found out a bit more about the issues

I'm also interested in this. CV is our catchment school and really the most convenient but still a bit worried about the reputation... we were impressed when we did the tour though

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!

We love St. George's; such a warm school with a lovely community feel. Drop off is really easy if you need to drive; there's an arrangement with a local church to use their car park and then it's a short walk. Most kids go on to Woodside. Slightly annoying if you need to do a double drop off but they're close and not as bad as having one in the village infant schools. Good luck!

Thank you so much for this!

Do you find that many people walk/cycle?

Which nursery usually feeds into St Georges?

Yes, I would say most cycle/walk/scoot but some parents need to head straight off for work or come from slightly further away. Lots of different nurseries I would say - Partou, Henry Allen, Acre Wood and Linfield. There's also a pre-school at which quite a lot of kids went to (not mine though)