Barnes/East Sheen - Barnes Primary, St Mary Magdalen, East Sheen, Thompson House, St Osmunds

[Anteater8]

Hello,

We are moving into the Barnes / East Sheen area ahead of school applications opening for our child later this year. Conscious of how tight some of the catchment areas are, I was hoping for advice or experiences from other parents.

We have a (possibly too) compliant child who seems pretty capable, and so want somewhere where they will be pushed but not overlooked as they will likely cause no bother. We are Catholic and have another child on the way.

Why are St Mary Magdalen and St Osmunds not oversubscribed? Is Barnes Primary as good as its reputation? Any experiences on any of these schools would be super appreciated!

Thanks in advance

I looked at St Marys Mags and St Osmund a few years ago (2020) - couldn't visit as it was smack in the middle of lockdown.

St Mary Mags has always had lots of movement. Other schools in the area were seen as better and St Elizabeths was the Richmond Catholic school to go for. At the time Mary Mags was one of the best schools in the country and still wasn't oversubscribed (with Catholics at any rate).

Ditto Larmenier in Hammersmith is seen as a better Catholic school than St Osmunds.

I think it is simply that there are too many good schools in the area. I don't think any are bad.

Results are really difficult to interpret as you never know many SEN children a school class has or how open they are to accepting non-English speaking children. A truly fantastic school can suffer in the league tables because they are inclusive!

These were both very good schools and highly sought after once-upon-a-time, but parents prefer the other local schools. I don't know how they compare now in terms of pupil numbers or results. I imagine the declining birth rate isn't helping.

If you want to get your child into a Catholic secondary - a feeder is advisable for some schools (but not all), so you need to think about that. You also need to think about if you want a Catholic education for your child, as most good primary schools in London have good and bad points and go up and down the league table and parent preference, so that should probably be one of the considerations.

Go visit some and go with your gut! I did and don't regret it.

@Lazytiger Thanks very much for this! Did you end up choosing one of the Barnes schools? How are you finding it? The issue with visiting is that the open days don't seem to be for quite a few months and we need to be choosing before then so we can choose a house (which is within the catchment area of whichever one we chose!) and we're also going to have a second child in a couple of months so want to get in a new house asap. Which are the Catholic or private secondaries that people tend to go to? Is it tricky to combine wrap around care with nurseries? Most nurseries don't seem to be for under twos or full time... seems an odd gap in the market! Thanks again

No I didn't end up in either of these.

Honestly I don't think it will be difficult to get into a Catholic Primary as long as your child is baptised and you can get a certificate of Catholic Practice. Most of the schools are accepting those without the CCP and some are taking non Catholic children. I applied during Covid but my CCP means I would have got into all 5 of the Catholic primary schools I applied for (plus my local community school). Very different experience to those who have children 5-10 years older than mine.

Moving is hideously expensive so I would focus on being nearer a Secondary school (unless you are renting then it's less of an issue). Secondary is where the current bottleneck is (although this should ease off with the falling birth rate).

In Sheen for Catholic schools you would probably be looking at Richard Reynolds (Twickenham), possibly St Marks (Hounslow), Sacred Heart (girls, Hammersmith), Cardinal Vaughan (West Ken) or Oratory (boys, Fulham), Gumley House (girls) and Gunnersbury (Ealing-ish) (currently boys but looking to go Co-ed).
Private would be where their child gets in as there are a lot of high performing privates in West London and many second tier private schools. Children travel in all over for private education.

The best selection of (EDIT: state) secondary schools would be further down in Ham/Twickenham and then you need to live close as competition is fierce.

Type the postcode of a new house into this:
https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/
You can access all the school data you need.

Good luck