Schools in Muswell Hill / Highgate

[pizzanoodle]

Hi! We’re looking at primary schools and would really appreciate your opinions on:

Tetherdown
Coldfall
St James CoE
Our Lady of Muswell
St Joseph RC
St Michael’s CoE

What are the positives? What are the areas they should improve on? What makes that school different from others?

Appreciate your thoughts! Thank you!

OLM is fantastic- just got its second Ofsted Outstanding. Really well run school. Teachers who've been there forever and appear to love the bones of the place. Has new exec head and deputy head has become head as previous head retired. The new exec head is her husband! I rather imagine she strong armed him into it to make sure her school remains as well run! It is more diverse than other schools nearby - I wonder if that's why it's less popular with the otherwise sharp elbowed Muswell Hill parents?

The received wisdom is that Tetherdown is nice but everyone is tutoring their kids in the later years of school.

No idea about the others.

Not on your list, but I would recommend Highgate Primary. Our daughter is in year 3 and loves it. In our experience the teachers are fantastic and very committed, and the school has a great ethos. It's just been awarded Outstanding by Ofsted.

Very much also interested in people's views on OLM and Tetherdown. Also wanted to know if other parents look at the school's Reading, Writing and Math's scores. I'm a bit new to this. Tetherdown seems to be 'the' school in the area to get into but then the scores seem to be the lowest. Trying to understand why.

Heard good things about Rhodes.

Coldfall is a brilliant school with lots of art and music and (unlike most of the other local schools) plenty of playground space. They also do Forest School in the woods next door.

Im familiar with all these schools except St Joseph’s. I’ve worked at some of them, and know the area well.
Results-wise they are all similar, and the intakes are not too different either.
Rhodes, Muswell Hill and Tetherdown don’t have uniforms, so if you feel strongly one way or another that is something to consider. St Michael’s has much more green outside space than any of the others, including a running track, and Rhodes backs onto a park.
Id be considering ease of access- how would you get there, would you need to park, could older DC walk home alone safely?
All of the schools mentioned are high performing with good reputations, and I’d be happy to send my DC to any of them, so I’d be looking at convenience, wraparound provision, clubs and uniform preference.

Hi can I have some feedback regarding Highgate Primary … why are there spaces ? And are their exam results on par with the others in the area ?

I am trying to decide between Our Lady of Muswell (OLM) and Coldfall. I’ve been for tours of both, but am a single Catholic parent and am struggling to decide so any input would be much appreciated! Thanks

Hello, my daughter attended St James and I have always found the school very welcoming. The class sizes are usually smaller than 28 so allow the teacher to give the students their upmost attention. As it is a one form entry school, there is a very close environment, and all of the teachers know all of the students in the school. The students are very respectful. Although the school has a Christian ethos, my family is not religious and the school is very accepting of other faiths, only the religious education lessons and some assembly’s have religious input. Otherwise the school follows a traditional curriculum.
I would most certainly recommend your child’s enrolment in St James.

@ANON20241 What website is that table taken from? It looks very useful!

@ANON20241 Ignore me - I realise it's on the gov website!