Experiences of The Lyceum or Charterhouse Square School for Reception start?

[goaroundtheworld]

Hi everyone,
Our little one will be starting Reception in 2027. Since we don't yet own a property, we are currently looking at small independent schools as an interim solution while we find a more permanent address and a state school we love.
We are currently considering these two schools, The Lyceum and Charterhouse Square School does anyone have more recent information or other recommendations? Many thanks!

Hi, just to say it would be much easier to rent a property near a loveable state school. In-year admissions at oversubscribed states can be a real drama. When my son left his last year in Y2 the kid who got the spot had been waiting to join her sister for a year. We moved and ended up moving into private school and now feel stuck in the sector (which is okay except super expensive). Just in case you hadn’t looked at admissions in detail (maybe you have!)

Hi @WindTheBobbinAgain
Thank you so much for your response. It is very helpful. To be honest we are completely overwhelmed because we are not based in London. We have relocated and we are about to return as soon as we finish our assignments. So it is very hard for us to do anything, so we thought that the most realistic scenario for now is to go back and start looking while we are based there. So far we have only looked at Tower Hamlets, Newington Green, and Islington but there areas are all so expensive. I have lived in LDN for years around these areas but never with a kid. I am just trying to make sense through it all. Do you have any advise on other areas?

If you are going to be back by January 27 you will be able to register for your local school. You could just move somewhere sensible near a ‘good’ school and see what it’s like. There are lots of mumsnet threads about places to live in London with young kids with good schools! We lived in Wanstead, but there are plenty of options - Crouch End/Muswell Hill/Barnet to the north, Walthamstow/Wanstead/Leytonstone/South Woodford to the East, Blackheath/Greenwich/East Dulwich to the south east etc. Lots of people who used to live more centrally. Where we were in Wanstead the primaries were Aldersbrook, Our Lady of Lourdes, Wanstead Church, Nightingale, Snaresbrook, Churchfields in South Woodford, Davies Lane in Leytonstone if you find websites helpful.

I"ve visited The Lyceum and Charterhouse Sq a few times as we were living nearby. They are lovely schools and I would have been happy with the teaching at both. But their outdoor areas are very small, which put me off. Charterhouse Sq had a lottery for reception entry, not sure if it's still the case.

In those areas if you are looking at state primaries, I'd probably target William Tyndale or Hugh Myddleton school. You'd have to find a place to rent extremely close to either. And it might have to be a small place eg 1 bed flat, as prices will be high in good catchment areas. But you can move away once they've started at the school and keep their place.

Hi both,

Many thanks for your responses. We saw William Tyndale, we had a tour organised by the kids and they were lovely. The only thing that put us off is the fact they had a "reflection room". There is something about this that bothers me as a mentality, but overall we really liked it. Thank you WindTheBobbinAgain and Fillesame for all these suggestions, we are going to have a look. We will be exploring Clapham Commons too.

I know a few people who sent their kids to Charterhouse Square and hadn't a bad word to say. Except they don't really have that much outdoor space. I'm not sure if this is true now but they used to be able to use the actual square for PE or playtime but I think they're not allowed to now. So they go somewhere up the road for PE.