The Heights or Caversham Primary for sporty, academic child preparing for 11+

[Inquisitivemum]

Hello! We've recently moved to Emmer Green from London with our three children, one of whom is in year 5 at primary school. We have narrowed the school choices down to the The Heights and Caversham Primary School. We need to know which one is best suited for a sporty and highly academic boy, who we are also preparing for the 11+. We are leaning towards The Heights but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

This is quite a niche question for an international website. I suspect you'll get some answers if you ask on the local "Gossip girls" Facebook page for the Caversham area.

But OP has done the exact right thing by putting the school choices and location in the thread title, plus MN may be international but it’s heavily UK weighted (and probably SE England weighted within that!)

I'm localish but I don't have any experience of either school but wanted to ask - does either of them have vacancies for y5?
I'm a bit confused why you have already moved and are still at the research stage

For a sporty, academic Y5 with 11+ coming up I'd put Heights and Caversham next to each other on the published stuff rather than going on local reputation alone - latest Ofsted notes, attainment and progress, that kind of thing. Then visit both if you can and ask about PE, clubs and how they stretch kids in upper KS2. Also worth double-checking with Reading / the schools that there's actually a Y5 place before you get too set on one (someone upthread asked the same!).

@Treylime fortunately, we are quite close within the catchment and high up on the admissions list for both.

@ScepticalWithoutProof thank you, I've done most of that except visit them. I'm working on getting some tours booked in. They are so close in performance, stretch and sports etc., which is why local voices would be really appreciated.

So there isnt currently space at either but you are high up on the waiting list. I think personally I would find a school with a space unless you would prefer to homeschool and hope a place becomes available. You could appeal for both but that isn't guaranteed and would take a while.

@Treylime apologies, we are in a school but are hoping to transfer to our preferred choice.

I live in the area. Being in catchment and so on is irrelevant if there isn’t a space, and both schools are popular and generally full. There’s not much movement in year 5/6 I don’t think.

neither school will offer any specific 11+ prep. Both are fairly middle class areas, though these days the heights more so, so you’ll probably find other kids taking the 11+ at both. Both are quite big so likely to do ok at sport. There are 2 other schools in emmer green which are also large and very good so might be worth considering those (again, they may not have spaces).

The 11+ exam is taken in the summer of y5 i think these days, so hopefully you’ve done some 11+ prep already or otherwise you’ve left it quite late.

In your situation I’d probably get your child’s name on the waiting list for both and take wherever a space comes up first.

In your situation I’d probably get your child’s name on the waiting list for both and take wherever a space comes up first.
This. I'm not sure you have to choose your favourite now. Just stay on the waiting list for both. A space may come at one of them or none in the two years your son is there.

Sorry, I didn't mean for my reply to sound quite so snippy - and yes, the OP has done exactly the right thing in the right area of MN. Unfortunately often these types of questions get lost as they're rarely in the "trending" topics, so I was honestly trying to be helpful as the potential number of people who have knowledge of those two schools on here is probably few, whereas on the local FaceBook group you've got 20,000 local women so a far greater chance of getting 20-30 replies. Most of which will be of no use whatsoever or 50-50 between the two. 😁