Primary Education in Wandsworth Area

[Calbourne]

Hello - am new to Wandsworth and have a 2.5yr old son. Looking at the info I have, I'd love to send him to Holy Ghost P.S. Does anyone have an inside scoop on how difficult it is to get in there? On the private side - I like the look of Hornsby House and Thomas' Day School.. also see they have a new Oliver House School right by Clapham South tube station. Any info / personal experiences would be much appreciated..

Are you already worshiping at HG?
If so then it just comes down to how near you live and how many siblings will be in the year group

Are you registered at any of the private schools already?

Thank you EldonAve, we have been attending HG since we arrived in the area and live at Calbourne Road so very close to the church. However, am hearing that may not be enough.
We've only just moved to the area and I haven't even visited any other private schools, so am hearing we are also very late for that process. It is becoming a real worry so any advice is much appreciated.

The school may be able to tell you how close people lived who got in this year
It may come down to which end of the street you live on. I know people who live on Tantallon who got in

Would you consider non church state schools eg Ravenstone?

I would assume you would be too late for Hornsby and far too late for Thomas but with the recession things have changed

Other private options to consider - Bertram House, the White House, Broomwood

We moved into Wandsworth two months before our eldest was due to start reception, so you're in a much better place than we were! We didn't get a place anywhere at the start of the year (ended up sending him to the Steiner loonybin kindergarten for a term and a half (but that's a whole other story ...)

When we phoned up the private schools, most said they'd filled their places a year before, so you might well be OK if you get the process started now - and Broomwood would have had a place although we weren't keen

Thanks so much for the info EldonAve and mimsmum. Do you have personal experience of any of the private schools? Thomas, Hornsby?

My child is about to start reception so no experience yet - we registered him at 18mths at a number of schools

We didn't get into Finton
We didn't get an interview at Thomas' - I looked round, there were pg people viewing it!

We did get a place at Broomwood in Streatham but have chosen to go elsewhere

On the state side we did get places at our 2 nearest schools (diff boroughs)

some old discussions here

Too far for Ravenstone I would think

I have a friend with children at Thomas' they love it and can't speak highly enough. Good opportunities, educational standards etc although I know it's not everyones cup of tea.

Interestingly they got places very late IYSWIM (they had recently moved to area)

I have another friend who uses Oliver House and I am seeing lots more children walking there in the AM she said it was fine but didn't say much else (however child had only been there a few weeks at the time) Have you been to look round? I get the impression it's a school you either like or don't

Really appreciate these replies, and also the link to older posts Eldon Ave. Am coming down off the massive hysteria I've experienced over this the last couple of days and feeling more rational. Have a great weekend all,

Also Eldon Ave - still new to all of this...
what does pg stand for?

Sorry - just looked up the abbrev page and found it... uh-oh, I've left it way to late in that case!

pregnant or pregnancy

they were viewing the school for their unborn child!

I think in the current climate you have nothing to lose by looking round the schools and asking if their provisional lists are full or not

don't forget that there's an awful lot of movement - both in and out - in schools in this part of London

We got a place for ds1 at our outstanding local state primary half way through reception as someone had moved

one of ds's friends got into Finton House in Y2, another of his friends has just left Thomas' and there were hardly any boys in his class by the end, another went to Hornsby House in Y3, so don't despair because you didn't get the ball rolling in pregnancy - there are plenty of other parents whose lives aren't as organised!