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Bristol Primary Schools? where and when!

75 replies

rosiejoy · 14/12/2009 14:30

Ds dues to start school in sept 2011. We are planning to move to Bristol, and want to be there in time for him to start school.

I am aware it is not that simple, but beyond that I am clueless!

So, I would like to know your reccomendations for Bristol primary Schools, and one to avoid too i suppose.

And when do I need to apply? and who to???
Areas we have looked at are Horfield and Fishponds, and I would love to live in Bishopston, or around the Gloucester Road are but not sure the budget would stretch....

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RainRainGoAway · 14/12/2009 14:37

Good primary schools in Bristol are AMAZINGLY oversubscribed.

Unless you pretty much live in the Headmasters office it is touch and go if you will get a place at the school of your dreams! So I would research carefully where you will live and check if it is firmly within catchment, otherwise you will end up being sent to a 'bad' primary many miles away like lots of my friends did. Completely random ones at that. And they lived incredibly close to their preferred school

Schools with a good reputation (or at least I have friends who have DCs there who are very happy):
Henleaze
Westbury Park.
Westbury on Trym c of E
Horfield (used to be but now great apparently)
Elmlea.
There are many others, but I don't know about them.
I would mention some 'bad' ones which makes local mums shudder, but I am not sure that is constructive.

And dont forget, secondary schools in Bristol are a lottery as well. To go to a 'good' one is a trauma in itself.
Good luck!!

RainRainGoAway · 14/12/2009 14:40

OK, so you want bad ones as well I can see.
Badocks Wood (where many of my friends kids were sent but all ended up either sending private or waiting for a space at somewhere further afield)
Filton - I think
Sea Mills. Again, where kids were sent randomly when they didn't get into Elmlea.

I am more than happy to be corrected on those prejudices.

rosiejoy · 14/12/2009 14:41

thankyou, yes i wasnt sure about asking about bad ones really! impossible to be objective....

ok, so i knew it would be difficult, so basically it doesnt matter?

live wherever we want, try and be in catchment area, but even then just a case of keeping our fingers crossed?

how about the actual process, what do i actually have to DO, and and is there a deadline?

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RainRainGoAway · 14/12/2009 14:47

No, the OPPOSITE!!!!!

Research it thoroughly and you have a good chance of getting into a good school. Honestly, the bad ones are really bad.

What happens is that when you move, the council will send you a form for you to choose your top 3 schools. Pick the one that is good closest to you. Do not be tempted to put as number 1 a good school slightly further away as then you will pretty much get neither of your choices.

Where do you think you will live? Are you buying? You will find that the prices will rise a bit in the areas that are in catchment. Even if you are going to rent only, please choose somewhere within a good catchment.
Some of my friends have had real heartache form finding out their DCs would have gotten into the local school the year before, but have been sent to a random school this year as the catchment has shrunk as there is a shortage of places. One lot are crippling themselves with private fees, the other is having to do a 30 min school run accross town.

LilyBolero · 14/12/2009 14:49

Good schools are;
Henleaze
Horfield
Westbury-on-Trym
Westbury Park
Bishop Road (though this is in a state of flux)
Hotwells
Elmlea
Stoke Bishop
Our Lady of the Rosary (catholic)
St Bernadettes (catholic)

RainRainGoAway · 14/12/2009 14:51

Agree Bishop Rd and Stoke Bishop.

I think that Bishop Rd is having probs as they keep trying/or have put another class on making it huge.

Any school that is CofE or Catholic tends to be good in Bristol

rosiejoy · 14/12/2009 14:53

thankyou....

ok well thats a relief actually, I'm really not the wait and see type!

We will be renting, most likely we will be in Horfield, for budget and practical reasons (need to be close to M5)

I've had a look at the Bishopsworth website, which looks nice, although the size is a little scary!
Are you in Bristol? Are you happy with the schools your dcs go to? going private is really not an option, unlikely to be in the future either being realistic

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rosiejoy · 14/12/2009 14:56

ah Bishop Road, that's the one I meant

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RainRainGoAway · 14/12/2009 14:57

Make sure you get into the Horfield catchment then. Be really close to that school. There are so many catchment 'black holes' where you assume you will get in, but then don't.

Happy with DDs school to a point. It is one of the ones named above but it is very large and sometimes she seems a bit lost.
I would be happy with Horfield as well.
Also, consider W on Trym as an area. Also close to the M5, can have affordable housing and it is a good school.

RainRainGoAway · 14/12/2009 14:57

Think Bishop Rd good, but as said, very large and fluctuating in numbers.

rosiejoy · 14/12/2009 15:05

ok will start looking at Westbury on Trym too. There always seems to be lots of nices houses to rent there.

I think because we are moving from a small town we get a bit overexcited about being in a city and don't want to live too far out from the centre!

I am wary of Church schools, I think Because I'm not religious- I went to a C of E primary school and I used to feel like everyone must think i was very bad cos i didn't believe! silly I know now of course, but would hate for my dcs to feel same

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exexpat · 14/12/2009 15:05

Deadline for applications is mid-October so you will need to have an address in the relevant area by then. The Bristol City Council website has details about the process, and links to all the schools plus Ofsted reports etc here. Obviously details for September 2011 won't be up yet.

All the schools mentioned by RainRain are good (though I don't know about Horfield either). Others with a good reputation are the three in Clifton (St Johns, Christ Church, Hotwells) but it's very expensive to live round there. I know people with children at St Werburghs who are happy with it - though slightly apprehensive about what they can do at secondary level.

I hope someone else will come along who knows more about south/east Bristol.

Bishopston/Gloucester Road/St Andrews are nice areas to live in, very convenient, and homes on the west side of Gloucester Rd are mainly in catchment for Redland Green or Cotham secondaries (two of the only decent ones in Bristol). So that means loads of families have moved there and there are nowhere near enough primary school places to go around, specially as there are some well-thought-of ones like Bishop Road and Sefton Park.

If you google a few keywords like North Bristol primary schools oversubscribed etc you should be able to catch up on the whole saga (lots of kids without a place for reception in September this year, and talk of bussing them all over the city).

It does now look like planning permission is through for a new primary school on the old cricket ground (St Andrews, east side of Gloucester Road) to open, supposedly, in September 2010 - though who knows if that will actually happen.

I'd say do lots of research and then rent/buy as close as possible (ie within a few hundred metres) of the school you are going to put top. (Unless you are Catholic, that is: most of the top-of-the-tables schools in Bristol are Catholic, some of them in otherwise rather grotty areas, but of course you don't need to live quite so close if you pass the religious conditions.)

Good luck.

sarah293 · 14/12/2009 15:06

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rosiejoy · 14/12/2009 15:17

We are in Gloucestershire at the moment.

Something else has just occurred to me, and that is that we also we really want to be somewhere with a real 'cultural mix' IYSWIM.

We are a 'mixed race' family, and part of the reason for our move is wanting to live somewhere that reflects that.

But I realise that's going into a whole other topic, but it is one of the things we want to think about too when we look at schools, and also what put us off going too far out into suburbia I suppose

exexpat, that's a great starting oint, thankyou. am at work now, but will have chance to research more tonight.

So I have a deadline now at least to move by the summer

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sarah293 · 14/12/2009 15:30

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rosiejoy · 14/12/2009 15:41

yeah i had a sense of westbury being a bit like that.

Definitely interested in Fishponds, just unsure because it's so close to Eastville, and it feels a bit scary there...

what is the bad side to southmead then? is is racist?

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sarah293 · 14/12/2009 15:49

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RainRainGoAway · 14/12/2009 16:24

Yes, Westbury etc is quite white, but we live near there and in my dds class there is a pretty good mix of races/abilities etc. It is no U.N. but...

I wouldn't tar the whole of this area from what you see in Southmead as well. I work there ATM and that horrible programme did show all that is worst there IYSWIM. (although I must say, the folk of the Southmead Estate are like no others I have encountered!)

LilyBolero · 14/12/2009 16:45

Prices in Bishopston/Redland have shot up because of Redland Green school. Westbury has quite high levels of crime (esp car crime). Horfield you really need to pick your area v carefully. Stoke Bishop is v expensive. Henleaze is cheaper than SB but more expensive than Horfield.

Sefton Park school is not great atm - lots of unhappy parents.

Montpelier is lovely, v bohemian, if you can get into St Peter and St Paul or Colstons then they are both good primaries.

reup · 14/12/2009 16:53

My sisters friend's children go to Knowle Park Primary and they love it. They are always raving about their new (ish) headteacher.

tabouleh · 14/12/2009 17:24

RainRainGoAway

Can I ask you about this: "Pick the one that is good closest to you. Do not be tempted to put as number 1 a good school slightly further away as then you will pretty much get neither of your choices."

This is not my understanding of current school admissions policy (co-ordinated schemes). (Don't live in Bristol BTW, it is just a bugbear of mine).

I think that what happens is you put down 3 choices. All 3 choices are viewed separately under the criteria (which excluding care/medical/religion) is siblings and distance. So you then get a Yes/No answer for each school. Then they look to see which your choices are 1st, 2nd, 3rd.

So was 1st choice a "Yes" - if so then this is what you get. If a "No" - then was 2nd choice a "Yes" - if so then this is what you get. If not then finally was your third choice a "Yes" - if so then this is your school - if not then you would be allocated one not on your list.

Therefore it is of course in your interests to put you first choice first - but you can have 2 backup schools which you are more certain of getting in to.

See here in particular page 10 of the guide - Stating up to three preferences will in no way reduce the chance of being offered a first preference

sarah293 · 14/12/2009 17:26

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rosiejoy · 14/12/2009 17:31

We've always lived in quite rural places, so almost exclusivly white, so not a 'problem', but one of the things we are lookign froward to about moving is living somewhere more 'mixed'. But ultimately it has has to be friendly I suppose. So Westbury still in the running it seems

I really like Redland, used to have friends there, but not in the right location for us, dp has children froma previous relationship, so easy access to M5 is big priority for us.

I think I've moved away a bit from thinking about schools and thinking in terms of area. perhaps I need to refocus!

We are renting, need a 3 bed, and on our current budget we are looking at £650/£700 per month

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sarah293 · 14/12/2009 17:33

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rosiejoy · 14/12/2009 17:34

tabouleh- i think rainraingoaway was pointing out that distnce is a major factor and since schools are oversubscribed, if there are 3 schools you like put the closest one first, not the one you like best, otherwise, by 2nd/3rd choice all spaces taken up

(correct me if I'm wrong of course!)

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