might be moving to Sawbridgeworth - any views on the Leventhorpe School gratefully received!

[LadySanders]

moving out of London to try to get decent state secondary - is the Leventhorpe any good?

Haven't lived locally for a while but mum still does, and yes, Leventhorpe has always enjoyed a good reputation. Bear in mind you're down the road from the Harlow schools which don't tend to have a good reputation. Don't know if it is over subscribed but worth checking because lots of parents choose to educate their children outside of Harlow.

Before any Harlow-ites linch me, I was educated at a Harlow comprehensive.

Any state secondary that is, or is perceived to be good, will be hugely over-subscribed. In which case, check out the admissions policy (Herts.org) carefully and make sure you're living very close.

ah ok, thanks for these... the house we're looking at is a mile away and Leventhorpe is definitely the nearest school... i would assume you wouldn't get bumped to a harlow school if you were in herts? or am i hopelessly naive?

i think you should be ok that distance for Leventhorpe. I have friends living in High Wych who's children attend Leventhorpe, and no, I don't think they should send them to Harlow schools, more likely Bishops Stortford, but worth checking out. My point was more about current places being filled with some Harlow children - obviously if your child is not at secondary yet they would have priority over out of county Harlow children.

Leventhorpe gets mixed reviews - my dc are at a feeder school in a village and some parents are keen and others wouldn't touch it with a barge pole!

I think I will put it below the Bishops Stortford schools when it is my time to make a decision, but then mine will have to bus anywhere, might think differently if they could walk.

we wouldn't be walking distance from Leventhorpe either... and must admit i like the look of the bishops stortford schools better, but we are struggling to find a suitable house there

What year would your dc be starting? The Stortford schools are oversubscribed and you would need an address before you could apply I think.

Personally don't think anywhere in Sawbridgeworth is too far to walk to Leventhorpe, apart from down by Beckingham palace maybe, but then lots buses or a short cycle.

oldest is just about to go into year 5 so the plan is to move with plenty of time to spare to get in established in local primary ahead of secondary applications. house we are looking at is on pishiobury drive (the vendor assures me it backs onto the beckhams! if they fancied swimming across the river they could pop into our back garden heh heh).

can i ask what you think of the primaries as well? i suppose with going in mid year in year 5 we'd just have to take our chances as to which ones had places...

Don't know about the Sawbridgeworth primaries, but don't think any are bad - as you say it may be a case of calling and seeing which has a place.

If you might prefer a Stortford school at secondary check out their admissions - they give preference to certain primary schools for places.

All the local secondaries (Sawbridgeworth and Stortford) are oversubscribed. And they all admit by feeder schools. For Leventhorpe you need to go to the Sawbridgeworth, Sheering or Much Hadham primaries, any places left go by how far you live from the school. For Stortford schools, Stortford primaries take 60% of the places and out of area primaries (like those in Sawbridgeworth) take 30%. Leventhorpe is as good as the Stortford schools on results. All the Sawbo primaries are good.

Are you near me jicky?? Do you live in Sawbo?

Not Sawbo, but MH, so children at feeder. Children swim at Sawbo