Thinking of moving to camden - can I have some thoughts on Camden School for Girls, St Marylebone Girls and La Sainte Union and any other state secondary schools really!

[BeattieBow]

We are seriously thinking about moving back to London and living in Camden.

We would move back this May/June and dd1 will be in y6 in Sept so we will be thrown straight into the whole secondary transfer nightmare.

I am wondering how to do this! I have 3 girls (as well as an SN boy but I will post a separate thread on him!)so thought that these girls schools would be ok, but wondered how easy it is to get in. If you live in the catchment for Camden are you practically guaranteed a place? (and then if we move, would the other dds get in as siblings?).

How easy is it to get into Marylebone if we were living in Camden.

And finally we are CofE - would this enable us to get into La Sainte Union? how easy/difficult is this?

Oh actually another question - what is Parliament Hill like?

I am aware of the whole Henrietta Barnett route too, but am not sure that I want that for my dds - although dd1 would have no problems getting in I think as she has been at a very good private school where they routinely do tests etc and work at several years above their ages. The other dds are not there however, and I don't know if they would get in. I also like the idea of my dds going to the same school, both for ease etc, but also so that they do have a shared experience.

Any views on these schools would be appreciated!

I know that the catchment for Camden is tiny and also that it is expensive, but we would rent for at least 2 years and would aim to be in the catchment area for this. We couldn't afford to buy in that area at all. (unless on a very dodgy camden estate)

Does anyone have views on camden secondary schools [plaintive]?

Don't know about the other schools, but LSU is hugely over-subscribed with Catholic applicants. I'd have thought your chances of getting in as a non-Catholic were virtually zero.

Marylebone is also extremely sought-after, but no idea how the admissions there work. I know lots of people who didn't get in, but no-one who did.

Hi, does anyone have any experience of stanley park high school?many thanks

oops,sorry posted in wrong place

I have no first hand experience of Camden as we're in Islington. However as I hear loads on the grapevine I'll pass on what I have heard...

CSG is, supposedly, very popular with families who would otherwuse do the private school option. Quite middle class in the PTA type stuff and cliquey (if you're bothered whether you would fit in or not.
2 girls I know felt because they aren't/weren't into singing, dancing, theatricals, push-yourself-forward types, they got overlooked and felt they didn't fit in.

LSU, yes, need to be catholic.

Parliament Hill - I know about 10 girls there across 5 years and they all love it. Big enough that you are bound to find friends and a place to fit in. Academically I don't know but the girls I know are all able and a couple of them have moved there in preference to the school they were at originally.

Please remember I'm only reporting what I have heard from friends and aquaintances, it is not a personal opinion!

Marylebone is a selective C of E school though higher priority is given to Performing Arts applicants thn to churchgoers.

Don't take HBS for granted, even for your eldest, it is very hard to get in to. It sounds like you are underestimating the difficulty.

Agree with GypsyMay, Know someone at an academic prep school who has a strong chance of getting into North London Collegiate (finds out tomorrow) but didn't get into HB. No guarantees. Can't help on others, sorry.

thanks everyone.

I'm not going to apply for Henrietta Barnett - I don't want that for my dd (and I am not sure she would get in either) because either of its academic nature or because of the distance travelling.

Does anyone have any info on how easy it is to get into Camden?

We would fit into most CofE criteria - regular church goers and 2 of my girls attend a cofe school. Not catholics though unfortunately, so it is helpful to know we wouldn't have a chance there.

If you look at Camden LEA website and download the 'starting secondary school' brochure, or whatever it's called, it will have the cut-off distances for last year's offers for each band.

It will also have the admissions criteria for Marylebone, so you can see if you fit them.

All Camden secondary schools are oversubscribed AFAIK- they just don't have enough school places.

Parliament Hill is a very good school, and would be my pick of the bunch TBH. Teachers tend to stay put there, and there is a good atmosphere amongst students.

if you move to live close enough to Camden School for Girls you will get in so far as I know - they use distance.

Parliament Hill also uses distance.

My daughter was at Parliament Hill -it had its ups and downs for her, but overall appears to have equipped her well. Now at her second year at UEA, Norwich.

thanks - I hadn't thought about Parliament Hill really, but could be a possibility. There is a place for my ds (if we had an address etc) at Acland Burghley which I think is good for SNs (he has aspergers, dyspraxia etc) and it would be good if they could all be in the same general direction at least!

I also like Dartmouth park where we lived for a while.

oh and thanks for telling me about the booklet GRegor - I have downloaded it. Interesting about catchments! We are lucky that we would be renting for a couple of years so in theory we could rent in a small catchment area.

Hmmm.
I live very close to Parliament Hill, LSU and WE. Huge police presence is there for a reason. Acland Burghley is even rougher. Get into CSG if you have to sell organs to do it.

I have read through alot of posts on here on the schools mentioned, and I honestly think that they are fine. I used to live in dartmouth park, very close to Acland Burghley and it scared me a bit too. but enough parents on here posted that it is actually a good school. Appearances can be deceiving. before that I lived near Hampstead Heath near those schools and I am aware that there will be rough elements there, but I think my dds will be ok to deal with them (not sure about ds1, but he's a whole different story).

The other thing is, I was influenced by alot of parents in NW London who all went private and were comparing the schools against those schools. There is no comparison imo - they are different creatures and in any case private isn't an option for me so I need to make the best of the situation for my children.

Horsemad - have you actually visited any of the schools, or talked to anyone with dc there?

There are rough kids at all schools, even the private ones. And teenagers in general can be a bit unprepossessing. Some of the kids that hang around the crossroads outside AB are a bit off-putting, but the school honestly doesn't feel rough inside. Yes, it's urban, and obviously the kids don't have that private-school polish, but that isn't what the school are about. On the whole the kids are lovely, and the school has quite a funky, arty vibe, and is meant to have v. good pastoral care. It was our 2nd choice for ds, and I would have been perfectly happy for him to go there. The catchment area for AB is about 0.7 of a mile for the March offers, so not quite sure whether you could simultaneously be in the Camden Girls and AB catchments. Might be a bit tight.

Beattie - I realised after I posted that of course the Camden booklet won't have details for Marylebone, cos that's in Westminster. Youd' have to download Westminster's equivalent brochure to get the Marylebone admissions policy.

thanks Gregor. We have to decide where to focus on really. We are now being told there are no spaces for ds1 at any of the camden secondaries (apart from one - the south camden college or something?). (oh and I have downloaded the Marylebone booklet too but I don't think it has catchments in it).

but also need to consider whether we focus on CSG for dd1 or Parliament Hill/Acland Burghley etc as this governs where we live.

(the primary schools situation is also getting less positive by the day too actually).

Ah yes, that'll be South Camden Community College, or whatever it's called. That's where you get if you don't get offered anywhere else. But having said that, there is a lot of movement in most London schools, so the odds are a place would come up, though not nec immediately. Holloway school is the other one locally that would probably also have places -- you should try Islington and Haringey as well, since Dartmouth Park is pretty much at the boundaries of all three. Marylebone is done on church criteria rather than distance, I think.

It's a tough call. Fwiw places do usually come up in the larger primary schools on quite a regular basis, even if they're full on paper. School secretaries will often know whether someone is likely to leave, though I believe in-year vacancies are now dealt with centrally. If you move back in May/June, I'd put good money on you getting places for September. WE moved in April a few years ago, and were offered places in a range of schools that were initially full. Tufnell Park Primary is nearby, otherwise there's St Johns Upper Holloway, and Hargrave Park, all in Islington.

gregor that's really hopeful thank you. How many children did you move with? and how old were they?

having an argument with dh that that is just too risky a strategy, but really I think it would be ok and is our only hope.

aargh!

Three, but one of them was already in secondary school so didn't need to change schools. I did have the two younger ones in two different primary schools at one point, which was not fun, but we got over it.

What age dc are you looking to move with? Once you've got one into a primary school the others are siblings so go straight to the top of the waiting list.

Also, which primary schools have you looked at? When we did it, in-year admissions were handled by the individual schools, and I gather now it is dealt with by the LEA, so less flexible. But you could phone the individual schools and see if they are likely to have places coming up? There is a lot of movement in London schools, especially at the top end -- none of the Y5 or Y6 classes my dc have been in have been full, even in popular and over-subscribed schools.

i have dcs in years 1,3 ad 5 (currently). It's frustrating because every time we phone an LEA we get a different story on vacancies and every time phone the schools they change their information too. it's v annoying.

dh is really reluctant just to dive in and hope for the best, but I really don't see any alternative.

I think you'd probably have to just dive in, inasmuch as nowhere will offer you a place until you have a definite address. In fairness, I don't think there are any primary schools around here so terrible that I wouldn't send my child there. I guess the Y6 child could walk home by itself, so you'd at worst be juggling two sets of pickups. But once you get one in, particularly in a two-form entry school, I'd put good money on places becoming available for the others. Y1 probably trickier than Y3/4 though -- people are less likely to change schools after that age, so if people go private or move away the places often don't get filled, even in popular schools.

I don't know about primary schools closer to teh Camden girls catchment though, apart from Torriano which is meant to be v. good.

If your oldest is going into Y6 in Sept, then now would be the time to do it, as you'll be in place for the secondary transfer thing. Once you've missed that, it really does become more complicated.

With 3 girls and a genuine CofE record, have a look at Greycoat Hospital. Your girls will have to tube it to Westminster/Chelsea but if you locate yourself near a station that isn't a bad journey.

dusty that looks really interesting. But not sure how many points we would get really (not on parish council or weekly worshippers etc) - how oversubscribed is that school?