Where to begin

[mflores]

I am moving to the London area from the U.S. late August with my 11 yr. old son and I have no idea where to begin researching the education system. We have not settled accommodation so that does make things difficult in looking for a school. Might anyone be able to offer advice as to how the schools and sytem is set up? My son completed 5th grade and I understand that means he will be moving into secondary school? Can anyone suggests any websites that can help me get started? Thank you in advance.

Have you any idea where you will be living in London and do you have a budget?

First decision I guess is are you looking for state education (free and can vary from excellent to pretty bad, and 100 shades inbetween) or Private Education which you pay for ?

Hello - Waving from across the pond !

A (very brief) outline :

Will you be paying school fees (called private school here) ?
If so there is a different system and terminology.

If not paying fees you'll be in what we call the state system.

The State system is based on year groups that begin Sep 1st and end August 31st.
So depending on your childs date of birth he will slot into the class for his age.
We do not advance or repeat school years based on end of year exams, so no matter how clever or not your child is they will be in a class with children born in the same academic year.

I can't tell from your post if your child would be in the last year of Primary school here or the First year of secondary school.

If he is 11 before September 1st he will be going into year 7, which is the first year of secondary.

Key thing: just because you live in the same area, or even right next to a school does not mean you can have a place there. You have to have an address then you apply via the Local Authority for a school place. They are obliged to find you one, but it can take time and may involve quite a commute. You can request to go on the waiting list of any schools you like, and you can appeal (ask for specific advice on this).
Finally, some state schools are religious in nature, normally Catholic or Church of England, but in London also Jewish, Muslim and I think Hindu. All schools teach religious education, and are supposed to provide a daily act of worship which is usually "broadly Christian" most secondaries don't really do the latter.

To be honest, it's massively complicated! Sorry! Different Local Authorities (like City Councils) have different systems, and also different schools have different admissions criteria.
However, if you can answer people's questions then we can start to narrow it down for you. There are a couple of particularly knowledgable and helpful people on here who will advise you on the legalities of admissions too.

You asked for a website: this is the Government one. See also here and here.

State schools usually follow the same syllabus, called the National Curriculum, although there are becoming more and more exceptions to the rule. The point I am trying to make is that you could find a 'temporay' school at this stage and then try to switch to somewhere else at a later date. The important exams start at Years 10 & 11 (aged 14/15 & 15/16) so you want to be settled for Year 9 (for forward-planning purposes). Note, though, that some schools jump the gun so you need to be in place for Year 8 to do the exams in Years 9,10,11).

Thank you all so much for the information and website links. To answer your questions, I am looking for a state school. However I want to ensure that my son has the best opportunity to thrive in his new environment. My son will be 11 as of Sept. 1 so if I understand correctly that will put him in year 7?
As far as where we will be living that is still up in the air as I am coming over as a graduate student and have been trying to secure accommodation for myself and my son which has been daunting thus far. I'm sorry,I imagine it would be of more help to you all if I knew where exactly we would be living. I am hoping to secure accommodation by early August.
The websites suggested give me a good starting point as this feels a bit overwhelming.
What things should I look for when trying to narrow down areas and schools? I have only visited London a few times and know nothing about which areas of town are more or less favorable than others.

There is an American school in London. See here

Also depends what sort to grad student you will be as that has an impact on where you live. if you were, for example an Arts PhD student doing a degree by theses at a London University then you would not find a daily commute was required, within easy reach yes. So you could go out a long way along a railway line and get both a better (cheaper) accomodation AND, if you pick the right place, a better choice of school.

It is difficult when you have such a blank canvas!

I am not local so cannot give specific advice, others can do that when you narrow the search, but I would mention three points:

1. Generally, 9% of the English school population is educated privately but in London the figure is higher at 12%. This table, which gives the breakdown Borough-by-Borough, may be useful as you can see that the percentages vary wildly within that 12%. Oops: just noticed that the table is very out of date but you get the idea.
2. I have heard that some areas have skewed schools - there are girls-only schools but no equivalent for the boys. This means that boys have to go to schools which are more than 50% male. Also those girls that are there are the ones who couldn't/wouldn't (for whatever reason) go to the single-sex school. This is hearsay though, you need to check it out.
3. London schools will be affected by what is going on around them. Some neighbouring Education Authorities practice selection for Secondary school so they will cream off a certain percentage of children in proximity to them.

If his birthday is in September, then that will put him in Yr6. To be in Yr7, he needs to have had his 11th birthday before (or on) 31st August.

Am thinking its' a bit unlikely that you'll get a good state secondary close to a nice affordable area in London for this Sep - the good ones will surely be full by now.
Do you have some sort of guarntee as a student that gives a reason for why an over-subscribed school might put you at the top of the waiting list ?

Am thinking you might be a bit disapointed with the quality of the schools that do have plenty of spaces - might be worth having a look at Ofsted reports once accomodation has been sorted.

You might be lucky and get a good school, it really depends on who moves. Your son might have to commute some distance to school, so you might want to bear that in mind. Although buses will be free to him, and I think tube is quite low cost.

My son will be 11 at the start of the school year as he turn 12 in November. As far as my place at the university, while I will be a student at the University of Buckingham all my courses will be taught out of the Wallace Collection in London. So I need to be closer to London. I guess until I find accommodation it is going to hard to do anything at all.

The Wallace Collection is quite close to Marylebone train line (Chiltern Line) so you could look out along that line - you would get cheaper rent and maybe better choice of schools than central London.

OK - Wallace Collection that's very central. So you have a wide range of transport options.
Bond St - Central & Jubilee lines
Marylebone - Chiltern Lines & Bakerloo Line
Baker St - Metropolitan Line / Jubilee / H&C, District & Circle
Paddington - trains from the west and tube

I think you probably want to start looking for accomodation & schools central / west and north west london as it is particularly easy to get to the Wallace Collection from there.

One of the main considerations will be the size of property you want and your budget. Prices in central london are scary.

The problem with the Chiltern lines is that Buckinghamshire still has grammar schools and her son won't have done the 11+. You could use it to come in from Northolt, Harrow etc its a bit quicker and more pleasant than the tube.

One possibility might be south east London - more affordable than west or large parts of north and with some excellent state schools. Now we have the super-swift Overground (orange) line, it's easy to get to Bond St in about half an hour with a quick change on to the Jubilee line at Canada Water.

Parts of London along the Overground line such as Sydenham, Forest Hill, Brockley, New Cross might be worth considering.

Good luck!

Thank you all so much for the information. You have given me lots to think about. I have no idea about the different areas of town and your suggestions have given me a great starting point.

You might want to use a website like primelocation or rightmove to check out what type of housing is available in which areas at what cost. There is huge variation in the cost of housing depending on what area you are in. Once you have spotted a few areas you like, you may get some good feedback here on which schools are good in those areas.

Or.....just a thought, why do you need to be in London? Schools are a bit odd in London (though mumsnet will not give you a clear picture, by the way! I sometimes think that ALL of the 12% parents who use private schools post on mumsnet) and rental prices are skewed by where the best state schools are.

If you're having your classes in the Wallace Collection, why don't you look along the train line for Marylebone station? You could maybe live somewhere beautiful and near the countryside like Thame? Whilst it might look as though the daily commuting prices would be expensive, you would save on the high rental costs of London? Thame

Ouside of London, state schools are often a bit more straightforward (not always the case) and there is less of a battle to get kids in.

Whilst it might look as though the daily commuting prices would be expensive, you would save on the high rental costs of London

You can get student discount on travel. You can't on rent!

Does your university offer accommodation for graduate students? The one where I work does and I know that our married students are located in one of the London suburbs alongside other graduate students (many of whom have children). This makes for a less lonely experience settling in and of course your neighbours are going through similar issues to you study-wise. Even if they don't, it may be worth contacting the university's accommodation office to see if they have any advice.

Tortu does Thame have the 11+. I hesistated to recommend going up the chiltern line because of the grammar schools. Are the non grammar schools good?

Thame doesn't have the 11+ as it is in Oxfordshire. Thame has Lord Williams which, from knowing children that have gone there, is quite good. Not sure about the other schools in that area.