Quality of schools in Tulse Hill

[newmuminSW]

Hi everyone - my husband and I are considering moving to Tulse Hill and I'd love to get some input from the Mumsnet community on whether you think it's a good area to raise a family? From the research we've done it doesn't look too bad (though not fantastic either) but I'm concerned about the small number of secondary schools and some reports flagging safety and security issues in the few schools located there. Any thoughts and personal experiences in the area would be super helpful. Thank you!

As a rule of thumb, you’ll get quite a number of rough kids in inner city schools. The boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark are particularly known for some of the highest rates of violent youth crime. So if you’re looking for a ‘nice’ crowd in secondary schools, you’re more likely to find it in outer London or the commuter belt.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/compare-schools

You can find stats on schools on there, too which might be helpful.

My two dc have both had their entire education (1 now at University the other doing GCSEs this year) in ordinary state schools in Southwark and Lewisham. They have loads of "nice" friends and get great academic results. London schools do comparatively well. I would say Tulse Hill is as good as any area in SE London and of course you are so close to the wonderful Brockwell Park, Herne Hill, Dulwich, Brixton etc. Don't whatever you do settle for a deathly dull life in the suburbs!

I've lived in Southwark for most of my adult life and have raised my son in SE15 here. He has gone to all the local state schools, including the local secondary. He has a wonderful mix of friends from all backgrounds and cultures including Nigerian, Algerian, Carribbean, Polish, White British. The families of the children represent all strands of society from baristers to journalists to nurses to stay at home parents. It has given him a great understanding of the great diversity of human beings. Importantly, as he says, he can talk and relate to anyone. When he is with the 'posh' kids on his Dulwich Village Football team, he fits in. When he is hanging with his friend who lives on a council estate he fits in. He knows how to be in different situations. He is also aware there is a crowd that parties and does par take of drugs and alcohol - interstingly they are the children of the well off with big houses in Dulwich Village, Herne Hill, etc but make of that what you will. If you want, as a previous poster has said a 'nicer' crowd (middle class code for white & more priviledged), Tulse Hill probably isn't for you. What you also might be interested to note is that London state schools outperform every other region in the country - many reasons and one reason is, the number of aspirational immigrant families in London. There are parent led organisations like Integrated Schools and Meet the Parents that seek to encourage parents to choose diverse and integrated schools and neighbourhoos. Check those out on twitter and facebook for other views.

@ScruffyMummy

By ‘Nicer’, I mean a school where kids don’t carry knifes, you don’t get 10-20 policemen coming to break up huge gang fights just outside school gates, kids don’t get robbed of phones and lunch money, teachers don’t get punched, 20% of your form isn’t stoned by 9am etc. (genuine examples from my teaching experience across London).

Of course, if you’ve got a ‘normal’ kid who goes to school to learn, they’ll have their own group of fairly sensible friends. It’s just that I wouldn’t have own DC in a school which I didn’t feel was a safe place to be.

Nothing to do with diversity as I have also worked in schools with lovely kids that had quite high free school meals % or schools that were 90% non-white British.

You are just scaremongering JoJo. Why is that?

Hey Scruffy - maybe your DS and mine have played each other at football .

@ChicChicChicChiclana

Come on, even if your own kids were fine, how many stories of awful stuff happening did you hear?

I heard of a stabbing inside Kingsdale School (ironically one of the most sought-after schools, beloved of so many white middle class parents) and that was at least 5 years ago. And that is it. None of the other scenarios you describe at all. The only child I know who was excluded from school for dealing drugs went to Dulwich College.

St. Martin in the Fields if you have a girl.

I live very near Tulse Hill. Most of the area seems fine to me, or I wouldn't be here. You need to visit the schools, and do your research.

Dd and her friends went to schools in Lambeth and Southwark (albeit finished 6th form nearly 4 years ago) and received excellent educations. I cant see that much will have changed but you do need to choose the right school for your children.

Ps not sure what jojo means by nice kids, but the young people that I know in the area are just like kids anywhere else.

Yes I would say go and see what you think. To keep things in perspective my two nephews have both been mugged at knife point in rural Yorkshire - one right outside his secondary school, by an ex pupil. Knives, drugs, violence are everywhere, in all communities. It's just that some violent crime like black on black knife crime, is deemed more newsworthy among the right-wing press. It may surprise some to learn that West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Cleveland, South Yorkshire, Northumbria, Kent, Humberside, Durham and Lancashire all have higher rates of violent crime per capita than London.

To echo PPs - inner (south) London and its state school population is fantastic in all the ways they mention. Danger greatly exaggerated by those who don't live here/read right-wing press/are easily triggered by appearances (bunch of black kids hanging around out of school hours are obvs acting threateningly - by definition). If white and floppy haired, on the other hand . . . .Well first thing you'd think round here is, oh look, posh-school kids, where's Nanny?
Worst thing about area is probably air quality.

I also have a child at an inner south London secondary school. Worst thing about her secondary school experience is that I never see her as she is doing too many exciting afterschool activities. By which I mean orchestra, debating and history club - not dealing drugs and getting into fights. The opportunities they get are amazing and her friends are lovely (and by no means all middle class- in fact the most driven academically certainly are not). Go and have a look - you might be pleasantly surprised.

I think the schools actually in Tulse Hill May in recent years have been slightly disadvantaged by having very popular schools nearby (Charter, Kingsdale). People on the Herne Hill side up to Brockwell park have got their kids into Charter north dulwich in the past and Kingsdale operate a lottery so anyone has a chance. But Elm Green is a good school and increasingly popular. Ignore the nonsense about inner city kids above as others have said. It’s a brilliant part of the city to grow up in.

Yes, a friend's son is thriving at Elm Green!

Dunraven serves parts of Tulse Hill and is an Outstanding school that does extremely well across all ability bands and with a representative intake, and makes a mockery of JoJo’s generalised scaremongering description. 2 of my children went / are there, and have really thrived.

It is true that there have been and are kids involved in gangs etc in the school but if you are not involved you are not involved, and the school manages behaviour really well. It is a happy school where staff seem to like young people and celebrate their achievements. Amazing dance and music opportunities.

Elmgreen is also good. It has had its ups and downs as a relatively new school but all the children I know there (a lot) have done very well and been happy. It suffered possibly in having the academically established Dunraven sharing half its catchment but with the Dunraven catchment shrinking Elmgreen will get re-balanced.

Lottery place at Kingsdale, St Martins or La Retraite for girls are also possible (LR now offering non catholic places and not over-subscribed), music place at Norwood School... several options.

Tulse Hill benefits from great public transport, the Express buses as well as Thameslink and other overground, quick buses to Brixton tube. Walking distance to West Norwood with the fabulous Feast festivals every month, new cinema and great community and music events at Portico Gallery.

P13 to Streatham High Rd and the Streatham Space Project theatre and comedy venue, M&S food hall, Hideaway Jazz Venue, Ice Rink etc.

Tulse Hill’s pub, The Railway, is brilliant. Community vibe, Sunday lunch, music. Various teen activities at Yellow Cube.

A good place to live. Not a squeaky clean paradise populated entirely by saints and angels (like Sutton where JoJo will tell you to live ) but we all make our choices based on cost, travel costs and time and other factors.

I heard of a stabbing inside Kingsdale School (ironically one of the most sought-after schools, beloved of so many white middle class parents) and that was at least 5 years ago. And that is it. None of the other scenarios you describe at all. The only child I know who was excluded from school for dealing drugs went to Dulwich College

LOL, yes! The only nearby school I know of where police had to be called to a fracas in the playground was a big fight at Graveney, the Outstanding school where m/c parents scramble for a place in the super-selective stream. And one of the central protagonists was the child of a staff member . That too was 5 years ago or so.

Wasn’t it students and parents at Whitgift private schools that caused an inter/school rugby fixture to be called off by hurling class and rave based insults at the catholic state school they were playing?

I do know of students excluded for drug use / dealing from the good state schools mentioned here, that comes within behaviour management. But the drug use amongst Dulwich College, Emmanuel and Whitgift students is also notable.

Oh, and even in SUTTON . My friend’s son attends one of the Sutton Grammars. Usual level of teen drug use.