North London (state) Girls/Mixed Schools - Totally Overwhelmed

[ReLondoner]

We're moving back to London this summer (lockdowns permitting) with our daughter in Yr5. We will homeschool Yr 6 possibly. We really need to locate ourselves for secondary school and I'm totally overwhelmed tbh. Our eldest is good at Maths and likes music but not scholarship level. DH is a churchgoer with our daughter so we have a church record but I'm not focussed on a church school particularly. Looking at the threads on here, people seem really plugged in. This is the shortlist we've made:

Fortismere
Alexandra Park
St Marylebone
Grey Coat
Parliament Hill
Camden School for Girls

I like the idea of the Muswell Hill ones for being mixed, and the other four seem very good on all the available info. Can't get in to do tours but we have friends at Fortismere and St Marylebone who are committed to the schools but not as enthusiastic as I hoped. We are feeling overwhelmed and not even sure the move can happen but we have to plan as if it is.

All the schools you have listed are considered top-of-the-tree, are highly sought-after and a child with a supportive home background such as yours seems to be should thrive at any of them. There are numerous recent threads on here about all these schools, as it sounds like you've seen.

It is however geographically impossible as I'm sure you're aware to be in "catchment" for all of them. It's also pretty expensive to live close enough to (for example) Camden or APS to "guarantee" a place.

You need to make decisions about church, single sex etc and narrow down accordingly. It's also worth pointing out that school is obviously important but not the be-all and end-all; consider quality of life as well. You will have a different experience in different parts of London. The other thing to bear in mind about the church schools is that the geographic intake is very wide, your DD is less likely to have local friends (wherever you live) if you go for St M or GCHS (not unlikely but less likely). My own DD is in a similar situation regarding spread-out friends (not at any of the schools on your list) and it's one of the real downsides, even with phones to connect them.

I know kids at most of the schools you mention and their parents all profess themselves extremely happy with them. But these are not the only good state schools in N London by any means!

Lastly you mention homeschooling for Y6 - you don't say why, but I'd think long and hard about that. With all the disruption they've had through Y4/5, even the most able child will need the structure and support of a classroom environment to re-settle them before secondary - we're effectively talking about almost half this cohort's primary career. You may not want to throw a child into Y7 after more or less 3 years out of a classroom. Y7 even at outstanding schools - at any school - is a whole new ball game. The primary years are a really important foundation for that.

These schools are all in different boroughs - have you had a look at the different guides? They tell you how far the last admission went out to last year. You'll probably need to move to within half a mile to get in.

www.haringey.gov.uk/sites/haringeygovuk/files/secondary_admissions_booklet.pdf

www.camden.gov.uk/documents/20142/1915641/Secondary+schools+in+Camden+guide+–+applying+for+a+Yr+7+place+for+2021.pdf/ab867e18-962a-ff99-bd55-19e8a1219e0e?t=1600881372713

www.westminster.gov.uk/children-and-education/school-admissions/starting-secondary-school-september-2021 (click admissions brochure).

Could you tell us a little more? I’d add Acland Burghley to the mix but you may hate it. My gut feeling fir a child whose coming from OS is the school with the best pastoral care. PH seems to be THE go to for that.

Are you going to rent in “catchment”?

I’m not sure If going to a church overseas would help in getting a faith place at St M.

Good point Camdenish on St Marylebone and church; actually we liked St M and Parliament Hill and Fortismere equally but it's all on paper. I've walked past them before but it's a truckload of commitment based basically on a stroll and the school websites.

@Camdenish AB is a good tip, I've heard a lot of positive things about it and how appealing it's got, same for Haverstock especially now the head is staying on.

@Zinnia, that's a great point on friends living far away if it's a church catchment. It makes a good case for Fortismere/PH/AB/Camden. (The homeschool thing is a whole different story for another thread, but can't get primary school place until we live there, HS is back-up.)

@zoemum2006 and @Camdenish Yes, going to rent within catchment and see how that goes, you're right that half a mile is as far as it could go. Don't get me going on settling down in the north london property market.

@Zinnia really sorry that your child is finding the geography and friends hard. It is a point I hadn't considered and it's so worth thinking about.

We looked at Camden, PH and AB. Didn’t want St M as it’s the most polluted school in the country. Plus rather more importantly DD wouldn’t have got a place. . All have their positive points and there is a lot of movement between them in the first part of the school year. As I’ve viewed them all recently pm me if you’d like?

I know a bit about the Muswell Hill Crouch End schools and I suppose they’re okay but I prefer “ours”. More expensive property in KT/Camden though.

As for primary places it’s amazing what turns up. There are some lovely primary schools that aren’t THE most popular one.

Camden has an excellent reputation.

I don't know about Haringey, but you should be able to find a Y5 place in a Camden primary without too much trouble. There's an over-supply of primary places at the moment unfortunately (hence at least one under-subscribed Camden school closed already and another due to be merged). I'm struggling to think of any Camden primary I wouldn't be happy to send my child to, certainly not in the KT area you'd be looking at.

PHS has a good range of different housing but whichever you choose and they are all top choices you need to be super close to the school as the catchments are tiny.

You’ve got some Islington primaries to add to the Camden ones if you go for PHS/CSG/AB. Tufnell Park Primary for example and a bit further out near Brookfield Primary (camden) there is Hargrave Park Primary. Tufnell Park has a new building. Hargrave Park isn’t trendy but no worse for that!

GreyCoat has an almost impenetrable entrance system, including language aptitude places (superselective), church attendance, open places, sibling priority, and fair banding.

Church attendance (candidate and parent) weekly for 5 years (other than official lockdown weeks), or 2 years weekly, then years fortnightly and then 2 years fortnightly. A nd yes, those places fill up. Separate allocation for Cof E and for Churches Together

Tie breaker is distance.

Open Places - about 20 a year, so if you can move very close and it's not a bumper year for siblings, it can be done.

You used to see the uniform all over SW London, it's got a much more local footprint now (changed admissions criteria half a dozen or so years ago) it's no longer the case that with a good church reference you can still get in even from quite a distance away