Which London Borough has best state secondary school options

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Hi

We are new to London. We are looking for good secondary school options but we are not sure which borough would be ideal. We have looked at OFSTED reports and have found that there are outstanding schools almost everywhere. But it is impossible to visit all these schools to shortlist.

We have no faith, grammar or religious preferences. We just want a school where our DS would be happy, a school that’s not too strict in academics and offers a lot of extra-curricular options.

Any recommendations would be very helpful.

What year is your DS in? Many of the top state secondaries are very oversubscribed.

Have you looked at www.locrating.com/school_catchment_areas.aspx?lat=51.5073219&lng=-0.1276474? Very useful for seeing where outstanding schools are and getting an idea of how close you need to be.

With London and it includes some home counties like Surrey, it isn't actually the borough you live in but the property you live in distance to the school.

So for example of you live in certain parts of Lambeth you can get into schools in Wandsworth, Lambeth and Westminster on the distance criteria.

However some schools have a very small catchment area by distance. To make up for this there are some schools in some boroughs have altered their entrance criteria to ensure pupils from the borough that wouldn't get on distance, normally but not always poorer pupils, can get into the school.

If you have two or more children of the same sex or choose a mixed sex school, and the siblings are within a few years of each other then then younger sibling should be able to get a place due to sibling preference.

Should say sibling places only works for non-selective schools.

So choose where you would like to live say for work then where you can afford to buy/rent, then look at what secondary schools are close by that take boys.

Read the OFSTED reports and if there is only one good school, choose somewhere else where you could live and repeat the process.

As you've discovered there are great schools all over London, so narrow down the area you want to live in on other factors (housing costs, commute time, proximity to activities you want to do etc.) and then once you have a general location you can make a shortlist of schools.

You may have no grammar or faith preferences, but the schools will. You won't get into a grammar school unless he's bright and you're very unlikely to get into a good faith school if you're not that faith so bear that in mind when making a shortlist. Also think about whether you want mixed or a boys school.

When reading the Ofsted report, particularly for those 'Outstanding' schools, just take a quick look at when the school's last inspection actually was. There are secondary schools where the last Ofsted inspection was well before even the oldest current pupils joined the school, and possibly an entire change of staff ago to boot.* *If Ofsted inspectors pitched up on the doorstep tomorrow, would that school still be deemed 'outstanding'?

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

1. My DS will join Year 8. I am hoping that oversubscirption is reserved for 11+ admissions and does not affect Year 8,9,10 admissions. Am I correct?
2. We subscribed to locrating. It is indeed a very informative site. However, we thought we would reside near to our DS’ school.. but we aren’t able to shortlist the right one for him.
3. Yep, my younger one will go in Year 5. But my primary focus is on a good/ outstanding secondary school.
4. My son is an A*/A student but am not sure if he will thrive or crack under a strict grammar school regime.

With your replies, I shall realign my search and try again. In the meantime if you can recommend any state secondary school, preferably in the west, north west of London, pray do share.

Thanks again!

Our borough has a list of vacancies for in-year admissions (which is what your application would be) on their website. We are in an east London borough so not what you are looking for. At the moment in Year 8 there are 3 schools which have vacancies out of a total of 16 schools: a girls’ Jewish school, a girls’ Catholic school and an academy which has vacancies in all year groups because, to be honest, nobody really wants to go there.

There is the same vacancy list for primaries and many more schools have vacancies in Year 5 -although not the two schools which are arguably considered ‘the best’ in the borough.

If you want your eldest to go to a grammar, they will still need to sit an entrance test. Our nearest grammar had 60+ students sitting for one vacancy in Year 8.

I would say Barnet.

MarchingFrogs is correct.

Also you need to read between the lines with OFSTED reports. Plus visit the schools and talk face-to-face with people like neighbours, random local people and even mention the school name to people where you work.

This is because a school rated "Good" by OFSTED could be better for your son as the report says things like the pupils have good behaviour, the school has a strong anti-bullying policy, etc but the school fails on something like how the governors question the leadership team. If you them visit the school you find they stretch able pupils, the pupils are polite and friendly, and the staff will answer your questions. There as an "Outstanding' school may tick all OFSTED boxes but when you visit the school you don't meet any of the pupils and the staff dismiss your questions/refer you to the website. You then mention the school name to people and they say the school while academically good has an issue with bullying.

Obviously my examples are made up but based on the amalgamation of the stuff I know about the secondary schools around me. Also if you read what's been in the media about Holland Park School in West London you can see that some outstanding schools game the system. I don't live in that area or the area you want info on.

Applying for a year 8 place will be an in-year admission, so you will be allocated a school with spaces. This won't necessarily be the ones you like. In my south London Borough, their vacancy checker currently shows no spaces in any year in any secondary school.

You have a preference for W/NW, so I'd start there. Have a look at areas you are interested in and then look at the schools around. You could also look at the local authorities' websites to see if they have details on vacancies, although this will change of someone else applies for the place.

As bendingspoons says - a YR 8 admission will require (initially) a school to have spaces or you'll have to apply for a full school, be turned down and then mount a successful appeal. Appeals are more likely to be successful if you can demonstrate the school you want supports your child/gives your child an opportunity. Just appealing on the grounds of "I want a good school" is unlikely to cut it - appealing saying school x offers a varied modern language programme which would suit my dc as they are already learning russian' would stand a better chance of success

Thanks. This is helpful. I shall look for vacancies on borough websites that I am currently considering. That will help me narrow down my search

Thanks for recommending. I shall surely check out schools there

I would agree with Barnet. Besides the selective schools, there are many excellent state comps and quite a few have opened up recently.
The only downside is that some are religious with preference to Jewish/CofE/Greek Orthodox pupils.

This is very insightful. I have got some clues on how to proceed with OFSTED reports. Up till now I only looked at OFSTED ratings and never read any of the reports. Thank you so much for the guidance.

This is very helpful and directional. I shall align my research based on these suggestions. Thanks

Although I hope we don’t have to go through the appeals process but in case we do this will come in handy. Thanks

Thanks for the reco. I shall surely check out the council’s website right away.

Most local authorities publish offers information following secondary National Offer Day. If you are looking for. yr. 8 place for 22/23, looking at the yr. 7 offers for 21/22 may be informative. Some schools are their own admissions authority and for some this is done by the LA. Also, lots of popular schools maintain waiting lists, although some start afresh each academic year and people have to reapply; once on a waiting list you can move up or down depending on prioritisation in line with the admissions policy ( so a looked after children would go straight to the top of the list). Your child is entitled to a school place so if a number of local schools are full or refuse you, contact the local authority admissions team who will find you a place.

Following as lots of great advice here.

As others have said, be wary of Outstanding. A big academy chain in south London has a string of Outstanding schools because they play the Ofsted system really well. Meanwhile their staff turnover is huge, and their ethos is not remotely what many parents think healthy for kids.

But surely you need to live in great neighbourhood too? I suggest Richmond Upon Thames and Orleans Park School. Smart kids do exceptionally well there and live in a beautiful place next to the Thames. Lots of sport.

Haringey - south/west of the borough has several good schools - APS, Fortismere, Highgate Wood, all seem to have good pastoral systems and (mostly) happy pupils, and good results.