Which London Borough has best state secondary school options

[MumNexDoor]

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.

Barnet

Which chain please?

IME the borough you live in matters not, it's the distance from the school. Originally DD was placed by the LEA at a failing school in my borough, despite us not putting down as a choice. Our top choice was just too far for us to qualify (something like 0,1 miles), and our second choice was hideously oversubscribed. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing visiting other schools in the borough we were accepted at a girls school just over the border. So we live in one borough but DD goes to school a mile away in a different borough. (The school is non-selective)

A selective school in the same borough as my DD's also takes a lot of students from my borough.

People like Sutton. There are state grammars, plus areas of slightly more affordable housing.

Housing isn't affordable in Sutton thanks to the schools.

Generally if housing in London "seems" affordable then the surrounding schools are shit and the property is likely too far in normal years from the decent schools.

@MumNexDoor Like a pp, I would recommend Richnond upon Thames, where all of the secondary schools are Ofsted Good or (old framework) Outstanding. As others said, the date of an Ofsted inspection is important. Prior to Sept 2019, gradings were heavily aligned with results, so schools in expensive housing areas, where parents were more supportive or could afford tutors, had a baked-in advantage. But now the inspection framework is based on the quality of the curriculum and other factors which you can look up online. Under the new framework, fewer schools "Require Improvement" because they are already doing everything right - just not necessarily getting "top" students in their intake. Also the number of Outstanding schools is being deliberately reduced to make Outstanding really mean a school that stands out from others, so it is now much harder to get the Outstanding grade. A lot of schools are being downgraded as a result (and some are losing their Headteachers before that happens, because they can see the writing on the wall and don't want to be in the hot seat).

If you are looking for a school that has lots of highly academic students you can still look pre-Covid school results up on the Government's Compare Schools website. However there is no recent data, because Covid upset the apple cart in various ways. Only very limited data will be published for 2022 results.

Also, read the oversubscription criteria of your target school(s) carefully - not all of them are based on distance from the school site. There is at least one secondary in Richmond upon Thames that uses distance from an admissions point that is located a couple of miles from the school itself.

Your LA has to find a place, and will allocate you a school which has a vacancy.

However, you can also go on waiting lists for a school/s you prefer, and the waiting lists are held in the order in which they meet the over subscription criteria.

So if a school accepts on distance, your best bet is to move as close to the doorstep of that school as possible.

London does have a highly mobile population and places do come up.

Generally if housing in London "seems" affordable then the surrounding schools are shit and the property is likely too far in normal years from the decent schools.

There are SO many schools in London where this is not the case.

Contrary to the view of many on MN a school is not ‘shit’ because it’s intake is a less advantaged demography, or even because it has a greater number of lower ability students.

There are plenty of great comprehensives in areas that are often dismissed as ‘rough’ on MN, that offer a great education across a range of abilities.

Prices rise in London as people move further and further from the centre… due to house prices.

Meanwhile some areas which have shot up in housing cost have less favoured schools.

People DO move to favoured schools but it isn’t as cut and dried as ‘cheap areas have shit schools’.

OP: look at the performance tables for individual schools. If your Dc is a high achieving child look at the Progress stats for the high ability cohort in the school.

It largely depends on your housing budget, as many areas with outstanding secondary schools are quite pricey. Also bear in mind that some areas have better extra curricular opportunities, as in, if you want to supplement your DC's activities outside of those offered by the school. SW London is good for this, ie Merton /Wandsworth boroughs.

@RoundaboutRacer at a wild guess the academy chain is probably the one that rhymes with 'arris'.

Absolutely agree with this

🤣🤣

Many thanks to everyone here who have replied and helped clear a lot of our doubts. Your suggestions have given us good direction and helped us understand where, how and what to look for when deciding for our DC.

Now we are keeping all our fingers and toes crossed for finding a decent accommodation near our preferred schools.

Appreciate all the help.