rubbish local secondary school choices - London - did you end up moving?

[080878tukh]

DC is currently in yr 2 in a local London primary and all our local secondary options are quite rubbish. Contemplating whether it's worth moving - but with things as they are - not really the right time interest rate/house prices wise. I guess our dilemma is not unusual for London - we are only in the catchment of one single sex school that is really not very good. Not sure that DC would pass an entrance exam for the local private schools - that have become incredibly competitive of late. For those who decided to stay or move - do you think it was worth it either way?

No child who lives in SE23 goes to either of the Charter schools in Dulwich unless they are in one of the more highly prioritised higher categories than distance (such as looked after or sibling). Don't waste the op's time on a pointless suggestion.

And I'm just using the word catchment as shorthand. Everyone knows what it means in this context.

I am confused by the point you are making. If you didn’t go to a selective school, and you got good grades, why are you so worried about your child going to a local comprehensive?
I feel like you’ve already decided they are all rubbish without looking into it or visiting them or talking to parents.

@A580Hojas geez chill a bit.
You get 6 choices so if the OP wants to put Charter or Kingsdale or Wherever on there then that's her choice.
I know loads of children who travel miles and miles to go to schools out of their postcode/borough/'catchment'. It's really not unusual in London.

There is a well known disconnect in education quality between primary and secondary schools in many parts of London.

yes

We moved to the outer boroughs, so many friends left London.

If your child is in Y2 and any good at sport or music, then maybe invest a bit there and then aim at aptitude places across London.

We live rurally in an area where nearest 2 schools are an hour away - one is okay and the other is truly awful.

DD is musical, so she sat for every single music place in London where she could feasibly get there for their morning start time (yes I had a ridiculous looking spreadsheet). We had 5 all-but-guaranteed places on the table by the time I had to fill in the CAF (and we weren't offering the orchestral instruments that make music departments' eyes light up).

If you don't want to/can't afford private or a house move, it is a much more affordable option, and you've got best part of 4 years to put in the work behind the scenes.

Also catchments will likely increase as there will be a shortage of pupils soon, I don't think it's hit secondary yet. Schools will face falling rolls & the subsequent reduced funding not too mention the COL hitting budgets now. It's a bit scary tbh

Ofsted grade isn't everything, look at grades, what lower sets achieve, progress etc

I know loads of children who travel miles and miles to go to schools out of their postcode/borough/'catchment'. It's really not unusual in London.

This is true of faith schools & grammars but normal schools?

@kopiyif by 'normal' you mean comprehensive then yes it's true. Children travel all over the place for school. My daughter's Year 6 class was about 25 children and they ended up at about 11 different secondary schools.
(We are SE19). Only 6 went to what is considered the 'catchment' school.

@Needmorelego yes I meant comprehensive. I'm surprised at that as the comprehensives I know about all have admission policies that favour distance. Obviously the less popular schools will have a wider distance. Granted some have aptitude places & priority always goes to children in need where distance doesn't matter but they are usually a tiny % of places.

My DC went to comprehensives in London, as did all their friends. I don’t know any that attended a grammar. One or two went to private school, that’s all. And one of the ones that went private on a scholarship was then moved to a comprehensive-(academy chain) due to bullying. In my experience, parents tend not to like their nearest school, though parents in other areas would be very happy with it. Your local ”rubbish” school is possibly not rubbish at all.

No, it not like that in London. NeedmoreLego is right.

I've got two boys at FHS. It's a good school, not perfect but it's pretty good. The oldest is very bright, working hard and predicted 9s at GCSE. They start doing visits to Oxbridge in year 8 if that's your thing.

Younger child less academic but loves music, maths and does lots of extra curricular clubs.

It's a non selective comprehensive in a very mixed part of London, of course it's not going to get average results that match those of a grammar school. It's also sometimes a bit disorganised, but it's not a school to run away screaming from.

Harris boys ED is a very good school. I don't set much store by Ofsted but there's is cracking. I know boys there who are very happy.

And as pp said St Thomas the Apostle in Nunhead is also very good.

I don't want to derail the thread but I know lots of families at Kingsdale who say they would be surprised if it keeps it's outstanding ofsted when it's next inspected.

*theirs

@Greytea I can only speak for my experience of growing up & attending schools in London & working in schools in London. Perhaps it's very school specific

OP, I've just clicked that your child is in year 2. That is very young, 11 and 12 year olds look huge when your child is little, but when you get there secondary schools look much less intimidating.

I've looked at all the local secondary schools twice now and am currently looking at sixth forms. You really can't tell whether you like a school until you see it in person. DS1 had his heart set on sixth form at a local outstanding school, but was underwhelmed in person. You just can't tell, so you need to put the Ofsteds aside, go and look and ask questions until you're happy with the answers.

I visited Kingsdale recently and was extremely unimpressed. Compared to FHS too. I don't think they'll hang onto their outstanding either.

I'm sure all the hundreds of families waiting for places at both the Charter schools (current "furthest distance offered" less than 1km in both cases I believe) would be interested to hear of the children in SE23 who have got a place there before them.

I agree with you on this, ime travel like this is due to moving after getting in or older sibling is in or other specialist reason

@A580Hojas actually I apologise. The children I know who attend Charter I believe got high priority due to SEN. I also might be getting my postcode areas a bit muddled up.

I know the kids in my DC's class do travel "all over the place" for school. But it's not because they got into highly popular places like Charter. It's because there are schools who take from quite a wide area, so the local school wasn't the only option. So maybe you go to an undersubscribed school in a neighbouring borough. Or because they sat it out on a waiting list all summer and got a place at a school they were a small way out of the initial offer area for. And I mean a small way, a few streets.

I think you have to think about the reasons you moved to SE London in the first place too. If it was purely for the cheap(er) housing maybe just move out. If it was because of the diverse, interesting population and generally a bit more liberal attitudes in the area don't forget your kids will benefit from that too as part of their holistic education. If you grew up (like I did) outside of London you think about your own experiences but really it is not the same at all. My kids are getting a much much broader education and being exposed to much more in the way of culture and openness than I ever was and their friends at FHB are too.

As an aside I happened to be outside a private school in Oxford at kick-out time the other day and the boys were behaving terribly. I think kids tend to once they are out of sight of school at the end of the day.

As for Kingsdale - their marketing is certainly top class. But boy oh boy the gossip that I'm hearing from my DC about the kids' "extra curricular activities"...

Following this thread with interest - am local-ish (se6) and have a child in y3. Re open days, is y4 too early to start looking around? I don’t know what the etiquette is in terms of taking up a space that could be used by someone actually applying that year. But I don’t want to leave it too late to start making a plan.

Most people start in y5 @piglet81 but now Covid restrictions have lifted I don't think there's an etiquette about taking up spaces. If you want to look you should. In your shoes I think I might wait until y5 to take the kids but I don't really have a rational reason for that!