Semi-Selective/ non-catchment Schools in London

[Eeve]

Hi all! Just wondered if people knew of the above? I'm aware of, for example, Graveny School and also Grey Coats Hospital which have a semi-selective process. Also aware of Kingsdale that is apparently completely based on a lottery. Does anyone know of others?

www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/schools/regions/partially-selective

Mossbourne Academy
Petchey Academy have lottery system

There are loads, but they all select on different things. Eg, music, languages, drama, dance, technology, art, etc. Do you have a boy or girl, because that makes a difference too?

Goff’s academy EN7 and Broxbourne school EN10 are part selective (10% language abilities). Both in Hertfordshire, not too far from M25, North London. If your child has strong Verbal and Non- Verbal Reasoning, definitely worth to look at them. The Broxbourne is more competitive than Goff’s. Competitions last years were very high 300-400 candidates for 24 places in the each school.

Greenshaw south London / Surrey takes 70ish selective places - usually takes those that don't make the cut for the grammars.

Glenthorne selects in performing arts - again same area.

So a way out of London but there are a handful that travel quite long distances.

There are loads that are partially selective.

But depends on whether you have a child with an aptitude for the school's selective specialism - standards tend to be high, so not as if you can just give it a go with no previous training/ability.

Kingsdale is the only lottery school in London - they also have music and sport scholarships which sit outside the lottery system. However, because of the lottery it's probably one of, if not the, most over subscribed schools in London.

Just to list a few off the top of my head:

Camden School for Girls (music)
St Marylebone's (choral, music, drama, dance)
Haberdashers Hatcham (music)
West London Free School (music)
Holland Park (art)
Prendergast Hilly Fields (music)

If you are already looking at LB Wandsworth schools (and selection for aptitude in language, if you're considering Grey Coat Hospital?), Chestnut Grove in Balham allocates up to 30 Art and 30 MFL places.

Thanks all! We are South London so lots wont be suitable. I Balham certainly one to look into!

In South London you have Kingsdale in Dulwich and Graveney in Wandsworth, plus further out in Sutton there are Greenshaw and Glenthorn which have been mentioned up thread.

Prendergast hilly fields mentioned up thread, great school, south London, girls only till sixth form.

OP

Be careful to check on what the school defines as selective, some are being named here that have such a tiny allocation to selective and are so sought after. Others have a decent portion for selection and work like grammar schools in selecting best scores and interview. Others aren't really selective at all, and just have allocated academic bands, so if the top band doesn't get filled within catchment, it branches out.

I wouldn't really describe Grey Coat as partially selective. 15 places for language excellence and many girls taking the test from all over London?

Personally I'd be looking at schools where at least 15% places were up for grabs based on general academic ability, and only venturing for the specialist places if your DD is very talented.

If your South London, Wandsworth, Croydon and Sutton are good bets.

I can add a few more to your list for South London: Chelsea Academy (music), Ashcroft (technology places) and Burntwood (academic places for high scores in Wandsworth test).

I would also echo previous poster re Greycoat - the number of language places is tiny, and girls compete from all over London, although its a language test they are looking for the academic elite.

another thing about Greycoat is that they're AFAIK very serious about the faith aspect, an evidenced record of long-term church attendance is I believe non-negotiable.

the selective aspect isn't imo a serious aspect of most of the SW London examples provided here. Ernest Bevin & the girls' one are not really highly sought after. chestnut grove is a good school but absolutely a comprehensive. in Sutton, Glenthorn is a good school but has elements of being almost a secondary modern given that it's in a grammar area (even if many of those places go to kids from relatively far off). Graveney runs the top few classes almost like a separate pseudo-grammar school, maybe that's the sort of thing that OP had in mind.

Plenty of secondaries in S London have high ability top sets / top streams.

Dunraven is a banded comp and streams from Yr 7, and has high ability top streams. Charter has high ability top sets. For example. If this is what you are after?

But if the OP wants a school
that is effectively “out of catchment”, those schools that stream won’t be available if they live too far away.

I disagree with the previous poster on some schools- Burntwood is sought after, much more than Chestnut Grove.

Talk of streaming diverts the thread. Dunraven is the very opposite of what the OP has asked, as general admission is based on distance. They are looking for schools out of their area that have some other non-distance based means for admission. Almost all schools have some form of setting for subjects. Elms Academy in Clapham has a dedicated grammar stream - but that isn't what the OP was asking.

Of course, some partially selective schools are more popular than others, but the OP only asked what options were available to them. @Eeve you need to decide how far a commute is acceptable then trawl through the admission criteria for the schools in your range as there is more than you think and you haven't said your opinion on faith schools as this adds more options. Also, I've just remembered COLA in Southwark have technology places. Do think about what subjects your child really excels in as often the selective places come with obligations for them to attend extra classes etc.

Agree with @BettySundaes

The OP seems to be in a similar situation to the one I was in back in 2019 where I was looking for good schools with a very strong music focus that could be accessed outside a distance criteria.

I ended up with a spreadsheet that looked at things like start and finish times, the route to the school, how many changes, how much walking time etc.

FWIW, if you are doing something similar OP, lots of short changes are more exhausting than one longer stint on a train or tube. Try and go for somewhere with a variety of viable routes in case of strikes/accidents etc, and where there are flexible time options after school so they can do clubs, plays, concerts etc.

DD has a long commute, but most of it is on a single train, with guaranteed seat, wifi etc which means she gets nearly all her homework done before she gets home - it would be very different if it was 3 buses and a long walk where nothing can be done.

Definitely don't go for an aptitude test entry for a subject area that your child isn't actually interested in. They almost always come with obligations. DD's school expect music scholars to take GCSE music or else they lose the scholarship, ditto sports scholars and PE, art scholars and Art etc.

You may also need to put extra effort into enabling social life - although that is rather easier in London than in rural areas.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow - can I ask what loosing a scholarship means in a state school? If a child got in via music place but then lost interest in music and doesn't want to take it for GCSE (or doesn't want to waste one of the options for Music if he does it a lot after school anyway) - what can a state school do? Surely they cannot kick him off the school for refusing to take Music at GCSE?

You lose the free 1 to 1 music lessons, the theory lessons, the access to Scholars events/concerts/masterclasses. You don't lose the place at the school.

HarrisCrystalPalace offers 18 places to those with the highest score in the Technology Aptitude Test.

Many thanks, all clear now!

@puffyisgood would you be able to expand what are the elements of almost secondary modern in Glenthorne?
Thank you so much!

Well - I don't mean in terms of ethos, or syllabus, or funding [under the bad old days of the tripartite/true grammar school system, the secondary moderns were deliberately set up to be substandard on all three counts], just that it's located within a few miles of some very selective modern grammars, which inevitably means that the very brightest/very most studious kids are slightly under-represented there.

Thank you very much @puffyisgood !