Grammar school or comprehensive - Harrow

[mesha123]

Hi,

I live in Harrow. I have 2 schools in my catchment area. I am not very keen on either of them. One the park
High which doesn't have a very good reputation and another is Avanti house. Although Avanti is a good one but being a faith school I would rather prefer my Dd to join a non faith one. The others like Pinner high and Nower Hill high are beyond the catchment area and their admissions close within half a mile.

Even the other good schools in other boroughs would be far and I believe if they are outstanding they would also be filling up with a short distance.

How much success do i have if I choose one which is slightly farer but outstanding like Pinner High. Or is the only option to move closer to the school....

I am not sure if I want to go through the 11+ route by putting so much pressure amd whether it's worth it?

Any suggestions?

Thanks

I would say it would v difficult to get in to the outstanding schools further away. There was a girl in my daughters class who didn’t get into NH but 80% of the rest of the school got in - it was because she was a couple of streets further away. So it does have a tiny catchment. Siblings, looked after children and location come first on the waiting list pecking order I’m afraid.

Where were you thinking of for grammar schools? There aren't any in Harrow.
Your local authority should be able to tell you how far out allocations have gone in previous years for the more desirable schools.

Thanks will check with the local council.

I was thinking of either the watford consortium or the Mill hill grammar school.

Some Harrow postcodes still don’t apply for Watford grammar applications (unless there’s a music scholarship I think). So even then it might depend on where in HA you’re based.

As PP said, there are no grammar schools in Harrow. There are some partially selective schools like Parmiters which will take from certain postcodes, for which you would need to check the admissions policy. Watford Grammar also accepts applications from some HA postcodes but not all.

Mill Hill has a partially selective school - Mill Hill County High but less than 30 places are ability based and this is not just academic, some are music/dance etc. Again chances of one of these are slim. Barnet have super selective grammars and you don't have to live in the borough to apply but thousands of applicants for 120 places.

If you are absolutely against both your locals, your best bet is to move