St George's Catholic School (Maida Vale/Kilburn)

[MagPiedPiper]

I took DD to the open evening this week and she loved it. I had been a bit concerned about the strictness and exam-focus of the place, but my concerns were allayed a bit by the head and deputy head's talks. I also don't love the fact that it would be almost entirely Catholic/Christian and thus not diverse in that way.

Besides the good results, does anyone have any feedback on how happy the children are? I think I'd prefer to rank Parli and Camden School for Girls higher (though we don't have a good chance of getting into either), but just wondering if that seems like a daft move when we have a very good school on our doorstep. Unfortunately St George's admissions have tightened up considerably so it's not guaranteed that DD would get a spot, but I think it's fairly likely.

DS is in primary school still but some of his class have older siblings at St George's and I've only heard good things about it. I walk past the children a lot and they're much better behaved than some of the kids from other schools in the area.

Thank you! That's good to hear.

I'm local to the area and many of the kids from my childs primary go to St Georges. Yes the results are better than national average but the boys are definitely rough. They have a security guard on site and after school the boys congregate in McDonalds who also have a security guard specifically at school closing time. Two weeks ago there were older boys fighting in the playground which the teachers broke up.

If you have a girl you might avoid the roughness but I would say the girls are of a similar ilk.

Is your DD the type of child that would gravitate towards the rough loud kids or keep away from them? That would make a big difference on how well your DD will get on there.

Thank you for this input. This is a bit concerning. DD is definitely— for the time being at least — NOT the type to fall in with the rough crowd. She’s more the school councilor, prefect, school ambassador, top marks, head girl type. She initially made friends with some rough girls at her current school but then moved away from them very quickly once she realised.

She’s very judgmental of bad behaviour, which I appreciate for now!

She heard about lots of fights at UCL and, therefore, has no interest in attending there. We also visited another school where she was “shocked by the bad behavior,” meaning that some students were late moving between classes. Therefore, I don’t think she’s likely to fall in with this crowd, but I also think bad behaviors/violence would make her very uncomfortable.

From your description it sounds like she'll get on fine there and I wouldn't worry too much. I'd take St Georges over UCL Academy any day.

Yeah definitely not considering UCL. Just don’t know if it makes sense to rank Parli or CSG above St George’s. I think she’d really excel in an all-girl environment, but she didn’t rate them nearly as well as St George’s, which is right near by and has better results.

Yes definitely rank them higher, it won't jeopardise the St Georges place. There was someone on mumsnet who posted last week they got an offer from Camden School for Girls and they live a bus and tube ride away. You might get lucky and get an offer from the waiting list at a later date.

Are you close enough to Queens Park Community School to apply? It’s a great, local school. Lots of music and drama and art. Good for sports too and they have lovely green grounds, even if the building itself isn’t the prettiest. I walk past there and generally the kids are calm and better behaved than others I’ve seen.

I looked into it a bit, but it seems like last year they only took 12 people based on distance and we’re over a mile away so I assume we wouldn’t qualify? Perhaps I’ll try to wrangle a tour and give it a look.

It’s always worth having it as a top choice and getting on the waiting list. So much can change around August.