COLA Highbury Grove vs COLA Islington

[Carolinemilton]

Hi everyone,
We're moving to Islington from Australia, and our son has been offered places at COLA Highbury Grove and COLA Islington.
We're weighing our options: Highbury Grove seems to have better grounds, and more recent GCSE results appear stronger. However, COLA Islington has an "Outstanding" Ofsted rating compared to Highbury Grove's "Good" rating.
If your children attend either school, we'd love any feedback to help our decision. Thanks!

My boys went to Highbury Grove. It became an Academy under the wing of Cola Islington in 2018 so the two are completely interlinked, Cola I sets the policies for HG as it lost its independence after a new Headmaster set very unpopular policies which set the school back massively.
2 of my boys were very academic and had good results, I was less so and was not pushed at all. He had supply teachers for maths and science for 3 years due to the transition of the school.
There is some bullying, as there will be in any inner London school but if your son is streetwise he will be OK.
Each of the 3 boys had a very different experience of the school as they were influenced by their peers more than the school, with varying outcomes.
The truth is, there is not a lot between the two schools, HG had better facilities, Cola I may have a stronger ethos.

Hi, thank you, that's extremely helpful, as it's been hard to learn more without being there. We were leaning towards HG due to the facilities, and nice to hear you had boys that did well there too.

Hmm, I don't have children at HG but live locally and it does not have a great reputation (but better than it used to!) It's not that it's bad exactly, but parents I know there say their kids aren't pushed and there is varying levels of bullying -- though not sure it's so different than other schools. Opinion of it seems to go up and down over the years, but I'm not sure I've ever met anyone who LOVES it. Academic kids can do well there though, with Oxbridge admissions, etc. I don't know anything about COLA Islington!

Have you just applied for Islington schools? I'd look at Stoke Newington School (in Hackney) which has a much better reputation, if you're on that side of Islington. Same for the Camden schools if you're closer to the Camden side. It really doesn't matter which borough you live in if you meet the admission requirements.

Like the poster above, I wouldn't accept either of those schools.. they don't have a great reputation and very few people "choose" to go there. Depending on where exactly you will be living, you need to contact other boroughs (Hackney, Camden, Haringey) and see which schools have places. There is lots of movement in London schools, so you can also get yourself on some waiting lists.

Honestly I’d keep looking. Have you asked St Mary Magdalene Academy (SMMA or “Mary Mags”) whether they have a space in the right year group? People will assume it is full, but an article in the local paper a few days ago highlighted that every single state school in Islington was below capacity. SMMA was said to have the fewest spaces, admittedly, but you only need one!

Across the border into Camden you might want to consider Acland Burghley. Don’t send him to Haverstock, even though it will almost certainly have spaces.

Do you know where you will be living?

https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/25210635.capacity-primary-secondary-schools-islington/?callback=in&code=MGIYZDY5ZDUTZWVMOS0ZM2ZKLTLHZJMTYWJHNZI4MJI3MGY5&state=93d8ef483ab3485b93b3e62e6014a8ad

Here’s the report - a total of 10 places said to be unfilled at SMMA.