City of London Academy - Highbury Grove Secondary school

[anyaroz]

Hello everyone,
We’re currently deciding between two areas to rent in for the next year, and one of the properties we’re considering is quite close to City of London Academy Highbury Grove Secondary School. I’ve come across a few older threads about the school, but I’d really appreciate hearing from parents with more recent experience.
We’re relocating from the US this summer, and our son (11 years old) would be starting Year 7 this September, most likely through an in-year application. From what I can tell, there aren’t too many options for boys in the area—some schools are heavily oversubscribed, and others are just a bit too far.
I’d be very grateful for any insight into the academic standards, discipline, and overall social environment at Highbury Grove.
Any thoughts—positive or critical—would be extremely helpful as we try to make this decision.
Many thanks in advance!

Hi @anyaroz sorry I don’t know the school or area (helpful!) but just to say if your ds is 11 now and you move in Sept this year, yes it will be an in-year application so you may have to take the school which has places - which may not be your first preference.

The good news is that there is a lot of movement in London and you can go on waiting lists for schools you prefer.

How far is too far btw? Secondary school pupils are expected to get themselves to school and in London, a journey of up to an hour is not unusual.

Thank You, @clary. Yes, I realize we’ll need to go through an in-year application. Highbury Grove is the closest option to one of the property we're considering and, from what I can tell, it doesn’t appear to be oversubscribed—hence my question.

I’ll admit our kids are a bit spoiled by small-town life in the US—we’re used to school buses that pick them up right outside the house. Spending more than 30 min to get to school seems excessive, but perhaps we need to re-evaluate our expectations. :)

Ah that sounds like a good shout then. Anecdotally there are more spaces in year 7 in Sept in parts of the UK due to falling birth rate. OTOH there are said to be some DC needing to switch to state school bc of rising private school fees.

Hopefully someone will be along soon with more relevant info. But yes, 30 mins commute to school is nothing really. My dc had a very short walk but plenty of their classmates walked for 30 mins-plus or got a bus for 20 mins plus a 10-15 min walk; a school near us which is very popular would have involved a 25-min walk, 15-min bus ride and then 5-min walk for my DC if we had gone for it (and got a place).

Sorry to say but I really wouldn’t if you have a choice! It’s not a disastrous option and has potential but it does not have a great reputation locally. Kids from small town America will be pretty shocked. I’ll be surprised if anyone says anything different.

Just to add - if a school is undersubscribed in Year 7, I would not send my kid there if I had a choice. Rent - even short term - right next door to the best oversubscribed school so you’re at the top of the wait list when a space inevitably comes up.

@Lornalovesarthur, thank you! We certainly have reservations - so I appreciate your comment. When you say "it does not have a great reputation locally", would you mind elaborating a bit?

What is the other area you're considering? Have you got a school in mind there?

Have PM’d you.

All state schools in Islington have spaces currently, and some (including Highbury Grove) have lots - it has around 270 unfilled places, almost 20% of the school’s capacity.

Have you seen this very recent thread, OP?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5353824-cola-highbury-grove-vs-cola-islington?reply=145027768

@zaxxon, we are also looking at Putney, where our son would likely end up in Ark Putney Academy. Looking at GCSE results and the student demographics, we can't really see much difference between Ark Putney and COLA Highbury Grove. But perhaps it is more clear for the locals.... We are trying to figure it all out while still in the US, before moving to London in August for just one year.

@HighburyHope, Thank you for the very useful link - I haven't seen this thread before. But it seems that some of the enrolment data mentioned is from 2023-24. We called St. Mary Magdalene Academy and they told us that the waitlist for Year 7 has 300 students on it. We will double-check.

Bear in mind that when you join a waiting list you don’t join at the bottom of it. The school works out where your child ranks according to its published oversubscription criteria and inserts their name accordingly. This means that people can turn up and rent a home right next to the school and leapfrog others on the waiting list who live further away (where distance is the criterion on which the list is ordered). Every school has to publish these criteria on its website.

Your position is admittedly more difficult than that of the poster on the other thread, as joining in Y7 means you are jostling for position with everyone else moving schools at the same time. Where there are gaps in popular schools such as SMMA, they won’t be in the forthcoming Y7 as that admission year is still underway and they will keep filling it up as necessary from the waiting list. But that doesn’t stop you joining the waiting list once you have an address.

Would you consider other areas, such as Richmond or Kingston, for better school options? As a Highbury resident, my honest advice would be not to move to Highbury with a boy looking for a state secondary education unless you have a reasonable expectation of getting into St Mary Magdalene.

Just seen you’re only coming for one year! So I suppose GCSE results are not the priority - will he go back into the US system after that? There are American schools in London which facilitate that but they are private, and expensive.

That’s right—just one year, then we’ll be heading back to the US. So while GCSE results aren’t a major concern, we do want a school where our son feels safe and is reasonably challenged. We looked into American schools, but they’re quite expensive, especially once you factor in VAT.

In Y7 the academic challenge level will be much the same everywhere in the state system.

Things to think about:

• are there specific things you’d like him to learn, such as a particular language? E.g. if he is learning Spanish in the US, would you like him to be able to continue with it rather than have a year’s gap? Perhaps bear this in mind when considering options (though Spanish is offered in most schools around here).
• anecdotally I understand that the UK system may move forward faster than the US - you might want to try him on some UK curriculum mathematics (for example) to see how it fits with what he has done. I recommend CGP for workbooks.
• is the private system an option at all, cost-wise? It’s all expensive, but not all quite as expensive as the American schools here! It would give you much more flexibility as it wouldn’t tie you to living on a particular spot in order to get a place at a popular school from a busy waiting list. If you wanted to stick with the Highbury property, then you might well find that North Bridge House, Canonbury could accommodate him. I don’t have personal experience of it, but friends nearby do send their children there and are happy with it.

@HighburyHope Thank You so much for all the helpful comments! Based on what we’ve seen so far, math should be relatively easy for both of our kids (we also have a 9-year-old girl), but English will likely be a bit more challenging due to curriculum differences.
As for private schools, we’d really prefer not to go that route. That said, we did already take a look at North Bridge House, Canonbury.

Ark is slightly looked down on in Putney but I know kids there who are happy. Putney is a nice place to live. There are also other schools nearby which you may be able to get into if you live fairly near. All the primaries seem to have spaces as well, if you thinking about your daughter.

@boilingandgrumpy That's good to know -- Thank you!! We already called a couple of good primary schools in close proximity (to the rental) and they confirmed that there are spaces.

I’ve chosen not to send my son to Highbury Grove because of its reputation. It can be pretty rough when the boys hit their teenage years. I know parents who have pulled their DC out / want to pull them out because they’re falling in with the wrong kids. If it’s undersubscribed, there’s a reason for that.

HOWEVER that is for older kids. If it was just for Y7 I’d be pretty happy about sending him there. Kids that age are still little. I know lots of nice Y7 kids who go there. I’ve heard that the teaching is good - I haven’t looked at the GCSE results but I was impressed by the enthusiasm of the teachers when I went to an open day. And it has a pool which no other schools around here do.

Honestly, if it’s just for a year I’d do it because Highbury is a really nice place to live. Don’t know much about Putney but it’s in the sticks by comparison and travelling on the District Line (if that was your newest transport link) will sap you of the will to live.

It’s also worth saying that HG’a reputation goes up and down. It was regarded as a no-go for middle class parents for years. Then it got a new head, new facilities (the building is great), and an Andrew Lloyd-Webber music programme and everyone was falling over themselves to get a place. Then that head left under a cloud and its reputation went downhill again. Now it has a reasonably new head who talks tough so people are starting to consider it again. The problem is the cohort of older teenage boys whose behaviour can really drag things down

Where do you need to get to for work OP?
There is a real north/ south and East/West divide in London so ignore the Putney is in the sticks comment😀. The district line is air conditioned and a joy compared to most other lines! We also have a mainline station and a river boat!
Would also agree that most Y7 kids are OK so I wouldn’t stress too much about schools.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to start a north/south of the river debate 😂 it’s just that every time I have to get the District Line it just seems to sit there in stations not going anywhere

@TonictheHedgehog- don’t worry- I always moan on the Victoria line as I stand by the open window at the end of the carriage trying to catch a breeze and end up covered in soot🤣 Although I took the Bakerloo for the first time in ages the other day and it was the worst of the lot!
OP- don’t worry- lots of nice areas in London and people are generally friendly! Can’t go wrong! You’re more likely to meet other parents at Primary School rather than Secondary which may be important to you. (Unless independent Secondary where there tend to be more events for parents. )

As you're consider living in Putney have you considered Chelsea Academy - supposedly where David Cameron was going to send his son had he remained PM. Of course since standing down his son is now at St Paul's!

https://chelsea-academy.org/

It's a great location, building, and facilities but I have no idea of the standards.

Very hard to get into Chelsea Academy from Putney due to their admissions policy. Lots of feeder schools in Kensington and Chelsea. Lots of boys at Fulham Boys School though.
i don’t think David Cameron would have actually sent his son to CA in a million years!