Secondary schools in South London (Greenwich or Lewisham probably)

[turnip24]

Hi all,

We're considering moving to Greenwich or Lewisham, and wondered - what are the schools like? Our two aren't quite at that age yet (thank God!) but of course you want to keep it in mind. We're not that keen on selective, independent or religious schools (not that I'm fussy!) I've had a look at the GCSE results on the BBC's league tables, which aren't hugely comforting, but I suppose you can only tell so much from results...??

Help!

Thanks xx

Most of the schools in Lewisham and Greenwich don't have great reputations, but given their catchment areas, lots of them are doing a great job. Haberdasher Askes in New Cross has a fantastic reputation but is also the most oversubscribed school in the country I think, really not sure how you go about getting in there! I've also heard good things about Prendergast in Brockley, which is a girls' school. In Greenwich I know Kidbrooke has the most amazing drama department but really don't know a lot about the rest of the school, John Roan also does good things but don't know a lot about it. Most of the school in Greenwich and Lewisham (except for perhaps Haberdashers) suffer from 'middle class flight' with lots of middle class parents running scared from the secondary schools. All will have fantastic diversity with students from all around the world, (be aware that EAL issues will affect exam results in league tables) it's a great area but it is 'inner city' with all that that entails.

The catholic schools perform best in Greenwich, but Thomas Tallis is a well thought of school. Last year's exam results were a bit iffy, but hidden within them are individual children with a string of A*'s. The catchment is tight, about 1km to be safe.

Catchment areas (shifting sands, unhelpfully) are very small for popular schools. Can't add anything to the discussion of Greenwich schools. In Lewisham seceral schools offer places on the basis of 'musical aptitude'. Distance to the school gets overlooked in those cases, but otherwise (unless a sibling / looked after etc) it's the key factor.

Haberdasher's stupidly difficult to get into, and I would seriously not recc a house move to the area with that in mind. They are now a 3-18 academy so children coming up from their primary get priority; then it's looked after children / siblings, then musical aptitude, and then there might be ummm 2 places left over in each ability band? (Lewisham ensure comprehensive intake by banding children at the end of Y5 - places admininstered accordingly). Haberdasher's do their own tests though - non verbal reasoning - and do their own banding - nine bands instead of Lewisham's 3.We applied, and got a letter stating the reason DD didn't get in was because we lived too far - 550m from the school, and furthest place offered to a child in her band was 120m. Trying to get in there is an insane game!