This may be late to this post, but I'm a longtime parent at Clapham Manor. It needs a new inspection and a new head. There are a lot of issues at the school that the head and the governors refuse to address. Many parents have tried to do so and failed. They build a firewall essentially and they are very good at ticking the boxes. There are some good teachers, but there are also some not so good ones. Very inexperienced. No clue how to deal with the dynamics of a very diverse school population. This creates longterm problems. They don't stay, so you get another set every few years and there isn't much continuity for the children. In recent years a teacher stopped showing up, another just quit, etc. It's happened too many times. Staffing is an issue and for me that is a red flag that it isn't a happy environment behind the scenes. The early years is decent, but with the new government guidelines regarding targets, the pastoral care at the school is failing and the parents are doing a lot of the teaching through excessive homework. The kids who have parents who can't help them for whatever reason fall further behind. Recipe for the very disjointed upper years. There are other schools in the area that have really come along in recent years and were I to be going through this process again I would reconsider those options.

i can vouch for Bonneville - a really lovely school in a great community location. Happy to chat with you if that helps

Hi- we are Wandsworth and got into Henry cavendish nursery and school - it doesn't matter where you live. It is however a different system to Wandsworth and you can apply the term before you are due to start. Call both offices and get them to send you an application form when the time
Is right. HC will offer you either mornings or afternoons 5 days a week. Telferscot allows a more flexible option of 5 sessions including full days so that might swing your choice. Not sure on how many children / spaces in their nursery. There is normally space in Henry Cavendish for most that apply.

yes - it's based on distance

Hello! Thanks for all the super helpful posts!

We are officially in Wandsworth but right on the border with Lambeth. Does anyone have experience of applying to Nursery or Reception at Telferscot or Henry Cavendish from Wandsworth? Would an application to either of these schools have any chance of succeeding? I am finding the whole process so confusing!

UmmH wrote:We're only in the catchment for Sudbourne, King's Avenue, and probably Bonneville since it wasn't oversubscribed this year. So on our list, should I select those schools above Henry Cavendish, Telferscot and Clapham Manor?

No put the ones you prefer most first and then in order you of preference the rest. The schools dont know who has applied at which preference level. Therefore they offer places based on the criteria and the space they have. The council sorts out who has which at the highest level so if two schools come back they will select your highest one. It all shakes out over the time it takes them to come back to you and you get the highest available place on your list.

If you dont put enough choices they may give you anywhere.

Hello! We are lambeth and I have an August born daughter, so I have gone through exactly this! I was at my wits end with worry. Please feel free to personal message me and I will let you know what our very happy outcome has been and am v happy to advise

Not necessarily - put the schools in your genuine order of preference. As long as number 6 is a sure thing, you'll be OK (or 5 and 6 if you want to be watertight). If you get choice number 6 it's my understanding that you'll go onto the waiting lists for all your 5 higher choices.

Good luck!

Thanks, Papinian and Doormouse. My closest and favourite choice is Sudbourne, so I'm putting that as No.1. I've also seen King's Avenue, Iqra, Clapham Manor, Rosendale and as far afield as Telferscot and Henry Cavendish. I'm going to see Bonneville and The Orchard next month. We're only in the catchment for Sudbourne, King's Avenue, and probably Bonneville since it wasn't oversubscribed this year. So on our list, should I select those schools above Henry Cavendish, Telferscot and Clapham Manor?

If you're not too far outside previous catchment areas it might be worth putting a couple of schools that you're unlikely to get into first time as high choices, so that you get on the waiting lists, as gabster says. But you'd be unwise not to put down at least one school that, realistically, you are sure your child will get into. If you don't get a place at any of your choices, then, as papinian says, you'll be allocated a school once all the other people's choices have been taken into account, and it might be miles away. Have you been to visit all the schools in your area, even the ones you don't fancy?

UmmH wrote:I'd like to ask what you all think about only putting down one choice. There is only one school in my area that I like, so I wonder what the point is of filling up the form with schools I do not wish to send my son to. Alternative is to fill it up with schools I like which are outside my area. Does it make any difference??

Please please fill out all of the choices. The only time that you should not fill out a choice is if you would go private (and have a place at an independent school!) or homeschool rather than have your child go to the relevant school.

If you only put down one school and your child doesn't get a place there then you will be offered a place at a school that has surplus places and that may be at the other end of the borough.

However, it's a waste to put down a school that your child has zero chance of getting a place at.

The trick is to marry your preferences with the likelihood of admission.

I've also been pondering the exact meaning of that sentence "All applicants received a place at the school of a higher preferred offer" and come to the conclusion that it's a misprint. It ought to read, "All applicants received a place at the school OR of a higher preferred offer". So that would mean that if you put the school first, you got it, but if you put if further down on your list, you got one of your higher preferred choices.

I'd like to ask what you all think about only putting down one choice. There is only one school in my area that I like, so I wonder what the point is of filling up the form with schools I do not wish to send my son to. Alternative is to fill it up with schools I like which are outside my area. Does it make any difference??

A quick shout-out for Kings Avenue, which might be worth a look for you if you're within range of Bonneville. My daughter goes there. It's a lovely, nurturing school, not oversubscribed but really on the up.

My children are at HC - when the catchment was 250m. However we are now further up the road on Cavendish over 450m away. Some children in the interim years opposite us have got in so the catchment does move.

However the point of this post is that for my daughters year although there was little movement of places before and during reception 3/4 places came up at the beginning of year 1 and children from further away moved into the school and their following sublings also have places. So if you are not happy you can keep yourself on the list and potentially move at a later point.

And dont forget you need proof for address for your child now - phone the local PCT to get your medical card!!

Oh and thanks 2girls, I will check our distance to ravenstone too. Sounds like a nice school!