I think the notion of "best primary school" is quite subjective. For me, the only non private schools I'd consider in Wandsworth are Honeywell & Belleville; if I didn't have either of those as an option, I'd go private. So for me those are the best two schools. But other people have different criteria to measure "best". As many people have said, almost all schools in the borough are considered Good or Outstanding by OFSTED, therefore it's probably hard to find a "bad" one.

All the posts are absolutely correct in saying we are lucky in Wandsworth to have such good state schools. Fundamentally, the basics of the education your child receives at one of these schools vs is a private is negligible: There really aren't any significant differences. The biggest thing is that privates of do more 11+ prep, however, as a (private) parent said the other day it isn't a magic wand.

The big difference for me is the variance in the demographic. The local schools are much more diverse. This provides a whole different education for your child (and maybe you too) which you won't find in any prospectus.

Space is limited in this fabulous city we live in, and as I walked past the athletics track in Tooting today, I saw both a state and primary school going in to use these facilities. I often see state and private school kids at Tooting leisure centre.

It comes down to your personal preference, but the sport, education etc are often very similar.

All the posts are absolutely correct in saying we are lucky in Wandsworth to have such good state schools. Fundamentally, the basics of the education your child receives at one of these schools vs is a private is negligible: There really aren't any significant differences. The biggest thing is that privates of do more 11+ prep, however, as a (private) parent said the other day it isn't a magic wand.

The big difference for me is the variance in the demographic. The local schools are much more diverse. This provides a whole different education for your child (and maybe you too) which you won't find in any prospectus.

Space is limited in this fabulous city we live in, and as I walked past the athletics track in Tooting today, I saw both a state and primary school going in to use these facilities. I often see state and private school kids at Tooting leisure centre.

It comes down to your personal preference, but the sport, education etc are often very similar.

"Effect" not "affect"

Lillypad wrote:One of the biggest issues I see in the state system is the number of pupils who don't have english as their first language, I know Broadwater has 73%, that cant be good for educating children surely ?

My daughter has been at Broadwater for 6 years and I can honestly say that the high number of pupils with English as an additional language has had no detrimental affect whatsoever. By the end of nursery, the kids all chat away in excellent English and now, in Year 4, you would struggle to know whose parents speak a different language at home. Interesting points made above about high aspirations of different types of families - certainly in Broadwater there is a very strong sense of parents wanting the absolute best for their children and management and teachers who are focused on helping children achieve as much as they can.

When I first became a primary school parent, I worried about non-English speaking proportions but experience suggests strongly to me that this is a red herring; not something to be concerned about at all and there are, in fact, many more concerning issues that might affect other local schools not least complacency for those which are commonly known as the top choices.

Lillypad wrote:One of the biggest issues I see in the state system is the number of pupils who don't have english as their first language, I know Broadwater has 73%, that cant be good for educating children surely ?

My daughter has been at Broadwater for 6 years and I can honestly say that the high number of pupils with English as an additional language has had no detrimental affect whatsoever. By the end of nursery, the kids all chat away in excellent English and now, in Year 4, you would struggle to know whose parents speak a different language at home. Interesting points made above about high aspirations of different types of families - certainly in Broadwater there is a very strong sense of parents wanting the absolute best for their children and management and teachers who are focused on helping children achieve as much as they can.

When I first became a primary school parent, I worried about non-English speaking proportions but experience suggests strongly to me that this is a red herring; not something to be concerned about at all and there are, in fact, many more concerning issues that might affect other local schools not least complacency for those which are commonly known as the top choices.

I do not wish to enter the debate of private vs. State but i just want to say:

1. I agree. Dont assume that everyone who is at a state school cant afford private. Especially in this borough (lots of affluent families) and especially in the tiny catchments BTC!

2. Re sports at private school. Here the myth! At a private primary school in this area (i dont know others) space is THE issue. There is no space and if there is then it is very expensive. Private schools dont have better facilities (we are at one) but they do have resources AND parents behind their back to insist on better teaching, more matches, more of this and more of that. In our school, the PE team is made of 6 permanent full time, 4 of permanent part time and then the non permanents. And the school is very small compare to others. They do sports nearly 4hrs a week.

To me thats the difference, plus the way sets are organised.

Just because a child doesnt speak English as their first language at home, it doesnt mean they weren't born here and speak English as well as any other English child. That is definitely the case in my children's multi cultural state school. There must be 15 or 16 different countries represented in their class yet they all speak English fluently and can read as well as English children, a lot of them better. They are nothing to be scared of and are not taking away anything from mother tongue English children in terms of support. As for sport, yes, private schools may have better facilities - but once again our state school has gymnastics, cricket and dance teachers who also work with our national teams. We have teams that compete in county and national competitions (and win them!), yet you have two very small private schools nearby, one even without a playground. My advice would be to visit a lot of them and choose what is best for your child. Don't forget also that a couple of private schools have religious ethos' which like it or not, is embedded into their daily lives at school.

In my son's state school (Swaffield) he has a number of kids who have English as their second language and the other languages they speak include French, Urdu, Spanish and Portuguese. I go into their Reception class once a week for an hour to have the kids read to me and a majority of the kids that have English as their second language are better readers than the ones that don't speak any other language than English. I don't know when being bi-lingual became a problem but people seem to use this argument as if it is a bad thing that kids speak a different language at home. Strange...

PLENTY of 'english as a second language' children at private schools too!! just that no one ever talks about it - I'm not sure the privates would publish the figures

Why not? Just because English isn't there first language, it doesn't mean that all of those children don't speak English. Many families from other cultures have a high regard for education. They are very supportive and treat the teachers with great respect, without being pushy. Many of these children are high achieving.

One of the biggest issues I see in the state system is the number of pupils who don't have english as their first language, I know Broadwater has 73%, that cant be good for educating children surely ?

I think it's all about your own personal experiences.

I CAN afford to send my children to private school but I do CHOOSE not to for many reasons. I remember one of the mums from my children's nursery looking at me with concern when I said they were going to state school and she said 'oh well, X is almost like a state school anyway isn't it?' - and in my head my response was 'I blooming well hope not'.

So, here are my reasons why I choose to go state. I'm sure there are many many others who have the same outlook.

I have a real problem with the idea of sending my children to a school where there isn't a mix of backgrounds. I think it's unhealthy to be in an environment where most people (I know not all!) are very over privileged - your sense of what is 'normal' must be completely screwed. Of course it's also about parents and how they ground their children but the school environment is undoubtedly a massive influence (plus many parents of kids I know at privates in my opinion do over indulge their children - I admit I do too!).

Furthermore, when I first started working in the city for one of the 'big four' consulting firms, I was quite intimated by the confidence of the private school graduates....but actually many of them were overly confident and arrogant without much substance and consequently not actually good at their job which required them to have a good level of empathy with clients.

My education was a normal state school, not brilliant, not rubbish. I was in the top set for all my subjects and I think I benefited from being in a school where there were a wide range of abilities. I think if I was in a state school where everyone was very bright, I would probably have been in the lowest set (I'm clever but by no means the cleverest person that walked the earth) and I imagine that would only have dented my confidence and I seriously doubt I would have achieve the results I did.

My kids are at the local state school - we did move to buy a house near it to get into the catchment but in all honesty, the other local schools in our area which may not have as good a reputation are also extremely good. There's so much hype and rubbish here in London about which are great schools and which aren't.

It's brilliant that my children walk to school and all their friends live very locally. There's a really strong sense of community at our state school that really doesn't seem to be there for the mums I know who go to private schools.

Plus, one thing that always makes me chuckle, I know so so so many people who live in this area who went to private school and wish that they could send their children to private schools but can't afford to...doesn't that kind of show you that private schooling doesn't work?!

I completely understand people who went to private school who have heart palpitations at sending their children to state. At the end of the day, it's all about our own experiences. I prefer state because it worked for me. Of course if I'd been in a state school and I'd not done well then I probably would feel differently. Similarly I'm sure the same for anyone who went to private school.

But please don't assume just because we're at state school it's because we (poor things) can't afford to go private because that's simply not the case.

Surely anyone fortunate enough to be able to afford private eduction would send their kids down that route ? Private schools would not be in business if they did not add value to children's upbringing and education.

According to Wandsworth Sheringdale Primary School in Southfields was the best (top) school in Wandsworth based on the criteria they sat which I believe includes sats. It is an outstanding school according to ofsted.