Tooting Primary School Post Reply

[Montypumpkin]

My little boy is 2 and a half and my husband and I are have been locked in to the debate about 'do we move out of London for a good school we don't have to pay for?' I find it very depressing and irritating that on the tootingonline primary school league tables the top two are faith schools and therefore not an option for anyone who is not a catholic and others fall well short of their educational standards.

My partner and I are atheists and I find the whole idea of only being allowed in to a state school if you are of a certain religion wrong. That goes for all faith schools, if it's government paid for it should be open to all simple as that. Anyway...

We live off Fransciscan Road and I literally have all my eggs in the Tooting Primary School basket hoping it will be good enough. When will they be ofsted inspected and do I have to put his name down now? Is it going to be a bun fight to get in? Are there any parents of students there currently who could vouch for it so far? It looks lovely from the outside but that's the extent of my knowledge.

At the moment it's looking like TPS or go private or move.

[papinian]

I find it very depressing and irritating that on the tootingonline primary school league tables the top two are faith schools and therefore not an option for anyone who is not a catholic and others fall well short of their educational standards.

I would have some sympathy for you previously, but now anyone can set up a free school. I also wonder why you only mention Catholic primary schools. Wandsworth Council area also has Church of England primary schools, a Muslim primary school (in Tooting!) and a Jewish primary school, but I see that you do not mention those.

It might be more useful for you to ponder why the Catholic schools get such good results. St. Boniface's has a much higher number of children who speak English as a second language than some of the other schools in Tooting, yet that does seem to affect it. If St Anselm's and St Boniface's were not faith schools then I am certain that their performance would be nothing like as good.

The statements that you make are not correct:
- Faith schools with open places have to take anyone. It is only the school is oversubscribed by pupils of the relevant faith that those not of the faith cannot get admission. There is more than one Catholic primary school in Wandsworth Council area admitting non-Catholic pupils.
- You say that if the government paid for a school then it should be open to all. However, no oversubscribed primary school is open to all. There may be selection by faith or selection by distance from the school, but there always has to be some basis for working out who gets in and who doesn't.

[erinisle22]

Tooting primary's furthest admission was 9km away this year. I think it is going to take a bit of time for the catchment to come in much. According to parents of first year attenders, not many have siblings for this year's admission - there are more for 2015 which is when I think you are wanting admission, is that right? I live at the far end of Chasefield off Franciscan and I expect to get in in 2015. But if I don't, I'll be happy enough with Hillbrook.

[Cloud]

Hi Montypumpkin, I know how worrying it can be because I have just been through the process of applying for a primary school place and have yet to learn the results (no doubt we'll be in a blind panic in April when we find out we haven't got any of our choices).

But to answer one of your questions about TPS - you can't put your name down for any state school until the applications for the next school year are opened. So, for the September 2014 intake, you would have to apply by 15 January 2014. So it looks like you have plenty of time to think about it. I'd advise going to visit the schools in your area, you can do a search on the Ofsted website based on your home postcode and the nearest schools will come up in order of distance. You may find that the Ofsted inspection reports are misleading. I went to a couple of schools that didn't have particularly good Ofsted reports but I really liked the atmosphere, ethos etc. Bear in mind that some of the reports are old and the school could have changed a lot since. A lot of the schools will arrange a show around at any time of year so you can do your homework early to get a better picture of what you want.

As previous posters have said, it looks like TPS has quite a large 'catchment' at the moment but it's hard to say what it will look like In a couple of years time.

I also wanted to say, for what it's worth, that I don't think the principle of faith schools is fair. However, I don't think any aspect of the system is fair. Schools other than faith schools are based on catchment areas and that is intrinsically unfair because people with the money to do so will gravitate towards the outstanding state schools, thus pushing out the less privileged and giving them less chance of an outstanding education. Unfair in a different away, but unfair all the same. So there's not much point in complaining about it - best thing is to try to figure out how to make the most of a bad system!

If you have the money to go private there are quite a few great options around here. I'd think twice about moving just because of a school. There's no guarantee you will get into any state school and the difference in house prices may mean that it's worth your while to stay put and go private.

Good luck!

[Cloud]

Also just to add, if you want more info on TPS, there was a thread on this site a couple of months ago about it.

[Montypumpkin]

Thanks for the info Erinisle22, that's quite positive that you would expect to get in in 2015, I just had this idea that with such average performing schools in the area everyone would want to rush for the brand new school opened by the Graveny people and it would be impossible to get in. I may be panicking a bit of course!

Thanks Cloud too, my post has ended up being a bit of a rant about faith schools but in reality I just want to know what else is out there for us - whilst having a moan! I appreciate your advice and will definitely visit them all - visiting local nurseries showed me how ofsted doesn't cover it all.

To clarify, Papinian, I mention the two catholic schools only as I was referring to this league table: http://www.tootingonline.com/forum/toot ... ances.html where the top two schools are faith, and happen to be catholic. I said I don't agree with faith schools in general, not catholic schools in particular. And trust me I definitely pondered why these schools are better and my frustration is borne from the fact that the local schools my son will be eligible for - in theory of distance etc. are not as good and I wish they were! I would like a fair chance as any other person of getting him in to the best free schools in the area but my lack of religion makes us unwelcome at the top two which I find frustrating.

As a first time mother and starting to look at what we have to work with in our area it's disappointing there are very few high achieving schools, if any - please correct me if I'm wrong (because I'd like to put it on my list!) which have the standard selection criteria.

I'd be interested to hear opinions of Furzedown, Fircroft and Hillbrook but from what I've heard none are considered particularly great. That's just from the odd tidbit, I don't know any parents whose children are at state schools in the area. My friends have all chosen to go down the private route due to the lack of what they perceived to be suitable options which is probably where my concern stems from. Sellincourt is third on this league table but I don't hear anyone mentioning that one at all, any views on it?

Thanks,

[Cloud]

Fircroft is one of the schools I visited and really liked. I know one set of parents whose son is in year 5 and couldn't speak more highly of it. I would recommend visiting and seeing for yourself.

[erinisle22]

You must live somewhat near me
I'm not in the catchment for Sellincourt (which is ok but has just lost a poor performing head and things seem a little all over the place).
I would get into Broadwater, Franciscan, Hillbrook and probably wait list for Fircroft (a few families on my street are at Fircroft) as well as TPS. Furzedown is pretty unlikely - further away than Sellincourt.

As with all things...the more the parents get involved, the better the school is going to be. Hillbrook and Broadwater have active parents getting involved and the schools are the better for it.

[Cloud]

I have heard good things of Broadwater.

The problem with the free schools (and by this I mean TPS and Rutherford House) is lack of track record. We put them down as choices but at the bottom of our list because it's a bit risky. Whether you decide to take that risk depends on your options I guess. Having said that, I have heard mostly good feedback from current parents of kids at both those schools.

[LauraBrown]

I'm a very happy Broadwater parent - my daughter is in Year 2 and my son is in Nursery there (in his second year of Nursery has he started last year after turning 3 in September). Yes, the Catholic schools mentioned are at the top of the tables but that doesn't mean the other schools are bad schools - not every school can be top!

From what I can understand and, in common with many of our local schools, Broadwater is focused on continually improving teaching standards and attainment and I believe got its best ever results at KS1 (i.e. end of Year 2) last year which I think is testament to this. I have no complaints about the progress my daughter has made through school so far - the teachers set high expectations and encourage each child to be the best they can be (which is a bit of a motto for kids at the school at the moment). I know people have differing views about the value of tests, but they have spelling and number tests each week which I like because it is easy to see the progress being made and practising for these tests is a relatively painless form of homework as it is a few minutes each day. It is an incredibly caring, inclusive school and, from my experience has excellent behaviour - I have never heard from my daughter about any significant disruption or behavioural incidents of any kind (and because I'm massively nosey I try to probe for this kind of info from time to time!). The school also has huge playgrounds which have recently been renovated with lovely equipment (amongst the best I have seen in Wandsworth); a field; a ball court and a small swimming pool in which children begin lessons during their Reception year.

Lots more information - especially photos which give you a better feel for the place on the website:

http://www.broadwaterschool.org.uk/

[Montypumpkin]

Thanks Laura, I hadn't even heard of Broadwater Looks like a lovely option... feeling much better about things and really appreciate the advice and info you've all shared, thank you!

[sw17mamma]

My kids are at Furzedown and it is a cracking school with fab kids, parents and staff. It also got a great ofsted last year if you buy into that.

Tps will be great, but obvs needs a few years to grow.

For what's it's worth - I don't rate our local religious schools - too much hype!