East Finchley Primary Schools - advice please.

[chocolateteabag]

We're thinking of moving to the area in a year or so.
Daughter is currently in Y3 at a good Camden school.
We may have to drive her to her old school, from EF, for a while if nothing comes up in EF.

I'd love for her to eventually go to a school local to where we will live (currently we live 1 minute from her school and it's a lovely)- but know very little about Martin, Coldfall and Brooklands primaries. Could anyone recommend a particular school please?

We are not a faith family, by the way.

Also, we will be moving (hopefully) to the bit of N2 closest to Archer Academy, as we've been to open day, liked it very much and hope for our girl to go there. That'll probably then rule out Coldfall, as I'm guessing it'll be out of catchment.

Have I missed any other local primaries or indeed faith schools which may take a quota of non-faith families?

Thank you very much

[nyr]

My DS left Brookland about 1.5 years ago and DD is in Y6. I would describe the school as a very nurturing environment. The vast majority of children are very well adjusted, both emotionally and socially, with a keen interest in academic as well as cultural pursuits, such as music, drama and art.

There are a large number of very experienced, long serving and energetic teachers and the newer ones also put a lot into the school. As with any London school, there have been teachers who, for various reasons, have only stayed about 1 year - though they have been small in number.

On the whole, the relationships between parents, children and staff are excellent, with plenty of mutual respect.

The catchment is tight for the infant school but gets quite wide for Y3-Y6 as some children start to trickle off to the independent sector.

We consider ourselves rather lucky to have found this school. Especially when we compare our children's experience of this school and their general social and emotional state with other families.

nyr

[chocolateteabag]

Thanks nyr that's really good to know. Other than reading the outstanding Ofsted reports, I hadn't got any parent based information at all, until now.
I think I will have to go and visit.
Do you think, knowing how high the number of jewish children in the school is, that there is any risk of a child from a non-Jewish background feeling in any way left out?

My DD is currently in a non-religious primary (like Brooklands) but where the ethnic and religious mix is very balanced out. She has friends from all religious groups and racial backgrounds and I really like that. It is something I would love for her to continue to have throughout her schooling, if at all possible.

I went to a secondary school which was 60% Jewish and though my best friend was from a very liberal Jewish family, many of the other girls were not - there was fairly defined groups of girls, based on religion and social standing. It wasn't very nice. I'm hoping that at primary level at least, this would not be an issue.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

[nyr]

chocolateteabag,

There are indeed many Jewish children at Brookland but there are also quite a few Jewish primaries in the area. I'm not Jewish but, knowing many of the parents, it seems they've chosen to send their children to Brookland because they want them to have a broader cultural experience. Of course, being an outstanding school helps.

Each year about 20 children head off to the Jewish secondaries, but for at least half these parents the decision seems to be due to circumstances - until Archer came on the scene, good non-selective state secondary school places were in very short supply.

The Jewish families know each other from synagogues and Sunday schools and this naturally leads to stronger ties. However, my honest feeling is that the biggest factor in children's friendships outside school seems to be friendships between like-minded (not necessarily same faith) parents and children of stay-at-home or flexi-work mums (and dads) tend to have more play dates.

I should also add, there are plenty of non-Jewish children.

nyr

[chocolateteabag]

That's very interesting and heartening to hear, nyr - many thanks for replying.

I hope I did not in any way appear to be anti-Jewish!

I have and have had jewish friends, so my question was very much borne out of bad experinces I myself had at school.

It seems that Brooklands Junior school is fed into almost entirely by the Infant school, which according to the admissions lady I spoke to the other day, means it is very oversubscribed and hard to get into.

She also confirmed what you said nyr - that by Y4 roughly, several children will have left for independents, freeing up some places.

Not been to have a look around yet, but will book that soon, as it sounds like a very inclusive and great school.