Carshalton - some questions

[Pushydad]

Hi everyone, this is my first post after lurking here for some time

Having done a fair bit of research we've more or less settled on Carshalton as good location to live. We really like the Village and it works well for me to commute into central London. We currently have a DS in primary school and a little one on the way. Our plan is to move close to the start of the 11+ process (although DS will continue at his school till secondary school). We're pretty clued up on the grammars (Wilson's, WCGS & Sutton) and how hard they are to get into but we're hopeful that DS could be fortunate . However my main questions are,

1. what are the state school alternatives to Grammars in the event that he was not successful.
2. Is anybody familar with the local primary school options for our soon-to-be arrival. Is All Saints any good? Views from any parents of current or former pupils would be really helpful.
3. How does All Saints compare to barrow Hedges or the other schools in the area? Do they all have small catchment areas?
4. Do any of the local primary schools help with getting the children ready for 11+ examinations?

Sorry there are a fair few questions but grateful for any replies.

Thanks

[surreydad2010]

Hi there, good choice, it's a lovely area and very easy and quick commute up to London Bridge or Victoria..

State schools
I can only speak about the ones I know about, so others feel free to fill in the gaps! This is based on friends of my son who attend them..
Stanley Park will probably be your closest, used to have quite a "dodgy" reputation but the new headmaster is really turning things around, they are due to move to a very modern, high tech new building over the next year or so (unless the times have changed) which from the plans looks like it will be quite something
Overton I dont know that much about other than the 2 I know that go there in year 7 and 8 are very happy
Carshalton Boys, may be a personal thing but not heard good things from the 1 that I know, he is suffering in a very disruptive class
Cheam High - bit far for you but sorry if I offend anyone with the phrase "dont touch it with a bargepole"
Greenshaw - always very impressed with it when I attended the open days, only down point was I felt the HM was incredibly patronising to the parents

Local primarys, can only comment that both my DS' went to Stanley Park infants and juniors and were very happy, good standard of education, only minor complaint is both schools (IMHO) are very biased towards girls as there is a high proportion of female teachers who only have daughters and dont seem to get the "boys need to run around a lot" view of the world!

Bandon Hill is another one worth looking at and would have been my second choice

Hope all that helps and others can pitch in too
SD

[Pushydad]

Thanks surreydad2010, that was really helpful!

I don't know much about Stanley Park but I hope the dodgy reputation is undeserved or certainly a thing of the past. Schools can so easily go up as well as down and one of the main reasons we're impressed with the area is the general standard of state education.

Overton - I will look into this school but I've heard it is quite good.

Carshalton Boys - I think we'll try to avoid this one.

Cheam High - agreed it is quite far but I was under the impression it was a decent school.

Greenshaw - looks very promising thanks.

Duly noted about Stanley Park Infants - we'll certainly look into that one. Bandon Hill is one I've not heard of so again thanks. How did you find Stanley park Infants re preparing your DS' for secondary school?

[surreymum]

I think all the state alternatives bar Carshalton boys have families who are very happy with them and reasonable reputations. Carshalton boys have traditionally had very poor results. Cheam High does has a good reputation locally but you are a long way out of catchment. Similarly the catchment area for Overton Grange has been getting smaller most years. So much of peoples experience of these schools depends on the group of friends a child makes thus colouring their experience.

Depending on where you choose to live your choice will be limited as most of the schools are oversubscribed. Greenshaw has a number of selective places which do not depend on being in catchment and may be worth looking at.

[loopylou]

Surreymum is right. If you have your heart set on a particular Sutton school, it is important to find out the catchment areas first. Unfortunately you will not have a free choice of all Sutton schools.
Catchment areas (or technically last distance offered) varies every year but typically you won't get into Cheam High unless you live within 1400 metres and Overton's catchment is down to 1600 metres.
From Carshalton Village you would have no chance at all of a place at Cheam High and very little chance of a place at Overton unless you lived right on the Carshalton / Sutton town centre border in which case you might scrape through on Overton's catchment.
I'm not trying to be pessimistic but if the secondary school choice / grammar school back-up is important to you, it helps to know that the catchment areas around Sutton are very very small and many people have very few choices or only 1 choice of school depending on where they live.

[Pushydad]

Thanks Surreymum and loopylou, that's really helpful and we'll definitely bear that in mind as we get closer to moving. What a lottery...

[menagerie]

Pushydad, on the bright side, there are three grammars and the same children applying for them all, so provided your child seems reasonably capable and is very well prepared, there's a chance of getting a place at one of them.