Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mainst?

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Mum70s
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Joined: Fri May 10, 2013 2:04 pm

Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mainst?

Post by Mum70s »

Hi All,

I'm moving from Cheshire to Birmingham in few months and trying to sort out schools for my children- going to Yrs 2 and 4 - girl and boy. They are presently in a mainstream school and have done very well, one has special needs but not statemented and on the top 5 of class.

I'm looking at living in or around Solihull, would you advice putting them in an independent school at this stage and which are the good ones and why?

Is Solihull a good area to live and Raise children? What other areas?

What are the other good mainstream schools around this area that can be recommended?

Helppppp pleaseeeee...
hermanmunster
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Re: Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mai

Post by hermanmunster »

I think that on the whole the primaries on Solihull are pretty good - worth noting that the senior schools vary in popularity and as places are allocated on catchment, the key is to be in the right area from early on.. suspect the house prices will give you a hint! :wink:
nervousmom
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Re: Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mai

Post by nervousmom »

I think Herman makes a good point, looking ahead to secondary schools is good advice.

For example, Tudor Grange is a popular choice for a secondary school, from 2014 the entrance criteria is changing. Priority will be given to those children attending St Alphege c of e junior school in Solihull or st James school in Shirley.
hermanmunster
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Re: Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mai

Post by hermanmunster »

nervousmom wrote:I think Herman makes a good point, looking ahead to secondary schools is good advice.

For example, Tudor Grange is a popular choice for a secondary school, from 2014 the entrance criteria is changing. Priority will be given to those children attending St Alphege c of e junior school in Solihull or st James school in Shirley.
Golly that is quite a change! Effectively becoming a church secondary school - there were plans for such when I was at St Alphege Primary but it never happened.

Definitely worth checking ahead
nervousmom
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Re: Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mai

Post by nervousmom »

This change will have an effect on a number of families, especially those who have children at TG already and were hoping for siblings to attend.


For example my DC attend a RC primary school, follow on is St. Peter's, however a small handful have gone to Tudor grange, one girl is starting this year, so now there is no immediate guarantee her younger brother will get a place! Other families at our school are now having to have a re-think!

Also it is bound to effect the house prices now in those particular junior sxhool catchments.
Mum70s
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Joined: Fri May 10, 2013 2:04 pm

Re: Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mai

Post by Mum70s »

Thanks for this but still need further advice in choosing the right areas to live,is Shirley a good catchment area for the good secondary schools?
hermanmunster
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Re: Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mai

Post by hermanmunster »

Sorry for the diversion Mum70s! bit of reminiscing...

there is very helpful map here: http://www.solihull.gov.uk/onlinemaps/default.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; on the left hand side click the PIN icon Image and tick "secondary school catchment" it will show all the areas.

PS can take a few minutes to load

the highest GCSE results are Arden and Tudor Grange ... got this from the tables http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/educa ... m?compare=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ruudi1
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Re: Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mai

Post by Ruudi1 »

Here is a link to the new Tudor Grange schools admission arrangements from 2014

http://www.tudor-grange.solihull.sch.uk ... nation.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks as if St James will be the only priority feeder school now and that pupils from St Alphege School will not now be given priority. Hope the link is useful.
hermanmunster
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Re: Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mai

Post by hermanmunster »

probably makes more sense - presumably the St James TG academy was formed after there were lots of poor reports and problems at St James a few years back. At least those in catchment will still be reasonably high up the list.
nervousmom
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Re: Advice for Primary schools around Birmingham- Indep/ mai

Post by nervousmom »

Other parts of Shirley come under light hall school which isn't as good as Tudor grange

Ideally you want to be on the catchment area for Tudor grange or Arden schools and then look at the primary schools in those catchments.
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