Catchment Areas
Anon (ahem) asks:
Does anyone know if there is a catchment area for Halstow Road School? We live not far away (Dinsdale Road) and it seems that kids in our street are being sent to the Millennium school. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Millenium school but for those of us who don’t drive and have to get a tandem buggy on public transport, it seems a bit of a schlep, with Halstow around the corner. I just assumed that Halstow would be our nearest school.
The Phantom replies:
I heard it was something ridiculous, like 0.2 of a mile but that was something like third-hand, so don't take my word for it.
My first thought when I read this was the whole postcode thing - Halstow, being north of the railway tracks, is SE10, you being south, will be SE3 - but that's clearly not going to work as the Milennium will also be SE10. I think it's just that Halstow seems to be so popular that the catchment area is tiny. Know anyone in Halstow Road you can rent a room from?
Does anyone know if there is a catchment area for Halstow Road School? We live not far away (Dinsdale Road) and it seems that kids in our street are being sent to the Millennium school. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Millenium school but for those of us who don’t drive and have to get a tandem buggy on public transport, it seems a bit of a schlep, with Halstow around the corner. I just assumed that Halstow would be our nearest school.
The Phantom replies:
I heard it was something ridiculous, like 0.2 of a mile but that was something like third-hand, so don't take my word for it.
My first thought when I read this was the whole postcode thing - Halstow, being north of the railway tracks, is SE10, you being south, will be SE3 - but that's clearly not going to work as the Milennium will also be SE10. I think it's just that Halstow seems to be so popular that the catchment area is tiny. Know anyone in Halstow Road you can rent a room from?
Labels: Greenwich Schools, halstow road school
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:59
25 Comments:
If the catchment area's so tiny, why do so many people drive their kids to school?
I believe the Halstow intake is 45 pupils per year. They prioritise according to distance, residence and siblings at school. I guess on those criteria alone the 'catchment area' must be quite small (in quotation marks because I'm not sure the school has a defined catchment areas as such).
Interestingly, the Millennium School _does_ have a defined catchment area, though this may be a couple of years out-of-date:
"Millennium School:
Annandale Road
Armitage Road
Blackwall Lane (East side)
Caletock Way
Calvert Road
Commerell Place
Davern Close
Denford Street
Dinsdale Road
Fingal Street
Foyle Road
Glenforth Street
Glenister Road
Harriot Close
Hatcliffe Street
Hevelius Close
Horn Lane (West side)
Humber Road (odd numbers 1
to 51 and even numbers 2 to 78)
Lenthorp Road
Lyndale Close
Mercers Close
Rooke Way
Tunnel Avenue (odd numbers
71 to 125 and even numbers
76 to 196)
Ulundi Road
Vanbrugh Hill
Westcombe Park Road (odd
numbers 21 to 41 and even
numbers 24 to 46)
Williamson Close
Woolwich Road (odd numbers
1 to 115 and even numbers
2 to 20)
Area bounded by River Thames
from end of Horn Lane to Dome.
A102(M) (East side) from
Blackwall Tunnel entrance to
junction with Blackwall Lane. "
I guess this is a hangover from closing the Annandale primary school and turning it into a block of flats. A whole load of young professionals get to live on the congested Woolwich Rd, with no chance of getting a bus to the Jubilee station, and hundreds of small children have to trek over to a replacement school 5 mins' walk from the tube. How very well thought-out.
Thats a very good point anon. Although my local primary school (James Wolffe) has a very high number of "walkers" I am pleased to see and this morning it looked like it was "Bring your Dad to school day!" also refreshing to see.
Just to bring the board down to the level of a parent forum, can I ask Benedict how he finds James Wolffe? We are in the catchment area for there, I believe, though I don't think you can put your name down until the kids are close to school age. I have heard rumours of good reports but nothing from anyone who actually has kids there right now??
Sorry TGP, please resume history lessons and gossip about Greenwich in general at your leisure :-)
m32, much to my regret actually, I dont go to James Wolffe School,just being "slightly" too mature....ahem, and I am afraid I also dont have any kids ( Im going to seem a bit odd now right?),but I do talk to my neighbours a lot who do have kids there (and there are a lot of nippers on this street). Just the other day a neighbour was saying how pleased she was to get her second daughter accepted there, she will start in September but I dont know when they applied. I have heard several good reports about it and in my dealings with them on neighbourhood issues have found them to be a very freindly and helpful staff. You know what, just give them a ring, I am sure they can give you more informed info.
Good Luck.
m32...
I've have had kids through and one still at JWS and on the whole it's lovely. A new head a couple of years ago after having had an excellent one for ages has had the expected minor hiccups, but the School retains its healthy blend of social/racial/ability mix, and generally a friendly positive vibe permeates. Minor criticisms include perhaps an overfocus on arts/music at the expense of PE/sports, and a failure to get to grips with year6 being anything other than a dull revision year for SATS (actually, I imagine every school struggles with this issue due to the ridiculous focus on league tables etc). Also I have a creeping suspicion that the Head is more interested in lifting the struggling kids at the expense of challenging the brighter ones,rather than balancing both (altho again the effect of SATS results probably drives this - there is no way a school can show it is 'improving' it's brightest kids, so it's not surprising if they concentrate on areas where improvement shows through).
Like Benedict I live very near to JWS and am impressed every day by the fact that the vast majority of parents walk their kids to school.
A large proportion of the parents also seem to be very actively engaged with the school, as evidenced by the regular social events, fund-raising drives etc. held at the weekends.
These factors - although much less significant than the quality of the teaching, of course - must nevertheless signal something very positive about most of the parents' attitudes - and therefore the kids' ability to learn and thrive.
My son is at James Wolfe, he adores it, and so do I - I drop him off there (on foot, of course, Franklin), four days a week. It benefits from a wonderful mix of people, and cultures, check out for instance the cook book next time you have a coffee at Buenos Aires. Inevitably, odd concerns will be raised, and perhaps the one about challenging the 'brighter' kids is the one that comes up most. But, overall, we feel fortunate that he's there.
Have you thought about Meridian? It's closer to you than Millennium, and you'd avoid the schlep across busy roads (apart from the Trafalgar Road). My sons go there and love it. It's a lovely, friendly school with a slightly progressive outlook that turns out very well-rounded children. I'd certainly recommend having a look round before you make a decision.
Another parent who walks to James Wolfe. It's early days but it has the potential to be a great school.
Of course we were sold our house with the description that it was in the Halstow Road catchment area - we live on Dinsdale. Even though our mini-me has 4 years before he'll be going to school, I had rather assumed he would be going to Halstow Road. i thought I would be only baffled when it came to applying to secondary schools...
Jules, you and me both. I come out in a rash just thinking about schools and children not even three!
Great! I'm not even a parent yet (due in August) but I can start to worry about schools already. I thought I could put that off until after the nappies, multi-coloured poo and colic. Oh well.
Methers (on Dinsdale Road)
Don't worry Methers - we're spoilt for choice round here. In a way, it's a shame that Halstow does so well in the league tables (and there are some who question their approach - they're very results-focused), because it puts other great schools in the shade.
Halstow School has done very well down to the easy transition from home to school for the children as there were always lots of parents floating around helping out with reading etc. making it seem like a family. Now that people can buy into the catchment at great expense (and use it as a prep school), alot of these parents go to work and are not around to keep up these traditions. I wonder if Halstow will continue to be the same school?
One thing that has always interests me about Halstow is how the supportive local parental effect has never transferred itself to John Roan...do Halstow send many kids there at all?..it's practically next door but they seem to be state schools at the opposite ends of the spectrum...
I live in the Halstow catchment area but both my kids have to walk past Halstow through the dingy underpass to Sherington, passing parents from Charlton heading Halstow wards.
Though Sherington is a great school that walk in the rain is not so good.
Unfortunately Halstow parents avoid John Roan like the plague - most have opted for the Kent Grammar schools and now this route has been mostly closed they try to get them into Tallis (some go private of course Colfe's, Black High etc.) - Anyone offered Roan from this years leavers have rejected it.
it always amazes me how a School like Roan, surrounded by apparently excellent primaries and in such a nice location has managed to cock it up to such a degree...but then that's a whole other story...(and actually I imagine plenty of kids have had a good experience there despite the poor results etc...)
Some people I know have actually removed their children from Halstow school so don't get upset if you don't get a place. All the primary schools on our doorstep are decent.
ooh do tell, what do you mean removed?? Moved out of the area or in protest?
In protest at the strictness of the regime. Alot of needless shouting goes on at kids who for the most part are very well behaved.
It's not quite true that all the parents have rejected John Roan this year. There are several children heading to the school - some out of choice and some because they have no choice.
I'd question the comment too that there's a lot of unecessary shouting from teachers at Halstow-that's quite the opposite of my own experience of the school these last 7 years
Any teacher worth their salt will tell you that league tables are guff, and any school that sacrifices a rounded education in pursuit of results has forgotten what primary education should be about. Count yourself lucky that you're out of the catchment area, and your children will be much happier in a less hot-housing environment.
I also think you should consider Meridian. The head's got great vision and energy and he's a man who has very strong ideas about primary education and how it should be. Word on the street is that it's about to get a sparkling Ofsted report, too...(inspection done last week...)
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