Hello! Primary school help please!

[JacquiAnnabelle]

Hello all, I hope you are able to help. My name is Jacqui and I am moving from west London to ED or HH with my daughter who is 3. We are moving because we need more space and like the look of your lovely area! And we need a good school!

So I need your help please! Firstly may I ask if you think HH or ED has the best primary schools and secondly how do you work out the boundaries - I.e how do you know if it's in the catchment! The estate agents all say yes this house is in the catchment but would be great to know if there is a science to this!

Secondly I am travelling to Shoreditch each day and wonder if you have any suggestions on the best route.

Thanks all in advance for your help!

[redjam]

Welcome to the area! Lots of lovely primaries in both ED and Herne Hill but most people have only got experience of one or the other, for obvious reasons, so the only way of comparing is to go round and visit as many as you can, read the Ofsted reports (for what they're worth), talk to parents etc - I'm afraid it's a lot of legwork but it's the only way you can truly get a feel for the different schools. Most primaries round here have pretty tiny catchments and the catchments change each year according to demand. So never trust what the estate agents say but check with the schools themselves what their 'last distance offered' was for the previous year and that should give you a better idea if you'd be likely to get in.

Travelling to Shoreditch from ED is easy - just hop on a bus (or walk) to Denmark Hill and then the Overground takes you directly to Shoreditch High Street. Don't know about Herne Hill but that has pretty good transport links (generally better than ED) so I'm sure it'd be easy from there too.

Good luck!

[flocker spotter]

If convenience for Shoreditch is what you want, have you considered around Peckham Rye/Bellenden Road?

[Jules-and-Boo]

Peckham Rye to Shoreditch is on the Overground,

[midivydale]

Or brockley/forest hill/honor oak?

[nylonmeals]

From HH you'd take the bus up Herne Hill to Denmark Hill station and the Overground.

[alex_b]

For Shoreditch you might want to move to the Peckham Rye side of East Dulwich. It also has the benefit of being a bit cheaper, although it's been changing a lot in the last three years and both Bellenden Rd and the lower part of Rye Lane are getting much nicer.

We're in Adys Rd which is a 10-15 minute walk to Peckham Rye station and then 20-ish minutes on the Overground to Shoreditch High St. Plenty of people in East and West Dulwich take the Southern trains one or two stops to Peckham Rye and then change to the Overground train there. The connections are on the same platform and timed 2-3 minutes apart which is good, but it is one more thing to go wrong especially with the strikes on Southern.

Schools wise on this side of ED Belham is a small free school and will be moving into its permanent home in September. I believe Bellenden is also getting a new school building in the next year. I'd be interested in hearing from other parents about these schools as our son is just turning three so we don't have direct experience yet.

[maress1]

Hello

for your school and commuting needs I would suggest the North Dulwich end of Herne Hill. So look on Google maps for north dulwich station and then around there look for houses. Beckwith Road, Frankfurt Road and around there are big and lovely and expensive, around Sunray Ave and Casino ave are small ( though fine for a family of 4) and lovely and less expensive. Schools wise you have Bessemer Grange of Dulwich Village Infants/Dulwich Hamlet or Judith Kerr school. All of these are reallye excellent with various strengths. Bessemer used to be not so good but now has an amazing head and feels extremely dynamic and has tons going on and is very popular, DVIS has been excellent forever, pretty much and is small and nurturing - it only goes up to year 2 tho and then you have to apply to the Hamlet which I don't know that much about but again has sterling reputation. Judith kerr is new free school and parents seem very happy.

This area is equally walkable to Herne Hill and Denmark Hill for your commute. As you may have guessed I live in the area and really really love it. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.