We have just been informed our daughter has a place at Horniman School (2nd choice) - does anyone have any feedback on the school? Our first choice was Fairlawn, but as we all know its oversubsribed.

Seems like everyone I know - including my daughter - got allocated the Horniman - despite Fairlawn being on our doorstep. But have heard nothing but good things about the Horniman.

Good to hear about Horniman, see you at the school gate! Fairlawn on our doorstep too, but we are not close enough. Also Horniman have a bulge class this year.

It is a nice little school. The food is good there.

See you at the gate as well. Daughter goes there and loves it.

P.S. We also applied to Fairlawn and were turned down as we are 765 yards away, stange that so many kids are dropped off by car if they live so close

LondonDRX

Fairlawn catchment didn't used to be so small so the kids in Key stage 2 now could live quite a bit further away. And also might have moved house to further away and of course you keep your school place. I guess the busy road might put some people off walking?

Mons
If you have any particular questions let me know (PM me) as I am a parent governor at Horniman. I really like the school and my son is very happy there (and probably would have been at other Forest Hill Schools!).

I will also see you at the school gate as son number 2 has a place for September too!

We're just over 400 metres away and missed out on Fairlawn by 16 metres apparently..

Suspect you are quite high up the Fairlawn waiting list then jeh. If your heart is set on it (and I wouldn't blame you) you could wait it out, there was a fair amount of movement in the list the year I have any knowledge (year before last).

Our son is at Horniman though and we all give it a ...

you could be right, will be on the waiting list, although the Horniman does sound really lovely - its the thought of a 15 min walk everyday after passing the Fairlawn school gates.. work and son's nursery aside

So a large proportion of places will have gone to siblings of children already at Fairlawn. The best way to get your child into the school of your choice is to marry somebody with a child already at that school, so that your child has the right sibblings. Not that I would want to encourage wife swapping on the posh estate, but that's 'social mobility' for you!

jeh's last point should add another £20k to the value of houses within 384m of Fairlawn

Fortunately, as is pointed out in so many threads about schools, Forest Hill has a good number of excellent primary schools, even with their buldge classes.

28 siblings this year.. thats just about half the intake , I could try and claim that it had slipped my mind that I'm actually married to my neighbour..

There will be more 'sibling' places in the years immediately after a bulge class (as with Fairlawn and Ellott Bank and others last year). Its one of those unfortunate consequenses of creating extra places on a temporary basis.

If the 386m for allocation of places at Fairlawn is correct then its quite a bit bigger than last year (excluding the bulge). I think this was about 250m (excluding the bulge places).

I think it was around 252 as we were 255m away and would have not got in even with the bulge class. It does seem to be a bit bigger this year as we've been offered a place at Fairlawn.

I think we are spoilt for choice in this area and the difference between Fairlawn and Horniman is between an outstanding one and a potentially outstanding one. Both have different types of headship and leadership but I just think both will give your child a great education. The Horniman school setting is just stunning- I don't know many schools with an amphitheatre for instance, rabbits, and views to die for as well as lots of fresh air!

I think also that parents have a great contribution to make to schools and if something isn't working then you can always work with other parents to change it. An outstanding school may not be outstanding for ever and no school is without its problems.

Fairlawn last year pre-bulge was 377m. It is disturbing that all the catchments seem to be getting smaller. Catchments in East Dulwich halved in some cases. Seems bulge classes last year will mean even more competition in the next two years as siblings come through.
Does anyone know what catchments were for Stillness and Dalmain?
we want to move to HOP for the schools (2012 start) but it is looking very risky. 2008 was a 36-year high for births so the situation may only get worse.

This came up in another thread under outside se23 (anyone know about Wood Vale Catchment?).

You need to look in Lewisham's primary application document for 2011/2012 admissions. It has a section that sets out what the distance was last year for the last place offered in the reception class of each school. This is skewed by the one off 'bulge' classes but this is all explained.

The Lewisham booklets are here:
http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/EducationAndL...School.htm

The distance of the last child offered a reception place from the Primary schools in Forest Hill for 2010/11 and taken from the above document was:
Elliot Bank - 467m
Fairlawn - 377m (783m for the bulge class, which was only last year)
Horniman - 680m
Kelvin Grove - 641m (1211m bulge)
Kilmorie 1400m (2182m bulge)
Perrymount - 356m (2011m bulge)
Stillness - 645m

So you will need a map and a ruler to measure. The distances are straight line distances and will at least give you an indication.

This doesn't apply to non-reception places.

Roz - according to these figures you would have got a place last year too! Interesting how similar last years figure was to this year's.

yes, i have pored over that document relentlessly! But now I am looking to find out what catchments were for this year, since they presumably are mostly smaller. have to buy a house on the doorstep, it seems.

Phone the schools or Lewisham? But you can't necessarily tell as some may have bulge classes next year and the birth rate/location of children/number of siblings/parent preferences may be different. It's a guide but not more than that.

I think if you are looking for a definitive answer the only way to find it would be to move directly next door to your preferred school!!

Hello again, does anyone happen to know what the Horniman catchment was this year? thanks!