Hornsey School for Girls? Highgate Wood? Alexandra Park? Heartlands?

[bluepapermonkey]

Does anyone know about these schools. We are in haringey - stroud green - and thinking about secondary schools. the view of those around us is that we'll have to move for a decent school - fortismere - but is that true?

no-one has ever mentioned hornsey school for girls and don't know why. is is good? bad? what is catchment for this year?

all info gratefully received!

[ellaeleven]

Fortismere- tiny catchment. You have to live on the doorstep but they do accept 10% musically gifted children from elsewhere in Haringey.
AP- catchment is getting smaller than it was. I have friends whose kids go there and are very happy.
Heartlands dont know much about but I know the fact that it is brand new and years 7 and 8 currently have the whole school to themselves is appealing to some parents.
Hornsey school for girls- I was told when I looked around last year that as long as I put it first on the list my dd would get a place regardless of where we lived in Haringey. Was really quite impressed with it, had a good feeling about it and their results are getting better year on year but because we actually do live on the doorstep of Fortismere my dp thought it would be stupid not to put that first. I know of people who have rented flats for a year to be in the catchment for Fortismere but while it seems to be a good school (dd has only been there for 2 weeks) I didnt think it was massively better than AP or Hornsey when I was researching this time last year.
Best thing to do would be to go to the open days or evenings if you can and you can rule out from there. Its a good idea to do this two years in advance if you have that time and think you may have to move. I know Fortismere have theirs this Wed afternoon and the others will be this week or next, check websites.
Good luck

[bluepapermonkey]

that's so helpful, thank you very much. i can't help wondering why no-one has ever mentioned Hornsey school for girls in conversation. it's got an outstanding ofsted - why isn't it better known? how come people aren't fighting to get in there?!

[Thandeka]

Without outing myself too much I know all of those schools very well. Hornsey school for girls has some phenomenally dedicated and impressive staff and I think I rate it about fortismere TBH

[RamblingRosa]

Hornsey's a good school. A friend's daughter has just started there and she's very happy with it. I know people who went to Fortismere too. Also a very good school but very small catchment area. I think you'd have to move practically next door to the school to have a chance of getting in.

[bluepapermonkey]

does anyone know what the hornsey catchment area is? roughly...

[ellaeleven]

When I went to the open day last year I asked the deputy head what the catchment was. I live in Muswell Hill and thought we might be too far but she said there wasnt a catchment as such just that you had to be sure to put it first on the list. I have a friend who lives in the far reaches of Wood Green and her daughter got a place this year. I think because the number of applicants is half most of the other schools, because its just girls, their intake is from across the borough. If you can get to an open day and speak to a member of staff telling them where you live they should be able to tell you your chances, even try ringing if you cant make it. You could also ring the LEA helpline for secondary applications and they might be able to give the furthest distance for this years intake.
Or someone on here who works at Hornsey might tell you

[sunflower]

I went through the applications procedure last year. Hornsey has a funny admissions procedure, I am still not sure I totally understand it but will tell you as much as I know! Basically, it doesn't operate the conventional system of distance. It allocates a number of places to primary schools in the borough. I believe these places are allocated in proportion to the number of children applying to Hornsey - the more girls that apply from that primary school, the more places Hornsey gives to that primary school. It so happens that this pretty much evens out, so in past years all children who put Hornsey as a first preference were allocated this school. I think the issue is that lots of people are not keen on single sex schools - that limits its popularity. BTW I think Hornsey has a pretty good reputation and people generally seem happy with it.

Heartlands - seems popular but I know very little about it.

Fortismere - tiny catchment. Some people love it, though I have heard others who are less keen (one relative of mine went from keen to less keen).

Alexandra Park - have heard very good things about.

It might be worth checking out secondary schools in neighbouring boroughs too, Islington and/or Hackney. Last year we were told nothing about schools outside Haringey, only for me to find out we'd have almost certainly got into one in a neighbouring borough (if we had wanted).

[soonbesailing]

Last year in the primary school my DC went to, 3 girls were given Hornsey even though they had not put it on their form (they were all trying for Fortismere, APS, or Compton). They did not want to go to a girls school and the places were not accepted and they all eventually got a place at one of their choices.
I do think Hornsey is not as popular, because many people want a mixed sex school, but if you are happy with girls only it is a good choice, and it would seem like you may stand a better chance of getting in.