The best state primary schools in Balham and Streatham

These are the thirteen best state primary schools around Balham and Streatham. They are among the top 15% of schools in the country, as determined by the Schoolsmith Score. Eight rank in the top 1-2% of primary schools in England. Mainly in the borough of Lambeth, and with three in Wandsworth, the schools are in three geographic clusters; Brixton/Brixton Hill, Norbury and Streatham, and Balham and Tooting.

The differences between primary schools are less obvious than prep schools, and deliberately so. State education is designed such that all children should receive the same curriculum irrespective of where they are taught, and who is teaching them. So, to differentiate, parents have traditionally looked to SATS results and Ofsted gradings. Beyond that, there is also a commonly held belief that faith and church schools are ‘better’ schools. Which might be true here as eight of the schools are faith schools; four Catholic, two Church of England, and two Islamic. That’s pretty much it. Hopefully, this comparison might shed a little more light.

There is also a partner review for prep schools in the same area; Balham and Streatham. And that can be found here.

Age range, gender mix, and faith

Nine of the thirteen schools teach children from age 3 to age 11. Trinity St Mary’s CofE Primary also takes 2 year olds. Which means that ten schools also have a nursery class. The exceptions are The Orchard School, St Anselm’s Catholic Primary and Holy Ghost Catholic Primary which start at Reception. Though please be aware that attendance at the nursery is no guarantee of a place in Reception.

Nine schools provide access to on-site out of hours care from 7.30/8.00am to 5.30/6.30pm. Furthermore, care at six of them is provided onsite by school staff, rather than external contractors. They are Henry Cavendish, Immanuel & St Andrew, St Andrew’s, St Boniface, Telferscot, and Trinity St Mary’s.

As far as gender mix goes, they are all co-educational, as indeed are almost all state primary schools.

Nine of the thirteen are church or faith schools. It’s a high proportion. They are also (or were) Voluntary Aided schools, which means that faith may have a role to play in the admissions policy. The other four are community schools, not quite secular, as they teach a mandatory RE curriculum.

Admissions

In terms of admissions policy, please refer to the individual schools’ websites. All operate a catchment system.

Woodmansterne Primary shares a site with its senior school. They are linked, but treated separately for admissions purposes.

The faithful have some priority at the faith schools if they are oversubscribed for places in Reception. As most of them are. With the exception of Trinity St Mary’s CofE Primary, each one of these Balham and Streatham schools is oversubscribed every year. In addition, Corpus Christi Catholic School, Henry Cavendish Primary, and Iqra Primary are three of the five most oversubscribed schools in Lambeth borough.

Inspections

Ofsted inspectors consider nine of these schools to be ‘Outstanding’, according to their latest inspections.

The other four, considered ‘Good’ are St Boniface RC Primary, Trinity St Mary’s CofE Primary, Sudbourne Primary and Woodmansterne School (whole school).

Buildings and grounds

These Balham and Streatham primary schools occupy purpose-built facilities. Some feature 1960s/70s single rise buildings, some feature two storey brick buildings. As the characterful exceptions, Telferscot Primary is based around a red-brick Victorian school building, with recent additions. And Woodmansterne Primary is a contemporary build.

Henry Cavendish Primary occupies two sites, three-quarters of a mile apart on either side of Tooting Bec. The Balham site is a Victorian school building, while the Streatham site is more contemporary. Both sites teach all age groups.

In 2022/3 Sudbourne Primary opened its second site at Mandrell Road, one mile away from the (now) infants department. The £9M new facility is purpose-built for the junior pupils.

Though all the schools have room for playgrounds and outdoor games, none are built on large plots.

Class sizes and classes per year

These top Balham and Streatham primary schools are mainly one and two form entry schools. But there are a couple of larger ones. Henry Cavendish Primary and Woodmansterne Primary are both four form entry. Size can be important as it influences the look and feel of a school. And larger schools tend to have more facilities, though not necessarily in proportion to the number of pupils.

There are;

5 one-form entry schools; Holy Ghost Catholic Primary, Iqra Primary, Orchard School, St Anselm’s Catholic Primary and Trinity St Mary’s CofE Primary.
2 with three classes for every two year groups; St Boniface RC Primary, and Sudbourne Primary.
4 two-form entry; Corpus Christi Catholic School, Immanuel & St Andrew CofE Primary, St Andrew’s Catholic Primary, and Telferscot Primary.
2 four-form entry; Henry Cavendish Primary, and Woodmansterne Primary.

Sudbourne Primary is expanding to three classes per year.

Average class sizes at each school are between 26 and 28 pupils. At Woodmansterne Primary, Orchard School, St Anselm’s and Iqra Primary average class sizes are close to 30 pupils. At Trinity St Mary’s CofE Primary, on the other hand, average class sizes are closer to 18 pupils.

Facilities at Balham and Streatham state primary schools

They all have some specialist facilities to support their curricula though none that would differentiate the schools.

For sport, most schools’ facilities are playgrounds and a school hall. Some have a MUGA. There’s even an outdoor pool at one of the Henry Cavendish Primary sites. The best sports facilities are at Woodmansterne Primary where pupils share the senior school facilities, including the sports pitches.

Beyond the multi-purpose hall, arts facilities are limited. Corpus Christi Catholic School also has a music room. Telferscot Primary also has a music room and an art room.

As for academic facilities most have in class book shelves though some have libraries. Most have an environmental or gardening area. And they all have IT facilities, be that a room or shared in-class devices. Again, Corpus Christi Catholic School has the widest variety.

Academic curricula

All these schools teach a broad curriculum in line with the National Curriculum. Most teach subjects separately, co-ordinated by connecting themes. Their aim is to blend knowledge acquisition with skills development.

Other ways to develop skills, include theme days and weeks, which they all do. Holy Ghost Catholic Primary has an annual STEM week for example. St Anselm’s Catholic Primary has an annual cross-curricular ‘Theme Week’.

Iqra Primary has a different approach to skills development, introducing logic and reasoning classes into the curriculum for all year groups. It has also had a Primary Science Quality Mark GILT Award for its promotion of curricular science.

Themes at six schools reference the rights of children, according to the UNICEF Rights Respecting School programme. Trinity St Mary’s CofE Primary, Telferscot Primary, Holy Ghost Catholic Primary, Henry Cavendish Primary, Immanuel and St Andrew CofE Primary and Woodmansterne Primary are all working to embed the programme into their curricula. Telferscot Primary is the more advanced, and has a UNICEF Rights Respecting School Gold accreditation.

In addition, Telferscot Primary includes environmental education in its curriculum, and has an Eco Schools Green Flag accreditation for its efforts.

The curricula at the faith schools emphasise Christian, Catholic or Islamic social moralities. Particularly in lessons such as PSHE, Citizenship and in assemblies. RE or Arabic Studies, naturally, play a prominent role in the curriculum as a core subject along with English and maths. And there is usually daily worship. The Catholic schools often help prepare children for the Holy Sacraments (First Confession and First Communion).

Eight schools teach French as their modern foreign language, most from Year 3, with St Boniface RC Primary and St Anselm’s Catholic Primary teaching it from Year 1. Holy Ghost Catholic Primary and St Andrew’s Catholic Primary teach Spanish from Reception, Trinity St Mary’s CofE Primary from Year 3. And Iqra Primary and The Orchard School both teach Arabic from Year 3.

All of the schools include some element of outdoor learning in their curricula, particularly for their youngest pupils. But it’s not a significant feature.

Each of the schools offers educational trips to support learning and most offer a residential trip, usually in Year 5 or 6. Corpus Christi Catholic School has the most residential trips, starting in Year 2 with a sleepover.

Sport at Balham and Streatham state primary schools

Each school teaches between eight and thirteen, average ten, different sports. The smaller schools and Islamic schools offer the least, and the larger schools and Sudbourne Primary, the most.

The size of the primary school, in terms of number of pupils, has a bearing on the strength of their sports teams. The idea being that larger schools have a larger pool to select from. All of these schools provide and encourage participation in a wide range of sports. But, on average, we should expect Woodmansterne Primary and Henry Cavendish Primary to have the strongest teams.

However, no Balham and Streatham primary school has a sustained track record for sporting achievement in national competitions.

Pupils at these Balham and Streatham state primary schools also benefit from extra-curricular activities and clubs. There’s sport of course, but there are clubs for academic enrichment, hobbies, and the arts. Henry Cavendish Primary and Telferscot Primary all offer over 10 arts, academic, and hobbies clubs.

The arts at Balham and Streatham state primary schools

The schools all promote engagement with the arts on an individual and ensemble basis. For example, there is art, a choir, instrument learning and dramatic performances at each school. Some, such as Corpus Christi Catholic School, Holy Ghost Catholic Primary, and St Boniface RC Primary have instrument ensembles too. Corpus Christi also has an Artist in Residence.

Drama is usually incorporated into English lessons, or a themed activity. But at Iqra Primary and St Boniface RC Primary, drama is a standalone curricular subject.

Arts provision is probably best at Corpus Christi Catholic School, Henry Cavendish Primary, Sudbourne Primary, Telferscot Primary and Woodmansterne Primary. They have the most diverse arts offer in and out of the classroom.

Academic results

This pick of primary schools in Balham and Streatham boast good academic results. On a four-year average, they are all in the top 30% of UK schools for attainment in Year 6 SATS. Nine of them are in the top 10%. Which means they are consistently good, not just scoring well one year for a particularly able year group.

The highest ranking school is St Anselm’s Catholic Primary, which among the top 20 schools nationwide. Corpus Christi Catholic School is in the top 1%, Holy Ghost Catholic Primary the top 2%, Iqra Primary and Orchard Primary the top 3%, and St Andrew’s Catholic Primary the top 4%. Henry Cavendish Primary is in the top 5%, and both St Boniface RC Primary and Telferscot Primary rank in the top 9%.

As for pupil progress, again measured on four-year average SATS results, all are in the top half of the country, with five schools in the top 10%. Topping the tables are The Orchard School (top 0.1%), Iqra Primary and Corpus Christi Catholic School (top 2%), St Anselm’s Catholic Primary (top 4%) and Henry Cavendish Primary (top 9%).

Choosing the best state primary school in Balham and Streatham

The freedom to choose a state school is somewhat limited as applicants need to live within the school’s catchment area. But there may be a choice of more than one. Most Education Authorities offer the opportunity to select preferred schools, albeit from a limited list.

These schools are all among the top 15% best primary schools in the country by Schoolsmith Score, which considers more than just exam results. As I hope this note has shown, any one of them should be a preference. Furthermore, the top eight Balham and Streatham primary schools rank significantly higher, in the top 1-2% nationally.

Rank	Best Streatham & Clapham primary schools	Schoolsmith Score
1=	Corpus Christi Catholic School	74
1=	Henry Cavendish Primary School	74
1=	St Anselm’s Catholic Primary School	74
4	Telferscot Primary School	73
5=	Holy Ghost Catholic Primary School	72
5=	Iqra Primary School	72
5=	St Andrew’s Catholic Primary School	72
5=	The Orchard School	72
9	St Boniface Roman Catholic Primary School	70
10	Immanuel and St Andrew CofE Primary School	69
11=	Sudbourne Primary School	68
11=	Trinity St Mary’s CofE Primary School	68
11=	Woodmansterne Primary School	68

See also the best state primary schools in Battersea and Clapham, Putney, Wandsworth, Croydon, Dulwich, and Wimbledon

Why are these the best state primary schools in Balham and Streatham?

Schools that feature in these notes are those with the highest Schoolsmith Scores, not just in Balham and Streatham, but nationwide. The Schoolsmith Score is an objective score that accounts for 50 different aspects of schooling, grouped into 5 broad categories. You can read more about them from the links below, and the Schoolsmith Score here.

their achievements; academic, sporting and artistic,
the breadth of the education they offer,
the quality of teaching,
their facilities,
their look and feel.

Need more help?

By now you might be wondering what you should be thinking about when choosing a school? It happens to everyone. Why not try my 7 one minute quizzes for those starting their school search? Wood, trees, and all that…

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