Schools are one of the best things about Blackfen. Five in six graded schools across the borough are good or better. Five are outstanding. Only one has failed its inspection. The secondary school that carries Blackfen's name takes only girls.
Ofsted has graded 36 schools across the London Borough of Bexley, and 30 of them are good or outstanding, which is five in every six. Five hold the top grade and 25 are rated good. Five require improvement and one is inadequate. Another 39 Bexley settings have no published overall grade yet, which tells you nothing either way about how good they are. The figures cover the whole borough, so they describe what Blackfen can reach. They do not measure the handful of schools a short walk from any one front door, and the reasonable assumption is that the borough's good record carries into Blackfen's streets.
Days Lane Primary School is the largest primary in the borough. Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School is in Holbeach Gardens, and Sherwood Park Primary School is off Sherwood Park Avenue and Ramillies Road. A big school helps the odds. It does not change how places are given out, because Bexley Council allocates them under its published admissions rules, and a church school sets faith criteria of its own on top. Living around the corner from any of these schools gets you an application. It does not get you a place. Read the council's admissions criteria for the year you apply and the distance the last child was offered a place from, and check both before you choose a house on the strength of a school.
The secondary picture is more interesting. Blackfen School for Girls is at the eastern end of Blackfen Road, so the one school that carries the place's name turns away every boy who lives here. Families with sons spend their first open-evening season in other postcodes. Hurstmere School and Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School are also on the local list, and the second of those has the word grammar in its name, which tells parents the entrance test will matter as much as the address. The University of Greenwich's Avery Hill Campus is just to the west. A child can grow up here and never leave the bus routes.
The schools are a real strength in Blackfen. Families here are choosing between good options, and the work goes into getting through the admissions rules.