Blackheath's schools are very good, and they are the strongest thing the area has. Primary results come in above the expected level. Nearly every school the inspectors have graded nearby is good or better. The secondaries do solidly without showing off. Parents here arrive with high hopes, and the schools mostly meet them.
Among the seven state primaries in the area, the average end-of-primary maths score is about 107. All Saints' Church of England Primary School Blackheath carries the area's name and is the one most parents ask about first. John Ball Primary School and Kidbrooke Park Primary School are both on the local register, the second serving the Kidbrooke side of the area. A seven-year-old's maths result is about the best thing an eight-year-old's parents can find to argue over at the school gate.
The five state secondaries in the area average an Attainment 8 score of about 48, which measures pupils' results across eight subjects at sixteen. The John Roan School and Thomas Tallis School are the two names most local families know, and Leigh Academy Blackheath is the other one on the register carrying the area's name. That puts the secondary picture at solid more than spectacular, and the primaries are what lift the area.
In Greenwich, Ofsted has graded 40 settings with a published overall grade, and 37 of them are good or better, which is nearly all of them. Eleven of those are outstanding, three require improvement and none are inadequate. Those counts cover the whole Royal Borough, so they describe the schools a Blackheath family is choosing among, along with plenty of schools across the borough the family will never visit. Places at state schools are given out by Greenwich Council under its published admissions rules, and owning a house within sight of a school doesn't secure a place there. Church schools such as All Saints' can add their own criteria on top. The council publishes how far away last year's furthest-offered child lived for each school, and that distance tells you more about a particular house than its asking price does. Parents who spend a whole summer reading prospectuses usually end up at whichever school the council's map gave them in the first place.
The area has a longer record of schools making things than of schools ranking well. Two Blackheath schools were among the founders of the Football Association in 1863, and the heath next door counts golf, rugby, hockey and kites in its history. Few places can say their schools helped write the rules of a national sport.
Schools are where Blackheath does best. A family buying here for the primaries is making one of the safer bets in south-east London.