Colindale's schools are one of the best reasons to live there. Primary results are above the expected level. Almost every graded school in the borough is good or outstanding. None is rated inadequate. Plenty of people move here for the Northern line and only later find out the schools are this good.
Across the nine state primary schools in the area, the average Key Stage 2 maths score is about 106. Colindale Primary School, the one carrying the place's name, and The Hyde School are both nearby, and Roe Green Junior School and Oliver Goldsmith Primary School are within reach to the south and west. For a district that has grown mostly in flats, it is a strong set of primaries.
The three state secondary schools in the area have a combined Attainment 8 score of about 49, weighted by pupil numbers. Saracens High School and Kingsbury High School are the obvious nearby names. With only three schools in the average, one unusually strong or weak year group at any of them will shift it noticeably.
Barnet's council has had 57 of its 59 graded schools rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, which is nearly all of them, and 12 of those are outstanding. Two are graded requires improvement and none inadequate. Those counts cover the whole borough, not just Colindale, and settings that have not yet received a published grade are left out. When nearly every school is good, parents in the borough end up arguing over which good school to choose.
Living close to a school does not secure a place. Barnet allocates places using its published admissions rules, and over-subscribed schools apply them strictly. The useful document is the council's record of how far from each school the last child offered a place lived in recent years, which is worth more than any ring drawn on a map around a school gate. Many parents here read the admissions criteria more carefully than they read their own lease.
Schools are one of Colindale's real strengths. The primaries are strong, and the borough has almost no schools graded below good.