Schools are where Cricklewood does its best work. Nearly every graded school across the borough is rated good or better. The local primaries score well in maths, and most homes are a few minutes' walk from one. Secondary school means a longer walk and a smaller group of schools to choose from. A local child here can expect a decent school, though not necessarily the one at the end of the road.
There are 11 mainstream state primaries around here, and their pupils average about 106 on the Key Stage 2 maths test. Claremont Primary School and Anson Primary School are on the Brent side, and Childs Hill Primary School and Mora Primary School are also local. On Department for Transport modelling from 2019, the nearest primary is about a six-minute walk away. That makes the school run the shortest regular journey most families in Cricklewood will ever make.
The four mainstream state secondaries in the area average about 45 on Attainment 8, the score built from a pupil's best eight subjects at sixteen. Hampstead School is the best-known of them. The same 2019 modelling puts the nearest secondary about a fifteen-minute walk away, or around fourteen minutes by public transport. At eleven, the journey stops being a stroll and becomes a commute.
Of the 42 schools in Brent that hold a published Ofsted grade, 39 are good or better, which is almost all of them. Ten are outstanding, two require improvement and one is inadequate. That covers the whole borough, and Cricklewood is only one corner of it.
Living near a school does not give you a place there, because places are allocated under the council's published admissions rules. Cricklewood is split between Brent and Barnet, so the borough your house is in decides which council's rules apply and whose form you fill in. Look up the last allocation round for any school you have in mind, because the distance at which places ran out that year is more useful than any map. Parents who buy a house near a good school without checking whose rules cover their street can end up with a stronger school list than they wanted and a weaker offer than they expected.
Schools are one of Cricklewood's real strengths. The borough's record is close to spotless and the nearest primary is just down the road, so the main thing to plan for is the longer secondary journey.