Erith's schools are among the best things about it, and the primaries do most of the work. Across the borough, five in six graded schools are good or better. The local primaries post solid maths results at eleven. There is one mainstream state secondary in the area. Families here get to pick a primary, and the secondary is mostly picked for them.
There are eight mainstream state primaries around Erith, and their pupils average 105 on the end-of-primary maths tests. Christ Church (Erith) CofE Primary School carries the town's name. Northumberland Heath Primary School and Haberdashers' Slade Green Primary serve the neighbourhoods to the south and east. Bexley Council allocates places using its published admissions rules, so buying the house next to the school gate does not secure a place there. Check the council's admissions criteria and last year's allocations for the school you want while the house is still only a viewing. The primary is the decision most Erith parents care about, and they usually get it right.
The area's one mainstream state secondary has an Attainment 8 score of about 35, weighted by pupil numbers. Attainment 8 is the government's average of each pupil's best eight results at sixteen. Leigh Academy Bexley is the secondary named locally, and Woodside Academy is also on the local list. When a single school produces the area's secondary figure, the choice at eleven often comes down to which bus route you can live with.
Bexley's whole set of graded schools gives the broader picture. Ofsted has rated 30 of the borough's 36 graded settings good or outstanding, which is five in six, and five of those are outstanding. Five require improvement and one is inadequate. Another 39 settings have no published grade yet. Parents in Bexley tend to know the six below good without looking them up.
Erith's schools are one of its strongest points. The primaries are strong and the borough's grades are good. The only part that needs real planning is the move to secondary school.