What are the schools like in Rainham, London?

The schools around Rainham are very good. Almost every graded school in the borough is good or better. About one in four is outstanding. None is failing. Schools are the strongest reason to move here.

Havering has 30 schools with a published Ofsted grade, and 29 of them are rated good or better. Seven are outstanding, one requires improvement and none is inadequate. Those are borough-wide counts covering Romford, Hornchurch, Upminster and everywhere in between, as well as Rainham. Another 42 settings in Havering have no published grade yet, which tells you nothing either way. Of the 30 schools that have been judged, only one fell short.

Rainham Village Primary School carries the place's name and serves the old village around the church. Parsonage Farm Primary School and La Salette Catholic Primary School are also local. La Salette, as a Catholic school, will have its own admissions criteria, so check what it asks for before counting on it. Scargill and Whybridge each split into a separate infant and junior school, so a family there meets two head teachers before a child turns eleven. Havering Council allocates places under its published admissions rules, so a house round the corner from any of these doesn't come with a seat in a classroom, and the house particulars never mention that. For a primary place, ask Havering for last year's allocation outcomes at the school you want and compare them with the house you're looking at, not the school's postcode.

For secondary, Harris Academy Rainham is the one most local families end up at, and Harris Rainham Sixth Form carries on from it. The Brittons Academy is the other option on the doorstep. Two secondaries and a sixth form inside one postcode district give parents more choice than a suburb this size usually gets. That choice makes it easier to stick with your first preference when you fill in the form.

Schools are Rainham's strongest suit. In a borough where only one graded school has fallen short, the hard part for a family isn't finding a good school but getting a place at the one they want.