Hi, does anyone have their kids at St Chris and, if so, what do they think of it please? Possibly looking to change schools
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Milco ·
06/04/2015 09:52
Hello again
Happy Easter to you too.
Yes it is a small class - currently 10. To my knowledge there is not a high level of SEN within the class. Maybe one child has a bit of extra help - but I'm not even sure about that. The school is, however, very SEN friendly - if you can say that. I think further up the school the proportion of children with an identified SEN increases - as the class sizes increase - I suspect because parents seek it out for that reason.
I would also say that the school is, IMO, very good as making minor adjustments to the way they do things to suit the individuals in a class. I think helps children who are a bit different from the mold thrive. I suppose I'm saying that there does not seem to be a clear distinction between SEN-child - therefore adjustments made/extra help given vs non-SEN child - therefore everything "the usual". Maybe other schools are like this too? But I am sure it is a lot easier with the high staff to child ratio they have at St Chris. My DD is in a much larger class - 18 - and as far as I can see there is a similar approach.
They do push the children in the sense of encourage, set expectations which are manageable for that individual. What they don't do is push children to meet an externally imposed or generic standard. As far as I can see, they try very hard to make the lessons stimulating and accessible, and to support children where they need adjustments, with the aim that all children will be motivated to, and will, learn at their own pace.
I would say that my DS is the kind of child who would have benefitted from a more continental-style early education - i.e. play-based until 6ish. This of course is not what the UK generally does. St Chris has steered a course in between the two - they follow the early years curriculum and (more loosely perhaps) the KS1 curriculum but without the pressure to meet particular standards at particular points. Now in Yr 2 his reading and writing are taking off and - most importantly I think - he has really enjoyed his learning at school so far, even though at times I think the amount of reading/writing has been at the upper edge of what he was comfortable with.
The school has a reputation for being against competition. I think this is broadly true - it tries to celebrate talent without too much focus on prizes for the best. But certainly my DS does pick up on who in his class is furthest up the reading scheme etc and this is now something which he cares about - and which seems to be motivating him to read more. I think this has come from him and conversations with his peers.
The idea of choosing a school which does not try to motivate children through pressure does sometimes feel like a bit of a gamble - though more for the senior school - I am very pleased about the relative lack of pressure in the primary years. But so far I have been pleasantly surprised by the degree that my DS is developing his own motivation (though you couldn't really call him a swot 
).
Of course, as with any school, there are occasional niggles. But overall we are very pleased with it for both our DCs.
Hope that helps. Always happy to answer questions - here or via PM (though actually not sure if I need to set that up first). Maybe see you at St Chris some time.
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