Kew Primary Schools - Queen's

[ericawoddle]

NC for this for the sake of DC privacy. Thought it could be useful to others to have an insider's view. Been at the school a few years; and when you're looking at options it's almost impossible to get a feel for the realities.
It's an OK school but:
Don't be taken in by the Ofsted rating. I'm sure they can be useful, but the difference between Good and Outstanding can be a Headteacher who is good at form-filling, which the (outgoing) Head probably is.
Don't be influenced by the SATs results. The intake is overall very high-achieving: concerned, educated, middle-class, well-off parents are unlikely (SEN excluded) to have children who can't read and do some maths by Year 2. Some parents are already tutoring by that year. As for KS2 SATs, around 70/75% of parents are tutoring towards the 11+ by Year 4, so by the time of the SATs in Year 6, those children will be way ahead of the game.
Don't by influenced by the leavers' destinations for the same reason. Even the very very few who don't use a tutor to get their children into private schools are simply doing the tutoring themselves.
So behind the great results are a set of ambitious, hard-working parents who are educated enough and/or well-to-do enough to get their children taught outside of Queen's.
The teaching is variable - newer teachers seem better generally - but the school can afford to coast because the parents are doing so much work in the background.
Sport is the usual cliche - if you're a favourite with the teachers you get picked; if you're not you don't. Again, a lot of children do sport outside of school so the school gets away with looking like it's doing OK but not actually having to try very hard.
Music is very good (though possibly a bit of favouritism here too, sadly): two orchestras, one of which is compulsory so everyone gets a chance to play. Don't know how much that has to do with the Head of Music though, rather than the school itself. Once she retires it may all change.
It's not bad enough to move DC - 'better the devil you know' - but given my time again I would give far greater consideration to the schools which don't have such a great reputation on the basis that they could well be better schools that have to try a lot harder rather than relying on parents.
If your DC is going to Queen's, don't worry about these negatives - it's an ok place; you just have to be ready to keep an eagle-eye on things. If you're making a choice, hope it helps.

[Priord]

Hi ericawoddle,

I think that’s a very fair post and almost exactly our experience of Queen’s.

I would like to add that we’ve had several dc at the school with varying levels of success(happiness) , our dc with mild SEN had a really poor experience at Queen’s, his subsequent school have handled everything much much better, Our other dc have been fairly happy there.

I agree it’s not the worst school in the world but if I was looking for a primary school again I would look further afield.

[peonyred]

Couldn't agree more. It seems like a great idea given the price of private education, but you are expected to tutor if you're planning on your child taking the 11+, but get very little help in finding the right secondary school to apply to because - you know - it's a state school and the teachers don't really approve of private senior schools. having said that, the families there are lovely!

[iamapixie]

But despite their (totally understandable) lack of enthusiasm for private school applications, they are very happy to put their list of school leavers' destinations online as if they have anything to do with those destinations, which for the most part, I'm not sure they do!