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Secondary education

Sackville School in Kent. Anyone have any info on it please?

39 replies

gretchen40 · 24/08/2012 18:12

Hi
I am trying to find out if anyone has any experience with the Sackville School in Tonbridge, Kent. It looks like a nice small school and has a great website but can't seem to find any reveiews on line.
Many thanks for any help.

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Toughasoldboots · 28/02/2013 20:01

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Katie172 · 04/03/2013 13:43

Hi...I know quite a bit about Sackville so will be happy to pm you both later tonight when I get home

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talkingnonsense · 04/03/2013 19:39

It's very small. I know one girl who left in y7 as she didn't get on with the only other girl in her year, and a boy who left for y 8 as the parents wanted a mixed sex wnvironmnet. However it is supposedly very nurturing, and presumably sometimes gets a more mixed sex intake.

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Katie172 · 04/03/2013 23:49

Hi....Yes ,the classes are smaller than in some indie senior schools but pastoral care is very good. Its a very nurturing school .....dc has a best friend there and he loves it. We were considering indies and went for an open day and we came away knowing that it wasn't right for our dc but could see that dc's seemed happy and settled there. I stand to be corrected on this but I don't think that they have much interaction with other indies locally and do not regularly field teams for local matches -not enough dc's perhaps? So if you have a sporty dc you may want to check this out . Unless much has changed in the last few years it is not a school that many able dc's attend. I believe teaching is good-with smaller classes they get to know the dc's well . The school has had a good reputation with management of some sen issues but I think that this has fallen by the wayside in the last couple of years with several children with spld's being 'encouraged' to leave the school. I was not impressed by the senco who had a limited knowledge of common spld's (was also thinking of sending dc3 at the time) and was surprised by this as their stats suggest that they seem to have a higher than average amount of pupils with sen there. If you need any more info please ask -
all the best
Katie

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gremlindolphin · 06/03/2013 10:12

A friend's son is going in September this year - they really like it and think it is a perfect fit for him. He is already going on induction activity days which sounds fab! He is dyslexic and they were very impressed with the facilities to help him with this.

Hope that helps.

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eatyourveg · 07/03/2013 19:38

Katie I beg to differ on a few points. I've been a parent at Sackville since 2005 so have a pretty good knowledge of the place. The Independent Schools Inspectorate (Ofsted equiv for indies) rates it as excellent. ISI don't have an outstanding category. Excellent is the top grade. The latest report is less than a year old.

"Interaction with local indies" - ds3 (y10) has been in football, rugby, basketball, volleyball and cricket teams and played more indies than state schools in matches so not sure where you got your info from.

"Not a school many able dc attend" Your info is several years out of date. One of ds1's peers has gone to Oxford and several over the past few years are at RG unis or in the USA. Its a mixed ability school so has people across the ability range. Since Cognita took over about 7-8 years ago and the new head arrived, results have gone up and up and I think you will find that we were the highest performing local non - selective either last year or the year before I lose track.

"several children with spld being encouraged to leave the school" Absolute . I assume you are referring to one student who 2 years ago left - if you know this student you will know why the school (and most others) was wholly inappropriate. ds3 is on the sn register

The school won't suit everyone - no school will. Every place has its own personality. It is small place and girls are in a 30/70 minority mainly because it was originally a boys school and there are a lot of girls' indies around. The only indie taking boys only is Tonbridge whereas there are 4 girls only indies in the vicinity. Its a no fripperies place - they are not concerned with having the latest astroturf and drama studios, they spend their money on getting the best teachers they can.

The school is very different from when we started in 2005 so when Katie says unless much has changed in the last few years - the answer is yes - much has!

OP, PM if you have any specific questions.

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Katie172 · 08/03/2013 01:16

eatyourveg My apologies but I thought carefully before posting. The OP wanted views on the school and whilst I did not claim to have a dc there I know something about Sackville and hoped that this might be of help to the OP. I made positive points about the school as well as some less positive points and though I will re-check the points that I made at the weekend I took care when I wrote this post.
katie

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eatyourveg · 08/03/2013 07:58

Katie there is no need to apologise Smile the point of mn is to get different opinions. The more varied the posts, the better for the OP. Opinions and facts though are different things. Some of the things you posted, I read (perhaps wrongly) to be fact so felt the need to redress. Smile

Sackville isn't everyone's cup of tea and I said in my post that it wouldn't suit everyone, but then no school does. Even the super selective grammars are very different in character. The school has a niche market shared by only 3 or 4 other private schools in the area and most parents look at all of them. It is not in competition with the grammars, comprehensives or selective independents at all. The school has had a historical reputation locally for catering for those who aren't academic but things have been changing rapidly and the school is now a very different one to even 5 years ago. The 6th form alone has doubled in size just in the last 2 years and they offer a huge range of subjects.

The open day is tomorrow (10AM) - OP I suggest you go along armed with a huge list of questions for staff, pupils and parents too. I would normally be there serving tea and cakes but am on early mothering sunday duties so have sent apologies. There will however be other parents there on hand to chat to and answer questions.

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eatyourveg · 08/03/2013 08:00

2 or 3 other schools not 3 or 4 (I was including S/Vl in the 4) - its too early! Wink

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gretchen40 · 27/03/2013 10:07

Hello and thanks if anyone is still out there on this thread! I had all but given up on anyone posting so hadn't checked for a while. Also, i am new to mn and was on the understanding that my email would alert me if anyone posted specifically to my question, but apparently not! Can't get the staff........ ;-)

Great to read everything here with differing opinions etc. I absolutely need to go to the next open day, which I think is in May. My ds is in a small school at the moment and in y4 they joined together two small classes to bring it to the grand total of 17. We were initially not pleased with this, but ds has certainly thrived and we feel a larger school would suit him. But Sackville reads so well on paper, so am interested in seeing what it has to offer. But the big problem I am having is schools taking at 11. So limited in Kent! We will be moving from London, so we can't wait until 13 when more opportunites open up.

Many thanks for the information. :-)

OP posts:
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eatyourveg · 27/03/2013 11:35

will pm you

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Anon696969 · 11/04/2016 18:50

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Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

maripi · 07/12/2016 13:50

Hello, i know this is an old thread but I justvread a comment from a pupil in school now and I am very worried, i was thinking of putting my child in this school for sep 17, he has additional needs so i would like to know how good is the support? And how good are the children interms of friendly- supportive, -!: how the teachers react to this pupils,,, or how well informed is the staff etc? Anyone can help??

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pannetone · 10/12/2016 15:47

Will message you.

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helen464 · 17/05/2017 21:35

Hello. I'm in a similar position to maripi. Does anyone have any up to date views on Sackville School? I see there have been several headteachers in recent years and also a change of ownership last January.

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peapod66 · 19/05/2017 09:02

I do not have dc already at Sackville but ds is starting this September. Helen464 please feel free to PM me if I might be able to help from our experience thus far.

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halo47 · 02/03/2018 14:47

Hello -
Considering for September 2018 and wondered if there are any more up to date experiences of the school for me to learn from.
Thank you

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peapod66 · 02/03/2018 15:55

Hi have replied to your PM

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Bougainvillae · 23/03/2018 14:15

Hello everybody
I am in the same situation: Considering Sackville School for September 2018 and wondered if there are any more up to date experiences of the school.
Many thanks in advance

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pannetone · 23/03/2018 15:12

I have sent you a PM Bougainvillae

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anonnymousse · 25/05/2018 17:24

Same question, any thoughts on Sackville please? Looking for a small, caring school for my daughter in Tonbridge / Tunbridge Wells / Sevenoaks area.

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peapod66 · 25/05/2018 18:00

Hi Sackville has been great for our son. Will PM you with more detail.

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Enko · 25/05/2018 19:26

have 2 friends with children there currently in year 9 so sitting GCSE + 1 friend whose son left last year all very happy with the school and felt their child have had good support and been happy there.

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pannetone · 27/05/2018 22:51

I have sent you a PM anonnymousse

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Pollski · 08/10/2018 12:26

Pannetone, could you also pm me? I'm seriously struggling / procrastinating over schools. Any guidance/thoughts/views really appreciated.

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