Sydenham school Y7

[Burtie16]

My DD has a reasonable chance of being offered Sydenham school for 2016 entry. Any mumsnetters with DD in current Y7? What has Y7 been like for DD so far? What was transition like between Y6 and Y7? What is pupil behaviour like in class, around school, outside school gates; what is the quality of the learning experiences? How closely do the views of the teachers regarding DDs performance match with what you see in homework activities and hear from DD? How accessible are the teachers, subject heads, head of year and SLT? Any views on headteacher change? Many thanks

[sydenhamhiller]

Just 'bumping' really OP: my DD1 is in Year 5, as you can tell from my name, that's my local comp. Our nearest school is Kingsdale, but it is such a lottery!

Most of DS's classmates (current Y7) went to Forest Hill boys/ Sydenham School, and this year's Y6 also seem to be Forest Hill boys/ Sydenham school: friends with DDs there are very happy. The school does a lot of work with transition, visits to the school in the summer term of Y6, a 'mums and daughter picnic' anecdotally (kind of irritated by that one, my DH is far more sociable than me, and would love a picnic). Lots of opportunities if you want to take them up: one friend's daughter is very happy there, but not bothered about any clubs; another friend's daughter has taken up the trombone, is a 'geography ambassador', and now in y8 has joined the debating team.

They have just appointed a new head (they had 'borrowed' the Bonus Pastor head to tide them over), which is great news, and I think the new buildings are supposed to be ready for September 2016.

Local boards might give you more traffic on this - do you know the East Dulwich Forum?

Hope your daughter is thrilled, and congratulations!

[newname12]

Our current headteacher knows the new head well. Says they're excellent and will make a big difference.

I know a few girls at Sydenham High, who are all happy and doing well.

It was one of our choices, but DD got a closer school.

I know lots of children happy with Kingsdale too. Many parents I know who are aiming for the private schools in that area are also applying to Kingsdale, so I think it's likely to be on the up rather than down/

[RiverTam]

You could try posting on the East Dulwich Forum, there are quite a few Sydenhamites on there.