advise to chose a secondary school for my son

[ERissa]

Hi every one
we recently moved to west ealing and therefor my son whom start year 9 is out of school. he is in waiting list for Drayton manor high school which is very close to where we live. main while we been told that he has to start a high school which has a availability. we been given two choices first : Alec reed academy high school and second one is: Ark acton high school. I have no idea about them and would most appreciate if any one can advise me to what to do ? is any of this school are good?
Thanks so much for your time and advise

[ERissa]

Hi every one
we recently moved to west ealing and therefor my son whom start year 9 is out of school. he is in waiting list for Drayton manor high school which is very close to where we live. main while we been told that he has to start a high school which has a availability. we been given two choices first : Alec reed academy high school and second one is: Ark acton high school. I have no idea about them and would most appreciate if any one can advise me to what to do ? is any of this school are good?
Thanks so much for your time and advise

[almightygirl]

Hi, I don’t know Alec Reed but I know Acton High School is having a lot of problems atm. My friend’s ds went there and he had countless teachers. Teacher retention is very bad, as well is behaviour (bullying not dealt with eg). My friend took him out in yr 9. Have you looked a little further out? Chiswick or Brentford? Would you consider a catholic or CofE school?

[PettsWoodParadise]

Hi ERissa, firstly your DS does NOT have to start a secondary school, you do have other options, for example home educate but you would need to be able to demonstrate to the LA what you were doing to meet his educational needs. However for friendship, your stress levels etc, being at school is the best option for most children.

There are also technical college options depending on what sort of learning environment your son prefers.

I can't comment on the schools in your area as I am not from your area but do bear in mind that positions on waiting lists can go down as well as up. Some neighbours of ours moved into an area and were 0.2 miles from the school that did have distance as one of the oversubscription criteria so they were quite close to the top of the list but then a child with a higher priority category (I think it may have been a Looked After child but not certain) applied and they went higher up the waiting list and got a place, moving them down.

[ERissa]

Thanks so much for getting back to me.

[Ari83]

I'm abit late in this thread but I would not recommend Alec Reed... A friend's daughter went there and got into many bad habits, so much so that they had to move her to a different school. Have a look at it closely and arrange a visit before making any decisions.