Kensington Aldridge Academy - Help!

[Kiwi645]

We have recently moved into North Kensington and our daughter is starting Kensington Aldridge Academy in September 2019. Everything we read on Ofsted and all the reviews were great, and we were impressed when we did the tour. But, I was just speaking to my (new) local hairdresser about it and she told me that she knows five families that have taken their kids out of KAA due to serious concerns the families had over their childs safety.

I feel very very concerned about this.

Does anyone have any experience of the school or have direct experience with this? I am really hoping this is hairdresser gossip so I would love to hear from families at the school right now. We will email the Head to get a response as well as all I want to do is take her out - I am absolutely spinning!!

[Hollowvictory]

Did you watch the Gareth malone programme this week and last? Such talented and inspiring kids. I would not listen to a gossipy hairdresser personally. It's an award winning school in the top 5% nationally.

[Which6thform]

I am afraid I don't have a DC at the school, but have some knowledge of it from the 6th form open evenings and application process - and my DC has an offer there for this September, so I am also interested to hear more. I hope you get some responses from parents with children there. Some comments:

"Concern over safety" is too vague! You need to - if you don't already - understand the specific risks that these families (supposedly) believed were so big they wanted to take their kids out. What more details were you told? If little/nothing more, perhaps go back and ask? Does she know these families and kids well herself, or is it third hand chinese whispers? Which schools did they move to? Anyone you can talk to?

Three examples of more specific things - partially hypothetical:

1. Was it violence/threats from other pupils? If so, in what year were the perpetrators and are they still there? Were they punished? Is there any reason to think they will trouble kids in your DC's year?
   
2. Or was it parental panic over the Grenfell dust? (The school took some specific measures related to this and their outside space, BTW, after it was written about in the Evening Standard).
   
3. Or was it related to the temporary relocation to portacabins next to Burlington Danes for a year, off busy Scrubs Lane? (They are now back to their original, excellent and inviting building). The journey may have been a concern for some, and the whole Grenfell ordeal might have made some parents and kids want to change
   

I have found the school quite open/responsive to direct questions about concerns, so I hope you will give them a chance to explain - but I think you need to do some more homework. If your worry is about the general behaviour, then spending some time in the nice cafe in the sport centre next door - with a coffee, e.g. as the school finishes for the day - might give you a feel for the atmosphere.

It is an oversubscribed, outstanding school in a rich borough, with great results and facilities, and I like the philosophy and the head. And it is an extremely diverse inner city comp with very high FSM and ESL. It is NOT as strict as Holland Park - which my DC refused to even apply to - but in our view much more welcoming.

I hope some of that was useful - and that you can add some more information about the concerns - ideally directly from parents.

[Artbum]

The hairdresser is talking crap. I live near the school and know quite a few people with kids there. Of course there are kids with behavioural problems, as in any school. The school takes an extremely robust view to violence and have used expulsion if there is a deemed threat to other kids.

[Kiwi645]

We live near it too, and I have never got that 'vibe' from the school or the kids. Her comments really shocked me, and made me doubt my instincts.
Which6thform thank you for your comment. I have deliberately not divulged everything she said because I think she was enjoying shocking me as she could see how upset and disbelieving I was. I have requested to see someone at the school and talk about it to ease my paranoia!

[Which6thform]

Good luck, OP, and please update the thread when you have spoken with the school and perhaps others about this. I agree that it is better to seek to substantiate/refute incidents than to retell every detail from the hairdresser on a public forum.

In the meeting/interview my DC and I had with the head of the KAA 6th form, he did mention that some boys are not hard working or always well behaved (he may have used the word silly). As my DC would be 16 and probably study two A-level subjects with minimum GCSE grade requirement of 7, I suspect the work ethic and behaviour will be good in those, at least, whilst perhaps not always ideal in other years and classes.

[Wornington]

I have two daughters at KAA. It is an excellent school. Of course, some kids misbehave occasionally but the school deals with it. Your hairdresser should stick to hairdressing and abandon the idle gossip.

And by the way, my wife works in education and if anyone knows how to judge a school she does. If we had "serious concerns about safety" our children wouldn't be there.

Hope this helps.

[Kiwi645]

Well, I have spoken with the school and I am happy any issues will be dealt with thoroughly and properly. As you would expect there will always be an element of disruption/questionable behavior in any large group of people, and after speaking with the Head of Pastoral care I think it will be all under control.
Thanks everyone for your comments on this topic, I will support the school and never that hairdresser ever again!