Davenant Foundation School Loughton

[FlorenceMagpie]

For work reasons we'll be relocating to Essex/East London in the near future. We have two DC aged 8 and 6 so of course secondary education is a priority for us when choosing where to move.

I'm really impressed by what I read about Davenant school - seems to get excellent results and I agree with the ethos. We're C of E and attend church weekly, so no issues with that side of things.

Can anyone give me any first hand info though? For what looks to be a great school on paper, I've found most forums to be pretty silent about it.

We may consider moving to Loughton, Buckhurst Hill or Epping in order to ensure we would be in with a chance of a place. No other schools are really jumping out at me right now except the indies which we can't afford. Am I missing any good ones?

[FlorenceMagpie]

Bump...

[OVienna]

Lots of friends' kids there. Seem really happy with it. We are not in catchment and would probably not meet the religious criteria. Have you looked into that side of it?

[FlorenceMagpie]

Thanks for your reply! Yes I have read the admissions criteria and I think we meet that (we attend church weekly).

On catchment, it looks like Buckhurst Hill or Epping would both be close enough, is that right? Or would we need to move to Loughton itself?

[MarchingFrogs]

For 2019 entry, the last admission was under criterion b3: meeting 'religion' criteria then by distance from home to school. The actual distance isn't given, though.
assets.ctfassets.net/knkzaf64jx5x/2HvoNklb0rhVteoZUrKCGR/4d7ec3839d146d39e644654ffaf4d68d/Secondary_admissions_brochure.pdf (p.95).

[KoalasandRabbit]

I've met people who live in BH who send kids to Davenant from there so Buckhurst Hill it is possible.

[FlorenceMagpie]

Thanks @KoalasandRabbit , that is good to know. We have had a look around Buckhurst Hill and really liked it.

Do you know anything about Davenant and whether it's a good school? Does it have as good a reputation as the stats would suggest?

[KoalasandRabbit]

I'll send you a PM. Don't know Davenant well but know quite a few schools around there.

[OVienna]

I know people whose kids attend the school who live as far out as Woodford Green on religious grounds. When I looked at the form years ago, it was quite detailed in terms of the number of years back you had to comment on and there were things like: attend regularly, 'heart of the church' etc. Various categories of that ilk. I think this is how people I know further away got in. So, I would look carefully at the answers you'd be giving to that form, but maybe it's more important the further out you are.

We probably know five families there and they are all very happy with it but I don't have detailed feedback on it. They live in Loughton.

[OVienna]

Sorry - all of the families apart from one, that is.

[MarieAaaa]

@FlorenceMagpie I know of children from a 4 different families in Enfield who got in based on their parent(s) weekly church attendance of 7 years. Yr 7 entrance for the various children spans over the last 5/6 years including this year. All 4 sets of parents I'm referring to have spoken very highly of the school. Hope this helps. All the best xx