First private school in Islington

My child has been at the Canonbury school since the start of the academic year (y9) and is really happy there. Teachers are inspiring, and the classes are small. The atmosphere is good and the Head, Mr Taylor, is liked and respected by children and parents. For sports they use the Sobell Sports Centre, and Regents Park and rotate sports every 3 - 4 weeks. For those who like football there's an options club so that it can be played all year. Pastoral care has been excellent. No complaints or worries!

I visited the school and had a very positive impression. The staff seem very committed and enthusiastic. The smaller classes are always a bonus.

I have been invited to an NBH Parents engagement event next Wednesday!! Given the choice of NBH senior with small classes and UCL Academy with 1200 pupils eventually there was no competition. We didn't have any other realistic options given DD's dyslexia, our location (NW3) and waning a mixed school we are happy so far

Where is the "state of the art sports facility" and what is in it?

Can't see how it's at the small site in Canonbury, but must be mistaken.

We recently visited NBH and were most impressed. They have a brand new state of the art sports facility and the children seemed engaging, motivated an above all happy.

Also, it is hogwash to imply that Royal school pupils were placed in a parallel group when the school was merged with NBH. the entire school is streamed. In Year 11 the Royal School Girls were kept in a separate class to continue their crucial final year of GCSE studies with the least possible disruption. It had nothing to do with the girls not being up to 11+ standard! And when a school is merged, how is it honourable to keep the pupils of the merged school? In any case there was a mass exodus, particularly of the junior school. These are somewhat lofty observations and quite annoying!

I would avoid anything to do with NBH, especially now as the new Head is obsessed with Canonbury taking off. S much so NBH in Hampstead is being sorely neglected. I don't like the ethos at the school, there is a tendency to marginalise pupils who are shy or sensitive, lots of boisterous pupils who might seem intimidating to some. Tight groups of popular girls and boys....Teachers are leaving in droves, some mid GCSES, leaving a tide of supply teachers. I shall be looking elsewhere for a sixth form for my child, for sure!

Absolutely fed up with with the over the top florid self-congratulatory newsletters at NBH senior school. School has lost its ethos, a lot of staff and is unable to deal meaningfully with feedback. Can't believe that have the cheek to set up another school in Canonbury without getting the last amalgamation sorted out.

I didn't even know about the parent committee last year, I guess it wasn't well advertised! They could definitely use one now. Staff turnover and instability has become a real issue. Our English teacher, who is the head of English, has simply disappeared. No explanation given, classes being covered by other staff. It is bad enough for year 10 but must be a nightmare for the year 11 students preparing for GCSEs. Agree with north1mum (kids are fantastic as are a few of the teachers) but management is not managing, and some of the teachers are pretty openly critical of the head and her deputy, even to their students. Would like to move, but options are limited, hoping Mill Hill will have a space. Has anyone else moved a child at the beginning of year 11, mid-GCSE?

Same as Dallas 3. I couldn't explain the situation better. As dallas 3 suggests, there are management issues. Last year the school helped start up a parent committee which aimed to discuss common concerns and clear the air. We were getting feedback as to how the school management intended to deal with issues, e.g. some very experienced teachers leaving after the two schools had amalgamated and being replaced by inadequate (and presumably cheaper) staff. This year the parent group was ditched, apparently due to too many pertinent questions being asked of the management. there's too little mutual respect between the different groups of teaching staff, management, parents and children. Papering over the cracks doesn't work. I'd add that the kids at NBH are fantastic!

my kid is in year 11. the issue is with senior management, many kids complaining about the over zealous approach towards exams and being lectured at and feeling patronised. i get that they want the kids to do well, so do we and i appreciate the organised approach. But it can be overbearing and overpowering at times constantly reminding kids of exams coming up and how many lessons left in subjects - on a daily basis. it feels constraining rather than encouraging. this is why students will not want to go into 6th form, they feel patronised and don't enjoy school the way they used to. my view is that management are anxious about results as they are new and want to prove themselves, and they have become overcontrolling and petty. another problem is that the management and the teachers do not seem to be working together. there will be a few teachers leaving come summer and we've already lost several good ones. i get that under new management there's always changes but this has been going on for one-two years now and is destabilising.

could you elaborate north1mum and photographer3? What years are your DCs in?

north1mum I couldn't agree more. I feel the same way. The school atmosphere has changed, it is not such a happy place anymore.

Children loved NBH Senior pre-merger with Royal, since when focus has moved away from daily TLC that we al loved so much to a corporate self-interest. Teaching has accordingly taken a dip. NBH may end up as a transitory business asset in the Cognita portfolio. I cannot imagine too many students would wish to continue the NBH experience at Sixth Form if they have a choice.

Some friends at local state schools did maths and triple science GCSEs in year 10, as well as English Lit, so not really so Micky Mouse. In year 11, they are now concentrating on courses not even offered at NBH, including further maths and Latin. NBH is quite mediocre academically, has no sports facilities, and very limited extracurricular options almost nothing in music and drama. It is not a terrible school, it's friendly and sociable, but it's very narrow in terms of options and opportunities, and is definitely not academic not in the same league as Highgate or even Camden girls. I can't imagine the sixth form will be much different.

catastrophe - honestly, I have no idea. I left in 2004, and the place is quite literally unrecognisable now- I was there under Truda White (who was amazing) and in the old buildings. It changed massively during the 4 years I taught there - obviously due to Truda. I suspect it's had it's rapid uphill period and may well plateau now. There are still teachers there who were there when I was. I teach drama, so regularly kick myself for leaving just before Andrew Lloyd-Webber got involved..

Thank you Horsemadmom. I might as well say that my dc=ds. I have previous experience of NBH prep. All went well then, but there was old fashioned streaming and dcs were well prepared. I've heard murmurs too recently about prep for 13+. I don't know where we'll aim for ds, but I certainly hope next year's pretests run smoothly.

Hi Ainsley,
My DD was at the prep. I thought the transfer process at 11+ worked like a well oiled machine. Girls were kept calm throughout and all talk of who was sitting where was banned. Trial runs on Tuesdays with a focus on individual improvement, and lots of variation in format. DD didn't see anything on the exams that they hadn't covered in the practices.I felt we were mostly well advised although they clearly have some schools they like better than others. That having been said, my DD was in the last group of McGrath girls and I understand that they aren't setting so rigidly anymore. The girls in my DD's year did really well (destinations on website) and everyone stayed sane. I understand that there were some issues with the 13+ boys because the Head was busy running both sites (that was what the parents of the boys felt). It was also part of a recession-related trend IMO. DSs who would have gone to boarding schools were in competition for day school places due to costs- My DS's school had a massive surge in applications at all stages when the recession bit. Some of the less academic boys who would have naturally progressed to Mill Hill or Aldenham did not get places after the pre-test (Elimination of Saturday school at Mill Hill made it much more atractive than it had been as well.).
As for the mixed ability aspect, I actually think it was fine. Everyone got a place somewhere they were happy with and most got their first choice. The teaching was actually of a much higher caliber than my DD's previous school which was extremely selective. The music and art was much more creative and of a massively higher standard and DD did an after school club every day. She also made wonderful friends and so did I.
I think that the current year 6 have had more upheaval due to 2 teachers leaving (1 on maternity and 1 for a Headship elsewhere) but your DC will be fine.

((highjack, sorry)) EvilTwins, how far do you think Highbury Grove has actually changed? Slightly curious as to whether the rapid improvement in GCSE results may start to peter out soon (low hanging fruit has been picked etc). And about lack of stability at the top they will be on their 3rd HT in 3 years as of next Sept. ((sorry for highjack))

Horsemadmom, was your dd at NBH prep or the senior school? Looking at the school website since its revamp last year, if I were a prospective parent looking at the whole school I'd notice straight away the weight of material slanted to the senior school(s) above that slanted to the prep. I wonder if this reflects the commercial reality that it's probably easier for NBH to enrol kids across the ability range, from the prep and from outside, and park them in one of the senior schools, than to recruit and retain staff experienced at getting kids through 11+ and 13+ into academically selective senior schools. I have a y5 dc at the prep and this worries me. There is a huge range of ability across the classes and I see a conflict of interest between Cognita's quite (commercially) rightly wanting bums on seats to please its investors, and the aspirations of parents who signed up for a PREP school. If your dd was at the prep recently, which I assume given you mention 11+ standards- do you really feel the transfer process was well managed?

I used to teach at Highbury Grove... At that point its only fame was that a deputy head had been attacked with a knife. We looked it up in the London Schools Guide - it was something like 19th from bottom (out of over 500)

How times change.

Good schools rarely do GCSEs early- this is a state school thing which allows for retakes and packing in more exams to up their leaugue table positions. As for 'varied subjects', do you mean non-academic, mickey mouse subjects? All 3 of my DCs are at top indies and nobody does more than 10 GCSEs and all exams are/were in yr 11.
I actually think NBH acted honourably when they took in the Royal. They could easily have just got rid of most of the girls (they ran a parallel Royal class in DD2's yr as none of them were up to 11+ standard). I think it was a tough organisational ask to blend the schools and do the building works and share the Head across two sites all in one year but, it's all done now.
Our experience was that they were very caring and supportive of my DD who had a miserable time in her previous school and had very low self-esteem. Her teachers emailed me daily when she started to tell me how she was doing. They turned her around in under a term. Her extra-curricular schedule was packed at lunch time and after school.

AS an alternative to the views of horsemadmum, I would avoid NBH at sixth form if their secondary is anything to go by. It is definitely a business, not a school, and their first concern is always for the bottom line, but it is really not good value for money. Leadership is uncertain, teaching is average (and poor in some core subject, like English), there is massive turnover, and there are very few extracurricular activities available. My son is not unhappy there, but finds the school boring and socialises mainly with his primary school friends. It has never been an academic school, and standards are even lower following the absorption of the Royal School last year. GCSE results have been falling for the past few years. They are also very restricted at GCSE, and cannot take the tests early or take additional subjects, as other schools will allow. My son's friends in the state system seem to be doing just as well, studying more varied subjects, and engaging in a far greater range of activities - both social and community based. Some are taking a number of GCSEs already, at year 10, and so will have time for a much more focused approach in year 11. I am seriously considering moving him for the final GCSE year, but it's massively complicated so might not manage. Will definitely not be considering it for sixth form!

Yes, people pay for the teaching and the feel. Also, small classes and anti-bullying policies with teeth. For a child who hasn't done well at CE, there are few options and the state sector isn't one of them (even poor schools are oversubscribed around here and yr 9 isn't a natural entry point). Do note that not everyone wants to or can go to a church school- NBH is ethnically representitive of it's area as well as having a big contingent who come from abroad. At 16, the state options are Camden, Fortismere or JFS. Ds has a friend with moderate dyslexia and severe dyspraxia who is a real oddball but ferociously funny and quick witted. He went to NBH on a partial scholarship (parents really had few options financially) up to GCSE and did very, very well because he was supported. This kid came out of his shell socially as well and had a great group of mates. He's now having a horrid time at state 6th form because of constant, low-level bullying. If he had had the option to stay....