Southwest London state and independent secondary schools

My daughter has just started in year 7 of Chestnut Grove and she loves it so far. She says all the teachers are really nice and it’s much better than primary school. She says all the children she has met there are quite eccentric which suits her as she’s quite odd! I think what she really means is that people are free to be who they are without having to fit into any boxes, which is a good thing. She is bright but can struggle socially so I’ve been really impressed by how well she has got on. I would recommend going to have a look round.

Time for gin.. my point was that you could move your child into year 6 of Honeywell (or Belleville) and then feed into B.B. Lots of All Farthings children do this as there is generally lots of spaces in year 6 at both schools. I’m glad you liked Kingsdale, my friend also loves it.

Know quite a few girls (all studious and from good backgrounds) there but it seems to be a bit of a 'Marmite' school, among parents and prospective pupils. Very culturally representative of very local 'SW17' population but not necessarily wider 'SW London' one. Boys in the sixth form (which threw me a bit when we visited). A 'Xanax' incident last year which made local paper headlines. It has a bit more of a uni type feel (even in the layout of the buildings) than most local schools (which is a big plus as with the swimming pool on site) - doesn't seem to be short on funding that's for sure (cupcakes and goodies a plenty at the open day we attended).

How does anyone rate Burntwood? Heard mixed reports.

Did you visit Ashcroft last night OP?

One other school / strategy to consider if you are not adverse to a double school move.. Move into catchment for Belleville/Honeywell primaries as there are guaranteed spaces coming up in year 6. (5 in one class at HW due to a mass move to Emanuel’s Hill form. This will get you into the feeder system for the Bolingbroke Academy.

BB is not to everyone’s taste but is one of the smaller Wandsworth secondaries, community based and doing well with its GCSE results. It’s eased up on its discipline policy but still pretty strict and the small site can be a turn off. Just throwing it into the mix as an idea.

Also, to echo a PP Chestnut Grove is definitely coming into their own, new building, lovely head. The catchment shrank significantly last year so be careful where you move to if it’s a contender.

Similarly, if you land an indie place (no guarantees for any but the very brightest these days) then consider being as close as possible to a decent railway station as the mornings can get very early! St Dunstans might be worth a look.. they have a bus from Clapham South.

Have you completely ruled out grammars?

OP, interesting post! Delighted that you are sharing with mumsnet. It really depends on your child, Ashcroft is much more tech / maths than (for example) Chestnut Grove. With Harris Academy Battersea let me just suggest to you to see it on open day. It looks great on paper but reality wasn't what we expected.

As other posters said: Graveney you really have to move into the few streets around it to have a chance (and I heard that they ask if you lived there for at least two years - not sure this is true?). So please go to all open days and ask the important questions.

Re: indies, did you go see Radnor House? Small, great pastoral care and enthusiastic Head. Seems a great place for a sensitive child. KCS again a very different kettle of fish. Boys I know there are super happy and well adjusted, but usually do not have a great circle of friends locally as kids attend from all over London (the world!) and their group of friends is therefore scattered. Also, if your child is not in the top three kids academically IN HIS YEAR, I dare say you will need ramp up the prep to get into KCS.

In answer to your question earlier OP, we stuck with our original offer, Chelsea Academy, about which I won't say more except we are still fine with it, and so far, eagerness to get out there and on with it bubbles out of DS every morning! So something must be going right.
I will add though on discipline/detention front they are clearly no pushover either. It is a C of E school, so your only access to it is via church attendance, local feeder school, or music aptitude test.
Incidentally your state-school list includes 5 of the 6 schools on our final application last year. And I visited most of the others. . . I find it slightly incongruous that you'd consider schools like Lilian Baylis and Platanos in the same breath as, I don't know, Trinity or Whitgift. Not that I have the slightest idea what those or any London private schools are like . . .But LB and Platanos are local catchment comps, not remotely the kind of "leafy" or impossibly-oversubscribed (read underhand-selective) supercomps I imagine most private-school people might contemplate. They have, to put it super-bluntly, 100% non-white-middle-class intake with very high PP representation. And they are good schools by all accounts, especially Platanos; kids and teachers I met at both places seemed great. But that doesn't usually cut it with, erm, a certain type of comfortably-off London family . . .

Following on what dreaming said about schools like Ashcroft aiming to equip their kids (many of whom are "disadvantaged") with the best possible future (by getting best possible results) I do think schools sometimes forget that long-term success in life is about much much more than getting tip-top exam results. Personally I'd willingly trade in a few GCSE grades, for all-round emotional stability, robustness, easy sociability and strength of character etc which is notoriously hard to measure (unlike spelling or maths) but comes out of a much broader curriculum and experience, possibly, than these schools allow for. . . .
Of course, a lot of that is down to family background and resources; and of course, there's a limit to how much any school can compensate for any deficiency. But in focusing on grades to exclusion of much else (simply by issuing so much homework, for example, that there's little time for it even when families are able and willing) - and that's what all that discipline is for, really, isn't it; making sure every child can achieve the highest grade possible - there may be a price to pay in (longer-term?) mental health terms. And how will that help any child's future, however academically outstanding?
I get that these schools are doing a brilliant job with often disadvantaged children, getting many into top universities when 20, 30 years ago, no state school would have bothered. But I'd like to see long-term emotional health outcomes for schools like Ashcroft, Mossbourne, and the many other private and state discipline-focussed, academic hothouses. Their RG and Oxbridge entry stats may be impressive . . . But what about general wellbeing, 20 or 30 years later?? It'd be hard, of course, to demonstrate a definitive link .. . But you might be able to plot a tendency ??

Montenuit I get what you are saying re: discipline but Ashcroft is a whole other level. Not allowing children to go to their relative's funerals and putting them in detention for attending, if children have any time off for anything they end up having to make up the time after school (e.g. for sickness). From what I've heard detentions are given out very quickly. Discipline is a great thing but there are levels.

i don't particularly know Ashcroft but can i just say something in defence of a strict discipline policy for well behaved children?

I went to a secondary school which was well known for its pastoral care. Some of the kids, boys in particular, ran rings around the teacher. Back chat, things out of windows etc etc. How much trouble you got in depended on how much the teacher expected of you. I for example a clever well behaved girl with a supportive family could barely ask my neighbour a question without being told off. Others could come in late, do bugger all work and it was fine because "they were there" which was the most the school asked for them.

It was hideous and very unfair.

A strict and consistent policy would have suited everyone better and we would all have got a lot more teaching. Of course in this school we weren't streamed for anything either

Sorry I was unable to reply sooner but agree with what has been said upthread, Ashcroft is good for the right sort of kid but probably not for a sensitive type. I saw it and realised this a couple of years ago but I will be taking my year 6 daughter along on Tuesday to see it because it is one of our closest schools and she needs to feel involved in the decision making. My feeling is that it would crush her and I will probably not be putting it on the form but she needs to understand why when quite a few from her class will be going there.

I have no vested interest, but Ashcroft say they owe it to the kids to give them the best possible chance to get results that will help them in the future. They make no bones about being a strict school.

I believe Ashcroft is a grim school to teach in as well. It means teachers leave as soon as they can find a job elsewhere.

If your child is a bright, confident, motivated self-starter then Graveney should be fine (although the site is far too small for the number of pupils crammed into it). However, if your child has any additional need, any mental health issues or is simply a bit shy and needing some encouragement then avoid like the plague

I know people at Gravney and Ashcroft, to me the discipline was too much at Ashcroft and seemed to knock the personality out of the kids so they could get the results - I know people that are happy there though that was just my open day impression, at Gravney it felt too huge and cramped - there going to get great resets when they are that selective!

OP there are three Harris Academies in Merton (new Wimbledon one has taken its first Year 7 cohort this September).

I agree with MaryTuda about Graveney. Neither of my two was impressed with it. And agree the SLT seems smug.

We looked at Ashcroft for DC1 but yes, agree, it seemed over strict with a 'cooler' wing for the badly behaved...

My sons are at Emanuel they love it, if your son is sensitive they seem to have a good nurturing policy - you're right though Rugby is the main boys sport, however in 2020 they are introducing football in the lower school. Be warned though that it has got much harder to get a place in

I think Ashcroft is a pretty good school and many kids clearly do brilliantly there - my personal experience is limited to quite extensive probing done last year after my now-Y7 dc was offered a place. We turned it down, partly for above-type reasons although I don’t think they are quite fair . . I much preferred it to Graveney for example! (Which struck me as dated, self-congratulatory (though all schools are a bit like that on Open Days!) and deluded about the nature and wider impact of their big selective intake. . Graveney is effectively the Wandsworth grammar school, fine if you like that sort of thing . .)
My DS sounds pretty much like yours OP . . Our offer from Ashcroft came accompanied by a letter, very short on friendly congratulations, and very heavy on DO NOT COME TO THIS SCHOOL UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO BE VERY FOCUSSED AND WORK VERY HARD.
Now my DC is naturally a hard worker, he gets absorbed in a subject and can produce amazing work without stress at all - which is how I think it should be. He likes praise of course but isn’t much bothered what mark he gets nor does he care much whether he comes in 1st or 4th in the class on any given occasion, though he enjoys having a generally brainy rep.
I was afraid that a school which positively induces competitiveness could end up replacing his natural love of learning with an unhappy, possibly mentally unstable, pressure-cooked pursuit of tip-top-results on every occasion. I’m sure staff at both above schools would brand me an overprotective hippie, but I just think I know my kid . . He doesn’t need “pushing”, he’s doing his best anyway, and so far it’s pretty good!
The school we opted for just seemed a whole lot friendlier- equally ambitious but never at expense of general well-being. It’s very early days, but no regrets yet.
That said, I still think he would most likely have been fine at Ashcroft, a great school in many ways.

From what I have heard, Ashcroft is one of those Stalag Zero Tolerance academies. But no direct experience.

Graveney, Dunraven and Charter actually seem to like young people.

Chestnut Grove has a growing reputation, too, if you want to stay Wandsworth side.

Dunraven probably has the cheapest catchment area, though not sure how Graveney compares. The Graveney catchment is tiny for the distance places.