Kingsdale waiting list

Name-changed for this, but I'm the parent of a Y7 DC at Kingsdale.

We live a pretty long distance from the school, but local options weren't great and DC has SEN and is very musical, so we had specific reasons for being prepared to travel for the right school.

DC got a full music scholarship and was high enough in the rankings to be pretty much guaranteed a place.

So far, I honestly don't have any complaints. The communications from the school are very good, level of discipline seems about right - no stupid rules, and the levels of homework tapered in so there was no nasty shock in week 1. DC had a lot of problems in the last 2 years of primary school - the class had a significant percentage of pupils with SEN, especially pupils with behavioural issues and there was so much disruption in class that I'm not sure they ever learnt anything (especially given DC's specific SEN that benefits from things like sitting near the front and very low levels of distraction). DC is much, much happier being in a class where the teachers can actually teach rather than spending their time trying to keep order.

Uniform can all be bought from Asda or similar, bar the house tie and iron-on blazer badges which you buy from the school, so it's relatively cheap to kit them out.

We've had two stints already of whole-class self-isolation this term due to Covid, and the school was ready to go with full lesson provision on Teams from the very first day, and there have been zero IT issues. The school also has a team who will make sure that no-one is left behind because they don't have access to tech or internet at home.

Music provision is superb - DC gets free 1-2-1 tuition, and the music lesson timetable swaps around each term so that they don't always get to avoid double-maths.

DC is not the most enthusiastic where school is concerned (very bright but not really academically interested plus the SEN issues) but we haven't had a single day of 'I don't want to go to school' which is a bit of a miracle, and subjects that were regarded as 'soooo boring' are now 'alright I suppose', so that is a step in the right direction.

We've already had one report card home with scores for every subject, a zoom session for parents, and I've had a lovely email from one subject teacher over half-term to let me know that DC is doing great in class, but appears to have misunderstood a key grammar concept and 'could I work through the following exercises over half-term to make sure that they are back on track for November'. I was pretty impressed that they are onto things like that so fast.

Due to Covid, a lot of the things that should have happened haven't - the transfer summer school ended up as a single day and sandwiches rather than a barbecue (but still more than a lot of other schools did); they haven't set for all the different subjects due to having to keep them in their bubbles - on the upside, it means that when they do set them, it will be based on actual knowledge of the individual child rather than their banding and SATS scores (that they don't have).

The extra-curricular programme is also not what it will be - choirs etc aren't allowed due to social distancing regs, and the outside providers of things like horse-riding (which is free along with archery, fencing etc) have various issues due to Covid safety. But, I very much feel that the school is doing the best they can under the circumstances.

There is also not much help on the SEN front due to the bubble systems, but DC has some very specific things in place that could make them stand out from the other students, and the school has handled that really well and that has massively helped DC's confidence.

On the gazillion GCSE's front, the school have said that if you want to do 18 or similar, then they will facilitate that, but if like my DC you have SEN then you can drop to 7 or 8 and use blocks for help with extra maths or English. It's very much geared to what suits an individual child.

We looked at a lot of schools (state and indie) given that we were prepared to travel a considerable distance, and Kingsdale was the standout choice for what we felt would suit our DC. They didn't know anyone else at the school, but already have a nice group of friends.

Hope this is helpful to those trying to choose.

@kingpinner thanks, we live in Clapham and my local which it was totally against due to the word of the previous parents I viewed and really liked it's ofstead done last year has improved a grade and the school have a zero disruption of class policy which I like, the school is silent, son can walk there & likely to have school friend from primary but I'm having the guilt thing of do I listen to my son or go with my gut.. it's so stressful

Also the primary school our child goes to often skips sports as they have this whole class punishment thing, where the same children misbehave but they punish the entire class.. don't really know why they can stop PE on the basis of others poor behaviour..

Also I can't really see why it would help behaviour to stop children exercising.. anyhow it is not great for the kids like mine who want to do sports.

So we are pretty enamoured with Kingsdale.

soarklymum our child would catch the train but there are some coaches to the school so that might be something you could check out.

Yes we are sparklymum we live in a different borough and I know the school we will get if we don't get Kingsdale is one of the worst performing secondary schools in the country.

So it is fingers crossed for us.

Also we add coming from a poor primary with next to no outdoor space so we all thought it was amazing! But I guess we are coming from a different perspective.

I don't want to get our hopes up but I do see it as a massive opportunity, and for me I am pleased with the lottery system as at least we would have a shot.

Would someone able to compare Graveney versus Kingsdale please?

@kingpinner are you applying for next year too? We liked Kingsdale also but we saw it in evening I can't imagine how it looks when filled with 2000 kids. What are your other choices?

Fascinating thread.

laidbackorlazy so did you finally get told you had a place!

My child would have to travel for an hour to get to kingsdale but my child loves the school.

There is nothing local to us that could offer the sports, music and arts aspect.

I don't want to get my hopes up but here I am messaging about school places because I can't sleep.

I totally agree about the need for the supplementary form being a way to weed out disorganised applications or parents who can't get their act together.

There is an academy near us who uses the supplementary form and last year no one got in who did not complete it by their deadline and it was very confusing figuring out the deadline!

In addition I also think some schools use expensive uniforms as a way to put people off applying. A friend had to pay in excess of 200 quid to kit out her daughter at an academy and you get demerits if it is not all logo this and that.

@marytuda you've made some interesting points, don't suppose you have any advice on Lambeth schools? This year we are choosing without viewing schools due to covid.

Hi all, this is going to sound really random I'm going through the hell of applying this year have until end of week to submit forms we live in Clapham son loves Kingsdale school however I have mummy anxiety mainly about distance, & over 2000 kids being at the school

so just from those that know can anyone give me any reasons to NOT to put it on form?

Thanks x

Sorry - should have been clearer. Yes - I knew that Kingsdale run a slick marketing campaign to always attract high attainers who will come out the other side making them look good, but how does a school accommodate a child taking 16 GCSEs? Is there enough time in the weekly schedule for one child to cover 16 subjects or are they operating a system where children are taking GCSE Maths for example in 3 different ways, or children who speak 2 languages at home taking those subjects at GCSE without any school involvement for example, or do specific children take GCSE exams in Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11 to build up to that number? It's just mind boggling.

“What is going on there?”

Read the previous posts.

The way the school manages its marketing, scholarships and admissions policy ensures a high attaining intake. The results reflect that.

The results of the few they mention are astounding Hopefully the school will manage better progress scores this year.

Hello - has anyone read Kingsdale's GCSE and A-level result report for this year? There are children (admittedly only a few) taking 14 - 18 GCSE
examinations. The results of the few they mention are astounding. What is going on there?

I don’t like Kingsdale but I live in a secondary school black hole. Lots of good schools in the area, all recruiting based on distance, none stretches all the way to me. So it’s either Kingsdale or a secondary with results below the national average an hour away...

I live five minutes from Kingsdale but it didn't go on my daughter's list. I didn't like it. She didn't like it. They make such a big hoo ha about their gcse results and 'scholarship' things but of all the schools I looked at they didn't give any info about what they actually do with the Year 7s to introduce them to Secondary school life. It felt cramped and shabby.
I don't understand why it is so popular either.

Just to add to the point about Kingsdale’s 22% PP intake (pupil premium, or free school meals entitlement, a measure of deprivation) I have just done a spot of research. My local schools in neighbouring Lambeth have 63-65% pp intake. And my DCs school, marginally more ‘fashionable’ I suppose but also v inner-city, has 50%.
Just for comparison. . All are v good schools.

Applepieco; that’s how it should be.

If I was way way down the Kingsdale list (last year a friend was in the 400s) I would take prh47’s point above and report them!

How on earth can a school with a lottery admissions system run a numbered waiting list? You would need to be issuing new numbers every time a family declined a place!

Our local school is a lottery school. There is no numbered waiting list. Every time a place becomes available there is another lottery draw. Nobody has ever been given a wait list number as you can’t, can you? There is a pool of wait list candidates.

We were also in this position last year. My ds was number 47 on the band waiting list (band 2)
I was convinced he would get a place, and spent the whole summer anxiously waiting and getting very stressed. He made it to number 6 on the list by the 1st September and it hasn't moved since the first day of term.
His friend was number 41 in band 1, and was offered a place in the last week of August.
So it does move, but last year nowhere near as much as in previous years according to old threads on here. My advice would be not to do what I did, and get behind the school you have got. if it does come up, bonus, but I needlessly stressed myself, and though I tried not to, also my ds. Who is now very happy and achieving well where he is.
Good luck.

Last time I looked the ratio of high strainers at KD was very high

It is, and the ratio of low attainers is very low.

I was responding to a poster who appeared to be arguing that fair banding on its own resulted in a higher achieving cohort. On its own, it doesn't. However, combined with an aggressive marketing campaign and other factors, that can be the outcome.

“a school like Kingsdale knows very well it will get a higher prior achieving cohort by banding in this way”

“If that were true, every school using fair banding would get a higher prior achieving cohort. They don't.”

But a PP pointed out how the massive over subscription by high achieving families chasing scholarships skews the grade boundaries for the banding tests.

Last time I looked the ratio of high strainers at KD was very high.

The other local school which does fair banding does not advertise in buses or offer scholarships, it admits on distance. Realistically there are only about 4 primaries you could be in to get a place on distance and to my knowledge 2 of those are very pro active in supporting children to get to the banding test. It’s the local school so they all do it together.

I think Fair Banding is a good way to pull a school out of ‘sink’ status by guaranteeing that high achieving children will have peers. It is a good way to avoid the polarisation between the sought after over subscribed school and the one everyone tried to avoid.

Matlow Really glad your Dd is happy and doing well.

I have always heard that pupils enjoy Kingsdsle.

OK, 22% PP is much higher than I thought, it was around 10% last time I looked (not so long ago). Obviously however the school turned itself around, it didn't break any actual regs. And that's great to hear Matlow, all very best to your dd. Now I really think I should move on!