Kingsdale Foundation School

My son goes to a v strict school in SE London with an amazing progress 8 score. Progress 8 is not everything, but it is one of many factors to consider we chose a very strict school for him deliberately (he was also also happy to put it first). It does indeed have a huge number of boys on free school meals..... And achieves amazing results. We like the discipline/no excuses attitude as the approach works for our son, but it isn't a sausage factory.

No one size/approach fits all, but there is a certain middle class disdain for some schools in our area.

@PetraPancake with progress 8 its all about input and output. The schools with great scores often have kids starting KS3 from a low baseline in deprived areas a focused curriculum with strict discipline gets improved outputs. They are often multi-chain academy sausage factories.

If you want amazing Progress 8 then the Michaela School is probably the one for you - best score in the country on that measure.

Although worth looking at what is (or rather isn't) on offer in terms of Sport, Arts, Music and extracurricular clubs - as well as the incredibly narrow range of GCSE options they offer.

They also have incredibly strict rules.

If you're only teaching an incredibly narrow curriculum to a set of children whose parents are happy to sign up for the "strictest school in England" then I imagine it's easier to hit the scores needed to get the fab P8 score.

We didn't look at that school but saw a few along the same lines and hated them so much at the open days we didn't even stay for HT's speech.

A school is so much more than Progress 8 - that is one experimental measure and mostly one that will favour a school which concentrates on English and Maths and nothing else (as they count for double) A true school focuses on a wider curriculum and this is what recent Ofsted inspections recognise. My children are both at Kingsdale and one has SEN and yet they have both flourished in other ways apart from this. The staff seem to genuinely care about the children and that is everything to us.

Thank you for replies. I guess P8 is not the be-all and end-all.

Because it was the best school for my child.

• Some of the best music provision of any state school in the country.
• Incredible selection of Arts focused courses for GCSE.
• Very wide choice of extra-curricular clubs
• Not overly draconian on the discipline front
• Very big school - more chance of DC finding friendship pool and more chance of always having enough kids to run things.
• Great for very academic kids but they don't expect everyone to get 18 A stars
• Had a very happy, warm atmosphere when we looked round. The staff we spoke to were all nice and welcoming and seemed interested.

We looked at over 12 schools so I had a lot to compare with. Vast majority of those were also Ofsted Outstanding, but I wasn't that interested in that.

Progress 8 doesn't particularly interest me either. DD has severe SEN but very bright... was more interested in how they would manage that.

We've been there for 3 years and honestly have nothing to complain about - school has been what we hoped for and more. Teachers all know my child as an individual and have massively improved her self-esteem when it comes to academics. She's no longer failing the way she was in Primary and more importantly she's happy.

Surely, it's because for a lot of people it's the best secondary option around especially for boys.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but wanted to ask why are people so keen on Kingsdale despite the fact its Progress 8 scores are so average? I don’t understand why it’s the school of choice round our way. Is it just because of the Ofsted outstanding rating?

DC was in the 40s in top band on waiting list and got in mid-June. They are enjoying Kingsdale. Extra-curricular clubs, music, art, sport, parents forums are phenomenal. DC clever, interested and does very well academically but not particularly conscientious. Has same problems as other state schools including regarding teacher recruitment but although massive, teachers did seem to know DC at parents night: made comments which suggested they did have good insight into personality and progress. I’m not particularly bothered by progress 8 score or sometimes slightly random subject scores on DC’s report. DC has a lovely group of friends who are funny and sparky. Wish my school had been like this.

@LawrenceLawrence

Hopefully we will hear something by mid/end April.
🤞🙏.

Thank you!

Thank you!

@PeckhamPam

Thank you.

😊

Yes, I'm not entirely sure on the banding but was told it was a lottery. That said we have lots of friends who received places within a few months and before Y7. Just hang on in there! In terms of comments above re progress - we couldn't be more pleased with progress and small classes when needed despite the large intake. We weighed it up against Harris and Charter but felt they were also big in their own way and a bit more corporate. It's hard to recruit teachers nationally for subjects like science and maths at the moment I hear and they've been upfront about that in meetings recently but Kingsdale seems to get it completely right when it comes to support for GCSE and also the pastoral side. Utterly brilliant in terms of phone calls and communication generally. Great newsletter and parents forum etc. It is a state school after all so I think what they offer is pretty astonishing.

I believe it’s random - that’s what I was told when I asked what band my child was in. They added that in (I didn’t ask).

Hi there all,

So I have a disappointed Son who had his heart set on Kingsdale. We were allocated our sixth choice. My son received a half sports scholarship and we are currently on both the scholarship and banding waiting lists.

I was wondering how the banding waiting list position is worked out? Any insight would be appreciated.

Gosh..just banding/scholarship or both...hopefully I will hear some news April/May

Yes - for the first one after about 6 months.

@PeckhamPam

That's good to hear..were your children on the waiting list?

Happy Mother's Day 💐

We have children in Y8 and Y12 and have been really pleased. It's big but has a strong community feel and actually quite a few classes have had 20 or less (Maths at GCSE was one). We love the music department and the sport is amazing.

@PeachPitt88

My DC is single digits banding and 70s scholarship (half). Hopefully there is some movements on the waiting after the 15th.

I have read other threads..different experiences every year. Early 20s is a good sign plus it seems the 4 waiting lists moves quickly...it's the first time I am experiencing "this feeling" as my eldest got her first choice and the school wasn't oversubscribed...

Hope we all receive some good news soon 🙃

Hi @Eva8724

just wondered - how did it go with Kingsdale? DD is on the waiting list now, in the early 20s, but not sure how it works and whether she will be offered a place. Have accepted another school on the meantime. Thinking as it’s such a busy year prospects are slim?

anyway let me know how you got on and hope you got what you were after!

Best
M

My work colleague has a daughter there and is super happy. I think if we lived near to a comp of that calibre, we would not have even looked elsewhere!

It is a very large school, but we haven't found it a problem in terms of individual attention - I was actually surprised at the amount the staff seemed to pick up on regarding my DD.

I had phone calls from the Languages Dept regarding the struggles DD was having and the best way to go forward in both Y7 and Y8. Calls from the Science Dept when DD was quite clearly taking the poor teacher for a complete ride - we devised a strategy together to put a stop to that. And an email from the Art Dept in Y7 offering DD a graphics scholarship and specialist classes after school (I had no idea she was any good at that!).

I do keep in touch with the form tutor, and with the Head of Learning and they have always been extremely prompt in returning emails or calls - normally within a couple of hours and always the same day.

For context, DD is in Y9, with SEN and on a music place. She is a very confident child and has no problem in going and telling Heads of Year if she's not happy about something and advocating for what she wants, which probably makes it easier than if she was very shy and kept everything to herself.

Regarding trips, we didn't have any in Y7 due to Covid, but the Y8 trip to Paris was open to everyone. The Easter Science trip to France was clearly advertised as having limited spaces and that if oversubscribed they would pick names out of a hat. Other trips that DD has done have either been subject specific where everyone in the class has attended, or have had priority for scholars. Recent ones were the Gospel Choir day where music scholars specialising in singing were expected to attend (but others who were interested could), and the trip to the Royal Opera House where priority went to music scholars and those doing GCSE music. All explained in the emails that were sent home for permission/safe guarding sign up.

With clubs, things like horse riding they do rotations - but most of the others you can just sign up. You do have to be proactive though - the clubs, competitions and extra curricular are all optional and nobody will chase if your child doesn't want to do them.

Positions of responsibility - they seem to endlessly advertise for kids to put themselves forward to be Head of Houses. Junior Prefects have been recently appointed in Y9... 50 of them I believe. DD said she had to sign up and that you needed to have a certain level of attendance and behaviour points to qualify. Not sure how it worked for Y10. For things like school tours they ask for volunteers - it's not pre-selected.

We've been very happy with the school so far - but it is probably one that will suit some children more than others. There were schools we looked at and disliked so much we ran away from the open day, but that friends liked so much they sent their children there and love it. Horses for courses...

Sorry to hear that @Pigsears . It sounds like you've been in the school longer than us, and always good to hear about differing experiences. I hope the move works out well for your child.

We moved our son towards the end of primary for similar reasons - the move worked really well. If you asked most parents at both schools they would nearly all say they were great - for us though one school just didn't work for our child.

@Eva8724 pigears mentions everything being oversubscribed - I'm not sure what they mean precisely and hopefully they can clarify. Re clubs I know certain clubs with limited numbers people are allocated for a few weeks / half a term at a time (not sure how long precisely as we didn't apply). These are cycling, archery, horse riding and swimming. I believe most other clubs on the extra-curricular list you can do fairly easily (subject to what pigsears says, but this is our experience so far).