Kingsdale Foundation School

I dunno. Its progress 8 score is average and its other scores are all above average. It’s definitely on our list. It’s an interesting school but always a long shot because of the lottery.

We went to view and we hated it! It looks like a prison and the teachers were….to be frank, quite bizarre.

And yes, very very shabby school. I was quite shocked by the state of it.

It’s oversubscribed just due to the fact literally anyone can apply - on another thread someone said their child commuted an hour and a half….so if you don’t have a good school nearby? Might as well apply.

I live nearby and I don’t know anyone who put it down as first choice in the end.

The extra curricular activities are phenomenal. My non-sporty DC has done cycling at the velodrome, archery, swimming, art, film making club, science club, music ensembles, drama and Model United Nations. Yes, we put down for horse riding and didn’t get it, but they did warn that there weren’t many spaces which really is not surprising. I would like my DC to do well academically but what I love about the school is that the music and drama are exceptional. The breadth of the provision is outstanding, and you do not need formal lessons or a scholarship to take part: if you show an interest you can join one of the ensembles and if you have or develop an aptitude, you can become a scholar after you join the school. They also do a lot around electronic music. I have found them to be very inclusive that way.

They do put on lots of trips, and some of them are very expensive, but they also do end of year day trips, free art and theatre trips and UK or cheaper adventure trips.

I am happy with my DC’s experience of the school. They have some lovely friends. There are a lot of quirky, funny, individual children and yes, many of them are very clever and talented.

The school is massive but I would agree that this means that eventually you find your tribe, and they split the year into two so it doesn’t seem as big. At first you might feel that your child is lost and that the teachers don’t know much about them, but this does not last long.

I do not recognise the comments about teachers not wanting to answer questions. When we were shown round on an open day, they answered lots of questions, and I find the teachers to be very well qualified and impressive. Yes, they have had shortages in certain areas, and sometimes DC ends up getting a few supply teachers each term, but I don’t think this is unusual unfortunately.

As for rules, I found my DC’s primary school to be very rules based, and have not noticed Kingsdale to be particularly rules based. If anything, I would say they are too the other way. Not sure they do the behaviour ranking any more - at least I can’t see it, not that it ever bothered me. It’s just positive and negative points given. I don’t see the big deal. I don’t think the children ever saw it as it’s on the parents’ app. Funny what people whose children are not at the school get a bee in their bonnet about.

Yes, the design of the school means the rain on the roof is very loud and like other many-windowed buildings it can get hot in some areas, but they have just done a lot of building work to improve a lot of classrooms, with new science labs, and the parents have contributed their skills a lot to the outside spaces, so there are a variety of gardens, a wellbeing garden, an outdoor amphitheatre and more.

I like that the school listens to parents’ views and is very adaptable.

I would prefer to have more in-person contact with teachers, but overall I am very pleased with the school.

There are some things that stand, but it all depends what's important to you or your child.

For us it was:

Co-ed. Only one other school near us was not single sex, and our child wanted coed. That year we were out of catchment for our nearest 15.minite walk Co-ed.

Being able to do 2 languages and choose them was not an option at any of the other schools we had a realistic chance of getting in at.

Being such a large school and the advantages that brings in the wide array of subjects that can be studied, both GCSE and extra-curricular clubs. You can do some of these at different schools of course, but I didn't see any near us where you could do all of them eg.it would be good tech or woodwork, not both.

The Art program looks amazing and was far above what other schools we saw offered.

For the record, I preferred Forest Hill Boys after open days and would have been happy with either. Kingsdale has worked out brilliantly so far for us and all his friends are happy also, that's our reality, and that's not trying to justify anything re journeys and I don't think most people are.

Agree with this. If you go on the .gov page and compare % of those getting grades of 5 or more at GCSE and filter by prior attainment it's similar to other schools locally (well the 3 other schools that were options for us).

Not sure there is anywhere you can compare the % getting grades 7-9 or 6 though (and I have no idea how they compare on that at all).

Yes, but they manage to have a much higher percentage of high achievers from the start. Progress at the school is in line with the average.

It’s a perfectly good, standard school, with children making exactly average progress. Their exam results are in-line with the cohort

They normally have a much higher % of dc who score 5 or above in English & Maths vs lots of the other schools. I think they only better ones are Catholic & Charter ND.

It is either a hate or love relationship. I didn’t like it when I went to see it, my friend loved it,

It is good for kids who are at the top, good academically or sports or music. I hate they exclude children who are giving them problems and send them to a separate building alone where they don’t learn; but they don’t remove them as they need the funding

THIS.
It’s a perfectly good, standard school, with children making exactly average progress. Their exam results are in-line with the cohort. Apart from free music lessons, nothing they offer stands out as something unusual. Lots of children travel a very long way to get to the school, so quite rightly, parents try to justify the travel. It sounds like the school has plenty of happy parents and children, just like at other local schools.

Oh that's frustrating to hear about the sibling policy! I thought from what a pp had said that they'd finally changed that inappropriate rule.

I know loads of people with kids there, and have done for years over the generations. It was on our list, but not first as the journey was longer than our other good S London comprehensive.

It’s a good comprehensive. S London is full of good comprehensives but Kingsdale offers hope to those who have less chance of getting into the others due to distance.

All my friends kids have thrived. It’s a good school. A good school, not a magical Establishment of Wonder and Miracles.

We have one child there in Y9, and will send our 2nd one there next year as a sibling (sibling rules do still apply). I imagine this may be a harder year than normal to get in as the first year of feeder nurseries and the private school VAT thing possibly pushing up applicant numbers - who knows on the latter though.

In terms if ranking discussed above, for our child any it's as follows: 1 - all pupils are now set (or streamed I'm not sure) for Maths, Sciences and possibly English but these are never officially confirmed as far as I am aware.

There is a rankings system for all pupils based on positive or negative behaviour points awarded by Kingsdale staff members. This used to be available to see through an app, but the ranking now just appears in each end of term report.

Rankings per subject are not an actual ranking, but how a child ranked in their end of term test, but it's not a ranking per se based on anything other than the test (for us anyway).

Pupils are also set targets per subject, though in Y7 and Y8 these are the same for all subjects, which clearly doesn't work in reality. I suspect this changes when they start GCSEs. These are the only ranking type things I am aware of and I hope that makes sense.

You can sign up to virtually any club and attend it. The only clubs (out of the very many) that you only do for shorter periods due to over demand / capacity are Horse Riding, Cycling at Herne Hill Velodrome, Swimming and possibly Archery. I believe they limit these to 6 week or so periods so all children who want to should get a chance to do so. You don't need to me a musci shcolar to join the various music ensembles etc, or do the Art classes, alal the sports on offer, games clubs etc.

15% or so of places (last time I checked) are reserved for a mixture of Sports Scholars or Music Scholars. A full scholarship does not guarentee entry to the school - within Full Scholars they are ranked and only the top % based on how many apply will be offered a place (and this is still only done on general offer day in March). So full scholarship does not guarentee entry but may help, or help if on the waitig list of other scholars decline places.

Once in the school, if offered a place via the lottery (as our son was) then any Scholar offers (G&T, Half or Full Scholar) still apply and your child will receive extra tuition as indicated.

Once offered a place at the School, you can also apply for a Maths or Arts scholarship (you can'y apply for these before being offered a place).

Our child has a Gifted and Talented for Sports, which in effect is the same as a a full scholar once in, and is a Maths scholar. As of Y9, after selecting GCSE music, he has been added to the Music Scholar program (he is just at Grade 4, was Grade 1 when entering the school I think).

Our child is pretty academic , likes sport, doesn't like art, doesn't like roudy behaviour. I thought he'd hate the school when he did the tour but he loves it and has made great friends. As another poster said, the size of the school means it can be easy to find children with a mindset your child is comfortable with.

We've found the teaching on the whole to be excellent and motivational, not universally, supply teachers in science have not always been great, he's never liked the It provision (but also doens't really like IT). On the flip side, he didn't like History in primary, he loves it now, and has chosen Classical Civilisation as a GCSE, something I guess is not offered at a lot of other schools.

His music teachers was inspiration and he chose that for GCSE also as a result of the fantastic teaching he recieved in Y7 and Y8.

We chose it, and people like it because it genuinely has a wide range of subjects and extra-curricular activities. Latin, Spanish, German, French - you can do 2 of these all the way up to and including GCSE, and you can choose which ones you want to do. You can choose between 4 Art subjects, 2 Drama, you get experience in Y7/8 of Food Tech, Drama, Music, Textiles, Art etc so kids get exposure to a wide array of activities.

Like every school, it won't fit every child. Some children have left, some parents will be unhappy. It's important to understand why parents and happy or unhappy when choosing any school and see if it would apply to your child. It's also important to take hearsay with a pinch of salt - there is so much misinformation in this thread alone and most Kingsdale threads from people with no direct experience of the school.

It's not all positive. Communication at the start wasn't always great (though teachers have always been very responsive in our experience), though it is better general now (some parents think it could be improved still). There is a monthly parents forum you can attend and speak to the Deputy etc directly.
Some lessons have taken place in the Atrium, Pod, and during work on the Windows in Marquees. These has reduced significantly now that work the new new science labs have been completed.

The Maths scholars program in Y8 was disappointing with several lessons cancelled at no notice (these occur after school hours) and the proposed trip also cancelled. It did however include 2-3 trips to Imperial college which was eye opening for those attending. The Sports scholars has some nice trips (these are allocated via lottery) but in reality it's an extra 40 minutes over lunch covering some differnt sports vs some Elite sports program. The sports teams, football especially are good but mainly because of the players they have vs the training they receive.

Overall though the positives far outwieght the negatives for us. Our youngest can't wait to do the Art classes there and the Science club. There is simply lots to do there if you want to.

I didn't apply.to Kingsdale as i had heard some pretty scathing stuff from several people I know who have worked there or had kids there. And I figured it's such a long shot I focused on looking round the schools we had some.chance of getting into. My boys ended up at FHB which has pleasantly surprised us all and I would wholeheartedly recommend - I have an academic child.who is doing really well and a child who struggles with school and is enjoying his time there and feels the teachers are supporting him well. So if FGB is on your radar it gets a thumbs up from me!

Why on earth would I make up the point about seeing posters explaining the red/yellow detentions? Maybe it is a different school being discussed!

@OhCrumbsWhereNow I suppose it's possible I was misinformed when DS's subject rankings were printed on his reports, or even his form tutor, who, when I queried it told me the school ranks all students, not just sixth form. Or perhaps my cousin, who's had three children at the school since 2017, was misinformed when she said she hadn't really thought about the ranking system with her eldest because he was always in the top half of the year group and it was only when her (now Y10) son with ADHD joined the school that it became an issue. Or perhaps it is that son, who this time last year knew that because he was 413th in the year he wouldn't be allowed to go on the end of year reward trip 🤔 🙄

Or is it possible that, like my cousin with her eldest, you haven't had cause to pay attention to the rankings because your child is doing well... I mean I can dig out DS's last report from 18 months ago for proof, but it is most certainly not misinformation!

I think Kingsdale brings a lot of curiosity, my daughter received a half scholarship but we did not receive a space. At the beginning we had it high up our list.

It is a lottery based school but I know of several families of children who attend the school, a few from the same street/next door neighbours. I’d say from one of the most affluent parts of our town.

Even though there were several applicants who applied and were unsuccessful from the same year group/school? Again this could all be coincidental.

All communications I’ve had with Kingsdale have been very informative and helpful.

I still personally am not sure if I was enticed purely on the possibility of a scholarship because when I viewed it echoed the above as chaotic and messy with a lot of incredible art displays, the guides were similar to those mentioned by others.

I think Kingsdale will always bring a lot of questions to the table. It seems like a school that offers a lot but we've ended up in a local comp which is offering our DD all we need.

Everyone is looking for something completely different for their child. However the parent view on the Ofsted website is a good indicator as to how parents really feel about the school. Kingsdale’s parent view gives a positive impression overall so they are doing something right.

Just to counter a few things given there is misinformation here.

DD has been there for 4 years and a term.
Has never had a detention - let alone a 'red' or 'yellow' one.
Has never been ranked for behaviour or attainment.
Children are not picked for tours - they volunteer.

Yes it's huge, but each year is on a different schedule so you never have thousands in the corridor at once.

Unless there is another school with the same name, a lot of what is being said is untrue.

@Popcorntv we experienced poor behaviour from our tour guides last year too. I was really surprised that they were the pupils they had chosen to show off the school! But I guess they know they are going to be over subscribed. Our guides were cheeky, disinterested and rude. Maybe it’s a form of detention 🤣

That's interesting @Frumpylab. Have they ditched the automatic sibling place and since when?

We toured it last week and were really disappointed. One issue was the behaviour of the two girls who showed us round (the two boys were just silent, interestingly!). One was incredibly rude to the teachers who just giggled at her 🤷🏻‍♀️ I wouldn’t expect them to go all guns blazing in front of everyone, but given there were three other children chaperoning the group someone could have taken her aside. It chimed with the disruption in class reputation I’ve heard from a few people.

We found the building very shabby and chaotic. Lots of signs explaining the various levels of punishment (‘red detention’, ‘yellow detention’) and associated infringements.

We had heard that a friend’s child had been ranked number two in her year - I hadn’t realised they ranked all the pupils!!

DC is really strong at a particular sport but we have decided not to pursue the specific sport section of the ‘scholarship’ given we were given 48 hours notice having enquired politely a couple of times about the process. When I asked the Director of Sport at the Open Day she sneered at me as if I’d asked for some kind of state secret…

It’s a good school with good GCSEs results. It’s very sought after because people can apply from anywhere, I know people from Streatham & Balham whose dc go there as they didn’t have many other options near them. I’ve always thought they do pick more mc families as opposed to a true lotto but who knows.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yes I don't think anyone has said they deliver a poor quality of education, and like other posters we know people perfectly happy with it. Just that the admissions process is opaque and unfair to local children and doesn't get borne out by the results which are in line with other local schools.

I just find the whole thing odd and overhyped.

Syd girls has a beautiful library, if I was a kid I'd choose it on that alone!