Reviews on welling school Bexley borough

[Mylk]

Hi All, we have moved into the area and we've been offered welling school for my child who starts secondary school. Very worried because we did not get a school we had asked for. Please can you share what this school is like. Thank you so much.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136720/welling-school/secondary

I don’t know the school personally. But unfavourable Ofsted, poor progress and very low GCSE pass rates. Doesn’t look good on paper.

My son finished there 2 yrs ago and moved on to a local grammar for sixth form, so didn’t do badly gcse wise. He made some good friends there who he’s still close with now. He was supported well by the Sen team but was perhaps let down academically. What school did you want? Are you down on their waiting list?

Thank you, I have read a few reviews that the school is considered tough and is known for bullying, which makes me anxious.

I was told by the council that the other schools I applied to were oversubscribed. So if I appeal will that really help or is a lost cause? Can I apply to any other schools at this stage?

I am struggling with what is the best approach, to accept the offer and change later or apply elsewhere....your suggestions will be really valuable. Thank you

Most schools are oversubscribed, ie you won’t get in unless you live close. Some have more complicated admissions procedures so you need to familiarise yourself before applying.

I don’t think you’ll have any grounds for appeal if just live further away from other schools than other applicants. Your son can either start at Welling or you can home educate while waiting for a place to come up somewhere that you prefer.

Does anyone have experience of King Henry's School in Erith and Harris Academy in Thamesmead? How is their secondary and sixth form? i.e. reputation on behaviour, bullying, safeguarding, quality of education, extra curricular...Many thanks

No help but I was born there! Went to Falconwood School. Sadly, at 10 moved to Croydon. Shite school. They were very backwards in comparison!

Just looked up King Henry’s on the government website. It’s recently become an academy. It’s a shocker academically and I’d avoid it.

Tried to find Harris Academy Thamesmead but doesn’t come up as such - is the name slightly different?

Absolutely awful - I live next door to it - my parents refused to send there, and against my better judgment I sent my son. Worst decision I ever made. The school has capacity for 10 classes per year group (so 300+ children) it barely breaks 160 these days

The school is institutionally racist, you will find very few BME children attending.

It is part of TKAT, do your research, Kemnal, Cleeve and Welling are the worst performing schools in the area. The old head at Welling was forced out, as was the old head at Kemnal, they transferred across the head from Debden in Essex so he is managing 3 schools. the old head at Welling pitched up at Cleeve as Head of Geography - absolute nepotism.

King Henry is the old Erith School - usually high performing, but it is incredibly large. I'm v good friends with the Dep Head there.

Harris Thamesmead used to be the Bexley Business Academy - so just changed leadership. Previously appalling.

An old article - but salient - nothing has changed:

www.theguardian.com/education/2015/sep/29/class-veg-college-cuts-vocational-education

Trust’s ‘dysfunctional’ relations with DfE

One of England’s largest academy chains has a “classically dysfunctional” relationship with the Department for Education and a far-from-perfect one with other agencies, including Ofsted. So says a submission to the Commons education select committee by a consultant who has worked closely with the Kemnal Academies Trust (TKAT), a chain of 41 schools. The committee is investigating the work of regional schools commissioners (RSCs), the eight officials appointed last year to supervise the creation and operation of academies.

The evidence from Joe Nutt, an associate with the consultancy firm Deloitte, seems devastating given his close involvement with the trust. Earlier this year, he undertook a review for TKAT, interviewing more than 30 senior figures close to the chain.

Nutt says that a strategy he advocated for TKAT to grow slowly had not been implemented, partly as the Kent-based chain was under pressure from the local regional schools commissioner to take on more “failing” schools, some as far away as Cornwall and Manchester. He adds: “In the words of a [TKAT] board member I interviewed, the relationship between the trust and the department [for education] was ‘classically dysfunctional’. He estimated that the chief executive [Karen Roberts] was spending 70% of her time managing that relationship.

Nutt says the chain’s relationship with Ofsted also requires improvement, citing an instance when the inspectorate apparently mistakenly sent TKAT data on another academy chain.

Nutt adds that his 2015 review found that there was a “major risk” around “teacher cheating” – presumably with staff under pressure to raise exam results –and believes this risk “is seriously underestimated at national level”.

TKAT’s spokesperson said the chain did not wish to comment

King Henry Erith has links with BETHS Grammar - so it has forged into a smaller academy partnership. Erith used to be a grammar in it's own right, but became bilateral - that is had a specific grammar stream for those who passed the 11+ .

With progress score of -0.69 and GCSE pass rate at 29% - can’t imagine it ever being high performing as the numbers look dire.

OP, are these the only schools with spaces in your local area? I don’t know Bexley well but you could see if there’s a decent school further afield with an ok commute (one bus/train for example).

Hi, this is super helpful, thank you for the honest feedback. We have recently moved to the UK and my child has to adjust to a lot of change. Changing schools and making new friends can cause a lot of anxiety. I read that Welling was known to be tough for behaviour and bullying.

So from what you say it seems King Henry's school is good, are they okay on bullying and quality of education? That is my biggest fear?

Thank you so much.

Unfortunately all the schools you have mentioned are dire. My friend had her child at Welling and moved them last year due to severe bulling.. The head just told the child that was being bullied to "man up" Unfortunately its obvious why these schools have spaces and it's because nobody sends their kids there as they are so shockingly bad. Get your name on the waiting lists for other Bexley Borough schools ASAP!

JoJoSM2 So the stats you mentioned are from Kind Henry's. They started last year it seems and do not have an ofsted report as yet. So I could not find much to research on them really. So any information would be helpful, Thanks

Do keep in mind it’s a grammar area and this will affect the academic attainment. If the top 20% of kids have been creamed off the percentage of gcse passes will come down. I’ve not lived there for a long time so can’t comment on current reputation.

This is a long shot and may not be possible but can you apply for your child to sit a late 11+ test for the Bexley Grammars explaining you've just moved to the area? Worth a try!

I know a couple of kids at Welling. One in year 8 and one in year 7. They are ok but the academic education is dire. One of the parents is paying for tutoring to give her son a chance at GCSE.

Stay away from Erith school - it is dire. Even if they have changed it's name.

Harris might be a better bet. They are corporate but strict. What about Harris at Falconwood? I know kids from DS primary go there and are doing well.

I would try and do the 11 plus as a late applicant or look at Bromley schools. Or get yourself on the waiting list for some others. What about Crown Woods?

From what I see King Henry’s is just a new name for Erith school.

Basically:

1. national average for GCSE pass rates is 43%. Greater London attainment is often much higher (the highest being boroughs of Sutton at Kingston at 63-64% or so).

The schools you’re looking into, have pass rates of 25 and 29% which is pretty awful.

1. Another measure that gets published are progress scores - how much progress children make while attending the school. Average is 0.0. The schools you’re looking at are in the very lowest category that exists meaning that children don’t learn very much there.

Having a very quick look at the government website, you’d be better of with one of the following schools in the borough of Bexley:

Harris Garrard or Falconwood, Hurstmere, Haberdashers Crayford.

Oh, that’s just academically. Things like handling bullying etc would need to get checked out separately.

Hurstmere is shocking - it uses GCSE equivalents like BTECs to bolster its results. If your son isn't an 'alpha' male he will absolutely sink in that environment.

All of the non selectives in Bexley are awful with the exception of St Catherines and possibly Trinity. Both are heavily subscribed faith schools. If you are on the Plumstead Borders, look at Plumstead Manor, previously a girls school, just gone co-ed.

@Lightsabres - that isn't how the 11+ works

IAskTooManyQuestions that is why I said it 'may' be possible. There are children that move to the Borough that take late 11+ tests. It depends on the circumstances but it may well be too late now. The elevenplusexams forum has more detail but it's best to call the local authority concerned - nothing to lose.
As JoJoSM2 said earlier, maybe out in late applications also to the Bromley and Greenwich schools which border Bexley.

Hi, thank you all your comments and feedback have been super helpful. I have been looking at schools in Bromley as well. Any advice on what Chislehurst school for girls is like in terns of education, behaviour and extra curricular activities?

Does anyone have experience with Blackfen school for girls as well?

Thank you so much.

I knew several girls who went there 30 years ago. They have all grown into successful women with good memories of the place; 3 business owners, an actress and a nurse. OFSTED looks good these days but I don’t have recent experience of Blacjfen.