d.u.c.k.s. in dulwich

[westerngirl]

Hi, Just curious if anybody has sent kids or is going to send kids to ducks in dulwich. This is the only school we've booked a place in for ds. He's 3 and a half. Is it as good as it seems?

However, we live in lee at the moment and will have to relocate to the school area. Dulwich is so so expensive! Will probably look more e. dulwich ,Herne hill. Are there other nice areas around that are affordable?

Excust me for bumping but has anybody at all heard of or had experience of this school.

any info gratefully received.

Not as expensive as Dulwich Village (which is super expensive!) but I think E Dulswich / Herne Hill are still pricey.

Are you moving from lee so that you can go to this school, or because you need to move to this area, anyway? (sorry, don't know the school).

West Dulwich, S side of Brixton, between Brixton and H Hill, Tulse Hill, West Norwood, and the SW2 part of Streatham are all a good bit cheaper than the areas you have mentioned. Also, parts of N Dulwich.

Thanks Blu,
We are moving for the schools in the area. Ducks is the infant school of dulwich college, I think. Its off the toll road towards sydenham hill station. I just think the area is really nice (dulwich village) but the houses are so so dear. Even at top dollar, all you get is a smallish garden. We've only just started exploring the area around. It is quite spread out. Are the prices so dear 'cos of schools and transport links? Don't like the industrial area and crematorium at Norwood.

In that case, Sydenham is a bit cheaper, and there are some lovely places close to Crystal palace park. Also Knights Hill / Crystal Palace area.

H Hill has excellent transport, being on two v good rail lines, and has become trendy in recent years, hence price. West Dulwich has less good transport...each place has it's reasons...

Is ducks over-subscribed? When will you know you definitley have a place?

we've played the older lads from dulwich a couple of times when they've been on tour, and the staff and pupils were all really lovley which is a good sign imo

Thinking about Herne Hill - I drove down a residentioal road in Herne Hill at the w/e and counted 6 porsches in different driveways!

Hi,

We have ds on list for reception 2007. Might have been able to send him to nursery this year if we had relocated in time.

We most certainly are not in the porsche league. Those are probably J Allen schools.

Has anybody sent their boys to dulwich college. I think they just have great facilities, just worry it might be tough emotionally as its so big and all boys as well.

Hi, I'm just trying to get a little more insight into DUCKS too after a show round there last month. We'll have to make a decision very soon.

I wasn't THAT impressed and surprised at how mucky and disorganised the place seemed. Many of the teachers spoke using wrong grammar, saw 1 little girl wearing WET dress - potty training and hadn't been changed? She was still in the same when we returned to the original room 20 minutes later.

All the kids seemed fairly happy, no one crying. Just didn't get a great feeling walking around. There doesn't seem to be much pride taken in the school from the staff if you know what I mean.

The class project I was shown was really shoddily displayed, other little things like that.

Does anyone have any real knowledge of the school either through friends or your own DC's going there?

Westerngirl have your children started at Ducks? What are your thoughts on the school. I am concerned after reading the last post. Also read posts on the Internet from ex parents that are not so positive.

Does anyone else have feedback on Ducks?

Hi. I've written elsewhere on Ducks. FWIW, here's my views:
Hi. My son went to this school. It is a nice school, lots of green space, swimming, music and so on. But it is not necessarily very good value - a dedicated dance teacher for pre-prep kids? a French teacher to teach colours and numbers when this could easily be done in class by their regular teacher? (they don't learn any French in the time, by the way - we subsequently spent a couple of years in France, so I do know the difference between good and bad teaching of a foreign language). We left before the 7+ but a LOT of parents were disappointed that year because their children did not get the schools they wanted. This was especially true of those parents who wanted their boys to go to Dulwich College. And the teachers are under a lot of pressure from parents with very high expectations to get their children through the 7+ for the schools they want; and this can lead to parents, in turn, being put under pressure to refer their children to educational psychologists for assessments for LDs. I succumbed to this pressure because the claim was that, at FIVE, my child was showing signs of dyslexia and/or dyspraxia because - get this! - he wasn't yet reading fluently. Basically, this was rubbish and I suspect a pre-emptive strike (there had already been a conversation the school year before about sending my child to a non-selective school). The lad is highly literate and numerate and was accepted by several selective schools on our return to the UK and is flourishing. But I spent £300 that could have been used on something positive and useful, and became very worried and upset as a consequence of this poor, self-serving advice.

All that said, it is a nice infant school, and my child was happy there and made good friends. But just beware of some of the nonsense that goes with it. You might find choosing a school that takes the children right through, like DCPS for boys (goes from 4-13) or St Dunstan's (4-18) avoids the pressure point of 7+ which was, I believe, the cause of teachers over-reacting to perfectly normal development trajectories.