Gower school islington

[BeenieBaby]

Anyone have any experience of this school? We're keen on a Montessori education, but this school seems to have a bad rep, we weren't sure why... Anyone know firsthand what it's like?

[Thelema]

Mummy8, I think you would agree that primary school is important in a child's development. A good deal of their self-worth and confidence is tied to those early years.

When my partner was in primary school, he would have been on the mid to low end of the bell curve. He is a summer baby, so that put him at a disadvantage academically and physically.

The whole point of my question was to see whether children further down on the bell curve have a positive experience at the school. Do they leave with fond memories?

[Dontcallmemummy8]

Thelema, I can absolutely see your viewpoint but the bell levels out in terms of gender and "summer born" (mine is and as is their Dad) latterly. I obviously don't know if my small person will leave with "fond memories" and can only base my view on what I have experienced of the school, the teachers, the parents and the kids. On what I have seen and experienced so far, I hope I have stacked the odds in my little human's favour to have a positive experience. Yes, I think primary school is incredibly important which is why I am paying to send my child to TGS.

[eris91]

In my experience of TGS older children do very well whereas some of the youngest have to duck and dive to avoid being slapped with a SEN diagnosis (they frequently just leave).

[squeezylemons]

This thread still shocks me. It’s not a debate on whether TGS is a good setting. It’s the fact so many complaints have been ignored. This is a thread which has been ongoing for about 5 years (I think) with a huge amount of input from various parents. To the parents who love and defend gower, good on you, I’m happy you feel that way. But it doesn’t mean your good experiences can disregard the shocking treatment that a lot of parents/children and staff have received. It seems as though parents with good experiences are unwilling to accept what has happened and what is currently happening. How can so many peoples experiences be wrong?

[123yellowblue]

@squeezylemons
You are absolutely correct, these mostly serious concerns that have been raised here over very many years should not be ignored. However, it can be difficult, for new parents especially, to see beyond their happy child, well settled in their class. And let's not forget, surely a happy, well adjusted child is probably the most important aspect of a school for any parent. But I hope this thread can serve as a warning sign to any happy parents so that they do now or in the future not ignore or excuse any matters that clearly do not feel right any more, but see beyond their subjective bias. Very sadly, at the core of the school, things are shockingly wrong.

[sunnysideup121]

Most children arrive at the Gower Shool happy. They are young, come from supportive families that are enthusiastic for there child to start school. For most parents this is there first encounter with a school environment and don’t look for the signs as they are focused in their child’s happiness. It doesn’t take long for the cracks to show but then you are already in it and just prey that it doesn’t affect your child. Inevitably it will as there are so many issues, unless you are in denial. It is impossible not to be affect by everything going on around you. I thought my child was happy and confident because of the Gower school. We left and he is still happy and confident, if not more. Nothing to do with age or more support from us, the parents, but because there is less drama at school.

[Pleasant6]

There's less drama because one of the most strange, sadistic senior managers has finally left. The head teacher did not sack her though, she went of her own accord. Lol.

[Pleasant6]

Calling a child a 'moron' however, may have been a wake-up call. Change career?

[sunnysideup121]

That’s fantastic news that she has left. Any other school would have fired her years ago. However there are so many other problems that are not addressed or handled in an appalling manner.

[Licorice23]

It does feel true that the Gower school has entered a more gentle rhythm of purposeful quiet activity. For whatever reason, this year has been characterised by collaboration, contentment and happiness. It feels a very precious place now.

I wish all staff and parents of the Gower school a very enjoyable half-term.

[anotheronewritesagain]

I am so so so glad to hear that the senior member of staff in question has left. When I worked there I made a complaint to her regarding another member of the SLT team (who has also left) who was severely bullying another member of staff. When I complained, this woman backed me into the corner of the children's cloak room and told me to keep my mouth shut and stop causing trouble or else she'd ruin my career. Needless to say she tried to. And failed.

When I left the school, I emailed the head to tell her what happened. No response.

[Pleasant6]

Dear Anotheronewritesagain,

I'm so sorry that you underwent such an awful, abusive situation. I had similar experiences myself at TGS. I often felt that I was working in a dystopian reality where the most malicious people were championed and believed. There are echoes from history. Great that you survived and prospered.

[Squeezylemons]

A little birdie tells me that things haven’t changed much since this thread was started.

It doesn’t matter what member of staff leaves the problem is EG and I doubt she’ll ever move aside.

[123yellowblue]

How very true, sadly.

[sunnysideup121]

I hear that over the summer an inordinate number of staff left, over 10! Okay 14 members of staff. I feel that speaks for itself.

[APickle]

"I often felt that I was working in a dystopian reality where the most malicious people were championed and believed. There are echoes from history."

Very striking, and sadly all too true. I have occasionally checked this thread for a few years now to see if TGS has improved. My experience of being bullied whilst working at TGS was deeply scarring, and it took me a long time to begin to move past it. I wish the current staff all the best.

[Pleasant6]

A PTA would inevitably expose the head as the petty-minded, cruel and badly-informed person she is. There is no way she will ever agree to one.

[mrstyles]

I'm a parent whose child joined The Gower School at reception stage. This is my honest personal opinion based on my direction experience only:

Positives: The best thing about the school is the community - parents and children are mostly extremely nice.

Lots of very good and caring teachers. Support staff are generally also very good.

Generally a good After School Club provision.

A small school which, in reception particularly, gives a gentle and free flowing introduction to Primary education.


Negatives: The fundamental structure of the school is problematic. The Headmistress/owner wields way too much power and is over officious.

The school is ridiculously time demanding of parents. With both parents working this grates very quickly and after a while begins to feel borderline neurotic. Expect to receive many messages per day over several channels. Expect to prepare and deliver snacks to feed your child's class and bring flowers to the classroom every term (stealth tax!).

The school oversteps what should be a clear boundary between education and parenting. The school is exceptionally prescriptive with mandatory parenting workshops about what you should and shouldn't be doing as a parent. This can feel overbearing and patronising.

Fees rise significantly year on year.

As has been pointed out over the years in this thread, there is still a high turnover of staff at the school. A very small minority of staff are poor. This lead us to experience several instances of substandard and wholly inadequate pastoral care at the school. When you do experience safeguarding issues, I found there not to be a culture of taking on board constructive criticism and the school being willing to learn from (sometimes very worrying) mistakes.

I often felt that the focus on the basics of Maths and English was overlooked with far too much time spent on dress up days, engagement in pr awards for the school, endless charity events, rehearsals for assemblies, performances and plays. These things are all great but should not be secondary to basic education. This increasingly felt like it was the case. In reception it's not such an issue but by Year 2, I had to pick up the slack by tutoring my child, which shouldn't really be the case when you're paying for the privilege of private education.

The final nail in the coffin for us was that in the end the safeguarding issues we experienced meant that these academic concerns were secondary.

Reception was very good. Year 1 was ok. Year 2 was unacceptably poor.

We left after Year 2.

If I had my time over again, I would categorically choose another school.

[SpeakYourTruth]

@mrstyles

I'm a parent whose child joined The Gower School at reception stage. This is my honest personal opinion based on my direction experience only:

Positives: The best thing about the school is the community - parents and children are mostly extremely nice.

Lots of very good and caring teachers. Support staff are generally also very good.

Generally a good After School Club provision.

A small school which, in reception particularly, gives a gentle and free flowing introduction to Primary education.

Negatives: The fundamental structure of the school is problematic. The Headmistress/owner wields way too much power and is over officious.

The school is ridiculously time demanding of parents. With both parents working this grates very quickly and after a while begins to feel borderline neurotic. Expect to receive many messages per day over several channels. Expect to prepare and deliver snacks to feed your child's class and bring flowers to the classroom every term (stealth tax!).

The school oversteps what should be a clear boundary between education and parenting. The school is exceptionally prescriptive with mandatory parenting workshops about what you should and shouldn't be doing as a parent. This can feel overbearing and patronising.

Fees rise significantly year on year.

As has been pointed out over the years in this thread, there is still a high turnover of staff at the school. A very small minority of staff are poor. This lead us to experience several instances of substandard and wholly inadequate pastoral care at the school. When you do experience safeguarding issues, I found there not to be a culture of taking on board constructive criticism and the school being willing to learn from (sometimes very worrying) mistakes.

I often felt that the focus on the basics of Maths and English was overlooked with far too much time spent on dress up days, engagement in pr awards for the school, endless charity events, rehearsals for assemblies, performances and plays. These things are all great but should not be secondary to basic education. This increasingly felt like it was the case. In reception it's not such an issue but by Year 2, I had to pick up the slack by tutoring my child, which shouldn't really be the case when you're paying for the privilege of private education.

The final nail in the coffin for us was that in the end the safeguarding issues we experienced meant that these academic concerns were secondary.

Reception was very good. Year 1 was ok. Year 2 was unacceptably poor.

We left after Year 2.

If I had my time over again, I would categorically choose another school.

This is spot on in everyway. An honest and accurate account which has continued this week for years and years and years.

When will justice prevail?

[SpeakYourTruth]

Now and then I wonder back here to re read these messages, and then feel saddened to see that this continues. As an ex staff member of many years I know how it feels to feel like you can't move on. You feel like there's no way out...will she give me a good reference? Will I find another job in these unprecedented times? Will she find some clause in one of her many contracts to make me stay? I can't talk to HR...there are too many personal ties there. You can't trust anyone because anyone with any authority is caught in the TGS web.

If you continue to work at this school knowing the years and years and years of mistreatment of staff, are you part of the problem?

The elaborate, false show continues. The propaganda. The desperation of making it into the media. The focus of the owner isn't on the children and their education. It's fame. It's attention. It's money. Skilled media representation does not equal to good nurturing education. No matter how lovely the teachers are, this doesn't make up for the institutional abuse that is now a part of the culture of this school. The truth is silenced.

The staff don't matter either. Bullies rule and everyone else must stay quiet or be pushed out. Why is there no PTA? Just read the many, many posts and pages on this forum. The answer is clear.

It continues today.

I wonder if the owner has ever considered a public apology? Admittance that under her "leader(dictator)ship" her senior leaders have destroyed the souls of many talented and skilled practitioners?

Maybe one day...

[DamsonBramble]

If staff are bullying other staff, hopefully they are able to switch this off when dealing with the children.

[greenapples12]

@DamsonBramble I hear the atmosphere among staff is appalling and it all comes from the top. So many brilliant teachers have left because of the awful working conditions. The owner's complete lack of emotional intelligence and empathy feeds into the miserable and awful atmosphere for all. The longer serving staff are the worst offenders as I suspect they just turn into little disciples. Do not send your children here, everything on this thread is all true. I wouldn't be surprised if Ofsted closes this school down pronto.