Garden House School

[EvangelineGracelyn]

Does anyone know anything about Garden House School, in Kensington. We're thinking about sending our eldest twins there in a couple of year's time. It appears really good, but I was wondering whether anyone knew any extra info?

One of the more chelsea of chelsea schools. A lot of moneyed parents and quite a lot of conspicuous consumption. Super cute uniforms. Middle of the road academically. Girls tend towards the princess-ey. Many people really like the separate teaching , giving the effect of two single sex schools in one - handy for mixed sets of sibs. There was a bit of a flutter on the boys' side a few years ago when Magoo left to set up Knightsbridge, but it all seemed to settle down again quickly. I think they are trying to boost the post 8+ boys' offering. A popular school.

Great, thanks

are all the parents super rich there or did you come across any ordinary families?

OP - are you only considering GH? Not other schools in the area? You know - they do have an assessment, so entry is not guaranteed.

I know a number of parents in the school and most seem quite happy. It feels that the boys teaching is more "academic", but it may be driven by the need to prep for 7+ and 8+. Bright girls can also get good results - but they need a bit of extra tutoring. Although, same can be said about many other schools.

What puts me of this specific school is the large proportion of wealthy and flashy parents. When kids are small, they don't notice these things, but at some point hey start to.

The good news is that there are a number of other good girls and boys schools in the area.

I am also thinking to put my son at GH for 2016.

Worried about the assessment though. I get a feeling it is he parents who will be assessed rather than the child.

As Mr Warland - the head of boys at GH said:

‘We are selective, but not on an academic basis, there are so many children I’d love to offer places to but I can’t. It’s horrible.’

What does this mean?

Xasha - all it means, that both the parent and the children are assessed based on the "fit" to the school, whatever it means. Kids also need to look nice and behave well. It also means that you shouldn't stress about whether your child can read and write. (Although a friend's son was asked the letters at the GH assessment. He could read a bit at that point, but wasn't very sociable, so didn't get in)

Academic assessments at the age of 3-4 are imprecise. Top boys schools don't even attempt to assess boys at that age because no useful information can be found in those assessments.

Girls schools try to assess - but, really, what they end up choosing are confident fall children; and winter/spring (and rarely summer) girls that look like they can sit and focus on activities.

One of the things we liked the most about Garden House was the lack of visible ostentation or 'flashiness'. No obvious celebrity parents, pick up mostly on scooters, many of the parents (like us) buy uniforms second-hand. Pretty normal, really. Combine that with a gentle teaching approach which nevertheless manages to get outstanding exit results, an impressive art, swimming & fencing track-record, and it's a hard school to top.