Hill House International has a new Headmaster

[Out2pasture]

With the recent damning Ofsted report, it will be interesting to watch this school re-organize.

1. Actually have numerous friends with children there now. All extremely happy with the wholesome educational experience their children are having. The very experienced, long serving staff may be stretched (like all teachers but particularly those in state sector) but are far as possible from failing the pupils.

1. Agree that staff stretched, safeguards required been/beingaddressed as priority.

1. Hill House is attended by numerous "English" families if that make it better! It's not a hothouse like Newton Prep and many others serving the frenzied helicopter parents desperate to get their children into the senior London day school but their results at CE last year were very impressive - children heading to good school all over the country offering children less emotional stress, more childhood.

Hill House has had problems for years, especially in the boys' section in Hans Place.The departure of Mr Brennan, who is now, headmaster of Gems Hampshire, was a great loss. He was the light of the school.
Parents of younger children who write posts in HH do not have the slightest ideas of the realities of the school. The first years are happy clappy because childten do little and everyone gets glowing reports. Later places in top daily boys schools are,more often than not, achieved through heavy tutoring or parents' work at home. Children are put under heavy pressure. You do not get a place at Westminster, St Paul or Kings because of the preparation you get at the school.
Ofsted failed the school twice in 2015 simply because it did not fulfill the criteria that other top independent schools in London met. When Mr Allen became headmaster, I bet that he would not last for more half a year; he lasted half a term.
Said that, I hope for everyone that HH will put its house in order sooner than later. It has great potential a fantadtic location .There is no witch hunt against the school, it is simply a badly managed business.

Every child who gets a place in a top selective London day school has been tutored for it (either by parents or tutors). We are in a prep with an excellent reputation and every child has a tutor. We do the diy approach but are in the minority. Everybody just lies about it. If the parents are helping the child they claim that the child got a place without tutoring. The amount of lying that goes in is embarrassing.

I don't think anyone is saying it should be a hothouse, or should offer anything different from what it does.

But they do need to deliver whatever curriculum it chooses competently. And at the time of the inspections, it was not doing so. Pupils' progress was simply not known. Staff felt unsupported. Those are pretty big drawbacks to a school, no matter how much you Amy love the ethos.

Rather than a concern over the education they deliver (Though I have plenty of concerns about that and so do many of the ex and current parents...), my strongest concern is that the emergency inspection happened due to child safety concerns that arose following a questionnaire the pupils filled in. And the appalling OFSTED focused a lot on lack of concern/lack of polices/lack of training re child safety.

all we can do is sit and wait for yet another ofsted report....i'm sure they are on an every six month review.

The next report will be a very interesting read I imagine.

There was a surprise Ofsted Inspection at Hill House last week. I'm not sure when the report will be published, 6-8 weeks maybe?

Ooh, thanks for letting us know BizzyBuzz. Yes, I got the impression reports could take up to about 8 weeks to be published??

It's arrived!: www.hillhouseschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/HHOfstedReport_0616.pdf

Well, that OFSTED is quite a turnaround! Glad to see there will not be 800 DC looking for a new school!

wow and some people thought it couldn't be done.

Maybe OFSTED wanted to scare them into changing? Change must seem more palatable when it's that or the school being closed!

It does look as if they got their collective ass in gear in January. It mentions buying in a consultant that month, and it seems they then actually did what was recommended.

It must be a big relief to parents with DC there that so many things are finally fixed. Let's hope it beds in properly.

since Bizzy mentioned the inspection I've looked at the HH website and the leavers destinations managed to look impressive despite what must have been a difficult year.

Out2 - as with most London schools do not discount the affects of intense tutoring when looking at leavers' destinations.......