Alleyn Court or St Michael's Leigh-on-sea

[Sunnysideup79]

My brother and his wife are returning to the U.K. from the U.E.A.and they will be living in Leigh-on-sea.They have two children , the eldest will be three in the summer so due to start at nursery/ school. They are interested in these two schools, currently they think that Alleyn Court has the edge.

Their catchment state school is Westleigh which does seem to have a good reputation. Are either of these schools worth turning down a place at Westleigh for?

Anyone ?

It very much depends what you want. West Leigh has a good reputation but does tend to hot house their children. They are also adept at asking for donations but if you are in their catchment area, I would probably stick with them. The other two are fee paying, perfectly pleasant but unlikely to stretch your child.

In all honesty you need to visit each school and see which suits your child the best as you can tell pretty quickly whether your children will like the school. You can see, hear, smell and taste a good school

Academically the order would be West Leigh, Alleyn Court and Saint Pierre.

Apologies, just realised it was St Michael's not Saint Pierre. Then WL, St Michael's and Alleyn Court would be the order.

St Michael's has a good family feel; my godson went there and so have friends who currently have children at West Leigh.

However if you have a child with SEN, would not recommend any of them.

Thank you for your reply Oldbean2, their children are young at the moment but seem to be very switched on. The fact that Westleigh school is the strongest academically seems like a win win situation. That must mean that parents within the Westleigh catchment area don't send their children to St Michael's .I always think that a good state school is the best option especially when compared to non selective independent schools. They tend to be ineffective in dealing with bullying in my opinion.Often they find it different to fill all their places.

You mentioned that friends are no longer at St Micheal's, are they happier and more stretched academically at Westleigh ?

I have experience of West Leigh and St Michael’s and West Leigh is by far the better school. The independent schools in this area are not like those in London or those that your family would be considering if they were staying in the Middle East.

We spent the early years at St Michael’s, we didn’t know the area and assumed it would be the more academic option. After a while it became obvious our DC would not be stretched and when a place became available at West Leigh we took it with no hesitation. By then we had heard from other parents what a great school West Leigh was.

We were not disappointed. It lived up to our expectations and more. The teachering is outstanding , the pastoral care second to none and he children treat each other with real kindness.

The children stay at the school all the way through and have great a bond. That isn’t the case at any of the local independent schools. The teachers are fair and treat all the children equally. Drama,sport and music are very strong. The parents are incredibly welcoming.

If a child is exceptionally able they will be really stretched,for example West Leigh pupils are successful at the national maths challenge year after year. This is usually the domain of the prep schools which feed the top public schools and the big London names. West Leigh is the sort of school that’s not afraid of a challenge.

My DCs are now happy at grammar school but we still miss our West Leigh days.

Have a look at the stats. I think there's a few schools that perform better than West Leigh, Bournes Green is excellent. West Leigh is very consistent though and send a high proportion of pupils onto grammar school. However, keep an eye on catchment areas and look at the admissions booklet to see where the catchment cut off is. You will need to live very close to be certain of a place.

Thank you for such a detailed and helpful reply. It seems like West Leigh is the strongest school academically by all accounts. Maths will be of particular importance as my brother is a gifted mathematician.He will be keen for his children to be stretched in his subject.

As the pastoral care and extra curricular activities are also top notch West Leigh seems to be a great school all-round.I think that you're right ,my brother and sister-in-law did think that an independent school would be the strongest academically/ pastorally due to their friends experience in the U.A.E.

I am delighted to hear that your children had a happy ending to their primary education and are now successful at grammar school.

Thank you gallicgirl, their new home is very close to West Leigh but their first thought was that an independent school would provide a better education both in terms of academics and pastoral care. It seems this is not the case in Leigh-on-sea and the surrounding area,

If they want to consider a nursery/pre-school, then St Michel's and All Angels is good - they will need to get on the waiting list as soon as possible. Little Acorns also has a good reputation.

West Leigh has a good reputation for academic success and gets quite a large number of children into the local grammar schools but I would not recommend it if your child has any sort of special needs.

I know parents who rave about it and others who are not at all impressed.

I have visited Allen Court and St Michaels and prefer the latter. Allen court seems a bit disorganised to me.
In my opinion the best primary in Leigh is Leigh North St.
A good academic reputation but more nurturing than WL IMO.
As far as Nurseries go, Small Friends in Leigh is absolutely amazing. Leigh Village is also really nice.

Thank you gallicgirl and BrigitsBigKnickers for your helping advise regarding nursery schools , a kind and nurturing environment is crucial at this age.

I believe Leigh N.Street is also a very good school and after googling it , I found that an past pupil gained a scholarship to Eton , very impressive indeed ! So as well as being a nurturing school they clearly support the brightest children. Perhaps the state schools in the area attract the most inspirational teachers.

BrigitsBigKnickers, I hope that you found the ideal school for your children.

My daughter attended St Michael's up to year 2 .We were lucky enough to be offered a place at West Leigh as they take a few more children in year 3.
We didn't know the schools in the area well but realized within months that parents with the option of a place at West Leigh rarely go to St Micheal's.

The experience both academically and in terms of pastoral care were far superior at West Leigh. We have friends who say the same about North Street. An exceptionally child will be supported , I certainly saw evidence of this with a boy in my daughters year at WL.
The teaching is outstanding , my daughter is middle of the road but she passed the 11+ comfortably and is now doing very well at grammar school. The children are really delightful and welcoming, because the whole ethos of the school is one of openness and inclusion.

You find the parents at West Leigh a really friendly bunch who are positive about their choice of school. This for us as parents was a refreshing change.
Best of luck to your family, Leigh-on-sea is a great place to live.

Any update on this post? Currently looking at St Michaels and alleys court.

I feel AC is quite expensive snd I know they have extensive playing grounds I am not sure if it warrants the difference of £1000 a term.

St M I quite liked small but had a number of benefits. I am so torn between both I would appreciate any additional information to hand.

Further to this post being added, I have done a bit of research between West Leigh, St Michael's and Alleyn Court and St Michael's comes out on top for KS2 results. It is consistently listed in the Times top 2,000 schools in the country and is currently #32.

@nuttymummyof3 I wonder do you have information on the 11 plus results for the last few years? St Michaels don't seem to put them on their website anymore. I think they had quite a large group going to Thorpe Hall this year ,which I didn't think was a good sign.

Alleyn Court don't take SATs as far as I know. Most prep schools didn't so the 100 prep school list is pretty meaningless. I can't locate the 11 plus results for them either. I think that is most parents are interested in when they start at these schools

@winterwondering On speaking with the school, the 11 results for last two years have not been published due to the CSSE not giving the full information to the schools due to GDPR however, I understand that the CSSE have relaxed this now and have given the parents the option whether or not the information should be shared. St Michael's are hoping to publish this year's information shortly. BTW I can't seem to find Alleyn Court's or West Leigh 11+ results either.

@Winterwondering I don't know how you can say SATS results are pretty meaningless when it is a good barometer for parents to gauge the standard of education versus other local schools. Any prep school worth its salt would do the same, especially as the information is passed onto secondary schools.

@nuttymummyof3 The vast majority of prep schools in the UK don't sit SATS because they feed into private senior schools .That's what I meant by the list being meaningless., it doesn't reflect the top 100 prep schools in the UK. If you look at the state school list of SATS results published at the same they are far more impressive but none of the schools are in this area.

I would judge an independent school on its leavers destinations , with a pass mark of just 303 for in catchment children at grammar school. I would expect a result close to 90%. I noticed a fairly large number of St Michaels children went to Thorpe Hall this year , which I didn't think was a good sign. Did the school tell you the numbers who passed the 11+ in recent years ?

@nuttymummyof3 I noticed Saint Peirre 's most recent results were 86% and 80% with an average pass mark of 325 . It will be interesting to see all the results of this year when they are published. Children in our area don't go on to super selective independent schools so the 11plus is the only measure we have.

@winterwondering That's interest regarding St Pierre's. I can only find the page announcing how well they did with the 80% result but I can't see anything referring to 86% and it doesn't say how recent the 80% is.

Only 7 children from St Michael's School went to Thorpe Hall School this year which, for them, is not a large number. If the 11+ is such an important measure, then why wouldn't the local independent schools also sit the SATS as this give more of an indicator on how well the whole cohort are doing, not just those who feel confident enough to take the 11+?

@nuttymummyof3, Saint Peirre usually have an article in the local paper each year and they have done particularly well in recent years. There average score was 325. 80% is the average for the last three years .

7 to Thorpe Hall seems a lot to me but others may be equally as high , disappointing though. I also know that quite a few end up going to Belfairs and King John.

My reference to quoting the top 100 independent schools for SATS is irrelevant as most prep schools in the country don't sit SATs , if you look at state school results who all sit the SATs you will see while St Michaels are above average for all schools nationally they are not exceptional by any means . The four local grammar schools which require a relatively low score of 303 can't fill their places , I don't think local primary schools in general come off well . This is also taking into account the thriving tutoring businesses in Leigh which the vast majority attend dispute protesting otherwise.

Their not there
I don't have access to the Times parents power list for State schools at the moment , they cover a wide range of social demographics and are a real eye opener. They put our schools to shame to be honest, it's pretty easy to see why a relatively low mark of 303 seems to allude so many in both independent and state schools here dispute tutoring.

My dc went to st Michael's and I have friends at alleyn court. Pm me if you want any information. I personally wouldn't move to the area just for them. As other have said west Leigh (state) will provide you with an equal chance of getting into the grammars, the only difference is the private schools will help you with a broader back up plan according to what you can afford. Many go onto Brentwood/new hall etc so not just pass or fail 11+ for the grammars although many did want the grammar option as well.

my dd will be attending st michaels I was more interested in their class sizes, additional classroom support and the extended curriculum. Also I've heard the local state schools will only put their top students through the 11+.Which means you can't compare the percentage results with St Michael's as they allow the parents to make the decision to put their children through the test