independent school reviews

[JJ]

I'm in the process of applying to independent schools around London. Well, I'm at the stage of looking for some to apply to...

Does anyone have any opinions on the following schools:
Gatehouse in Bethnal Green
Dallington in Islington
The Lyceum in the City (I think)
Charterhouse Square in Finsbury

My son is 6 1/2 and currently goes to a tiny international school which is more on the hippy dippy side of things. It really suits him.

Dallington looks great for him and I've heard good things about Gatehouse.

Any info or further suggestions are welcome! I've also contacted Alleyn's Junior School in Greenwich, but we'd rather live in Hackney near hoxtonchick. (No offense to you Greenwichers!)

I am going to shamelessly bump this until someone answers

Whereabouts are you going to be, JJ?

We're not really plugged into the local private school network, as we and most of the people we know are happy with the state schools our children are at, but if we were, these would be the ones we'd be looking at.

Going purely by the rumblings I've heard, I think only the Gatehouse has any outside space; I believe the others don't have a playground of any kind, and I have heard stories of there being problems when parents took issue with the frequency with which their children were being given the opportunity for outside play.

The Lyceum and Gatehouse have uniforms, Dallington and Charterhouse don't, if that matters to you.

Hello JJ . Shall I start looking for houses for you yet?

Thanks for the info, frogs. We don't know when we'll be moving, but it'll be, at the latest, next autumn (2005). We will definitely miss the application window for the state schools as we won't have an address until we actually move. We'll rent, so where we live will depend on what's available. But it'd be great to hear your views on the local state schools. I'm not ruling those out, but they will necessarily be last minute because of the applications policies.

Hoxtonchick, not yet! I'll let you know, though.

Glad to hear another MNer's moving Hackneywards!

As I said, my knowledge is pretty partial, as I only have acquaintances at any of these schools, but nearer the time I'm happy to do some digging for you.

More rumours: Dallington has a reputation for being a bit arty, the kids all seem to wear bright slightly hippyish clothes. Gatehouse has Victoria Park on the doorstep which I think would appeal to me from a running around point of view. I have a feeling India Knight's kids are at Gatehouse, which could be a plus or a minus, depending on your point of view.

The crucial info would be which secondary schools the kids move on to -- that would tell you a lot about which kinds of parents you're dealing with.

The primary school admissions are not as bad as one might expect, particularly for non-standard entry points. Dd1 has several times been offered waiting list places at the most over-subscribed schools, which are some distance away from us.

I'm away from a week or so now, but hoxtonchick has my email and phone no.

Thanks again for the info. The school search has officially commenced (we're working with a company). She likes Dallington for us or Heath House in Blackheath. Does anyone have any info on Heath House?

I'm not sure if there's availability at either school or at Gatehouse. We'd been offered a place at the Pointer School in Blackheath (I think), but it's not really the school for us (pretty religious).

Thanks for all the help.

Hi JJ, it sounds like you might beat us back to UK after all !

It is interesting you've already been offered a place, was it conditional at all ? ds' prospective school are making him take a "test" in November because he'd go into Prep rather than PrePrep in Sept 2005 and it is a competitive entry. So we need to line up a plan b - off to write to LEA now ...

Good luck with your search.