Changes at Orchard House prep school Chiswick

[Babytalk2019]

Hello,
I wondered if there may be any Orchard House (Chiswick, London) parents out there that have any opinions or insight into the recent, and future changes at the school?
My son is due to start reception there this September. We have just heard that there will be a new headteacher starting and that the school will be merging with Chiswick and Bedford Prep (which we know nothing about). I am also aware that the school is now under Dukes Education, as of last year I believe. All big changes since we accepted our son’s place...
If you happen to have a child attending the school already, are they happy there?
Are the new changes welcomed in any way??

We are of the belief that up until 9/10 years of age results and formal education are less important than opportunities to explore, have fun with learning etc. The current headteacher seemed to convey OH had a similar ethos - if this is the case, do you expect things to change?

Our biggest concern is that the school (or management) is now forced to focus on P&L and results at the cost of achieving the head’s ethos, hence the new merger.

I do appreciate that there cannot be any hard facts about the future and that opinions are by their nature of subjective- we are just keen to do whatever research we can and gauge feedback given that the school may be quite different by next year.

Thank you in advance x

Bullying gets worse when staff are not in the mindset or have the time to observe what is going on in the classroom and in the playground. Usually when staff have bigger worries.

We have our children at Heathfield and love it. Small classes, really lovely families, teachers that get lots from the children without it feeling intensive or stressful. A very different vibe than we got looking round OH or Ravenscourt Park.

I disagree with these comments on bullying. In my experience it was always dealt with quickly and effectively. Parents are involved from the outset and I found the teachers to be happy and they would always go above and beyond for my children. Not really indicative of teachers who were bullied but then I’m not a teacher there so how would you know about management bullying staff unless you worked there? I’m not sure why people have such a downer on OHS. It all seems a bit strange.

Yes in the area right now it is
Kew College top of the list probably, closely followed by anybody independent or not part of a super big group Heathfield, Unicorn and Kew Green Prep

Then Queens / any state school in Chiswick (no fees although a bit of tutoring may help)

Then the Dukes "family" of schools 😬🤪 that means Orchard House and Broomfield House School bottom of the prep and state ranking

What a change from five years ago

That is what private equity does. - lots of money for the shareholders at the expense of borderline education for top dollar bill.

Ah I am done with it

backflicflack in my experience it hasn’t hence I commented. Our family experienced this and another family we know too. I wouldn’t want another family to experience the same. The school should be a safe place for our kids.
Coronateachingagain I agree with private equity comments.
Lots of experienced teachers have left too.

Experienced teachers have left Broomfield House too, and the 11+ is not supported anymore as you can get through Radnor House / a Hampton Court House now. So you are through but you will be at the mercy of the fees hike for 7 years 🧐

Not to mention the fees hike at Orchard House going from 15k a year or so to 20k a year to match the top London schools. Fees match but not provision or results of course.

If you are in year 6 at Orchard's or Broomfield I would highly recommend you ask for a 20-30 % discount in fees if you ever consider joining Kneller Hall or Hampton Court or the new amalgamated secondary school in central London I don't know the name of as they keep changing the marketing strategy for it.

Play it nice first and get an offer from any of the other good options, especially the foundation ones like St Paul’s x2, Latymer, the Tiffins and even the good state secondaries like Grey Court or Waldegrave or the good privates like Kew College or Harrodian or Ibstock.

Then go in to bat and get at least a 15% discount - this needs to be all through to year 11 (GCSEs) - and a reminder - start negotiating at least with 25-30% and another offer in hand. This point is really important. No other way to get a "scholarship"

They will hike the fees as they go along so you need to underwrite the fee discount going forward. The strategy is : lovely facilities and let's see what we can do about teaching. You know your child and you will make the right decision wether this is the right choice.

Otherwise just walk away and go for your other option.

Mark my words. These guys will sell as soon as Kenner Hall is established, their exit from their "investments" has been delayed by covid so now they will be on the ball and it will be ruthless. I have worked with private equity and they do not give much about what it is left behind.

If you end up at a mediocre uni and an unmotivated teenager after all those fees, then at least you got a discount versus market.

I will take a screenshot of this post in case Dukes forces a hand on Mumsnet!

Your faithful west london working mum ex banker ex Private equity still having hope for a good outcome for all kids' future - there isn't anything that matters more than our children future.

So for all year 6 mums there, go for it this term, then negotiate in January! Good luck

Parents don’t want their children to go to a Dukes senior school necessarily. However, it is less stressful for the children if they know they have these schools as a back up. Parents will still want their children to go to St Paul’s, Latymer as they did this year from OHS. Results are still very good so not sure what people mean when they say OHS is bottom?

I think your comment says it all - people are down on OHS and that must be for legitimate reasons. Schools change. Sadly, it seems many small schools in nice areas attract heads who are on their last posting before retirement. They want a quiet, undemanding run and are not invested, dynamic leaders. I think it’s unfair to assume parents don’t know what is going on and that any negative comments come from disgruntled ex-staff. People talk and parents are intelligent, astute members of of the community who can read between the lines when there is a high staff turnover and teachers are constantly leaving for better opportunities.

This is exactly who Dukes seems to tell parents. The promise or not putting the foot off the pedal, and nice to have a back up option. Boiling parents frogs, when Kneller Hall opens in full, they will need to fill those seats.

That’s just not true- Broomfield gets like 12 scholarships to 11+ each year! If I were in Kew would be my first choice (my brothers 2 are there)

They used to before they got acquired, I know because they used to publish results (both number of offers and accepted offers) and I checked at the time. Now, they do not give good information about results, so anybody's guess. Was that last year? How many of those scholarships from Radnor House, Hampton Court House and the like ? 😬

@Coronateachingagain Are / were you a current parent at OHS? How do you know so much??

Same for OHS too, they are still getting scholarships and pupils are getting places at St Paul's. They do still publish them! Have to say I am still happy with OHS and will stick with it until I feel differently. Still do not think all of these comments are legit, its a bit one sided, very odd!!

@backflicflack how did you feel about the hike in fees? How much was the increase, like 20% or more?
They are more of a business now than they were before. Do you also have now guaranteed places to their new Kneller Hall school like Broomfield or not yet? The pressure on 11+ results will come down when this school opens, but you may be happy to follow them there.

Fees have not gone up by 20% in one hit, For example, they were approx £6,400 a term in 2019 and are £7,000 now so over 3 years, that pretty standard. There is no guarantee of a place as yet, and children still have to pass the exam. This will not be a school I will be looking at for my children anyway.

Meanwhile this school mentioned upthread apparently only has half a dozen Reception children and is offering 'Reception scholarships'

interested how you came to know staff are being bullied by management. Are you a teacher there? Is that how you know?

Exactly. So true about the heads.

Having read many of backflicflack’ s comments, I can’t help feeling, by their quantity and nature, this cannot be a parent. A busy parent doesn’t have time for this and wouldn’t care this much about comments on a social media site. I get more of on OHS Senior Leadership/admin staff member vibe or a rep from Dukes.

I’m sorry but you could say the same about a number of the comments, particularly Coronateaching, and W4internationalmum think I would say they seem overly interested in OHS! Sound very disgruntled about something and comes at things very differently! I personally think many of these comments are being written by the same people. Anyway, you can say what you like, it makes no odds to me. I will speak as I find. Not sure what all the fuss about, that is what these forums are for. I’m just trying to present another side as I disagree with some of the things posted, that is all. No need for this aggression.

I speak as I find!

Yes but can’t seem to accept it when other people do too! There are some overly aggressive people on this thread and it all seems a bit suspicious to me. As soon as anyone says anything positive, they get shouted down!

Perhaps, they know more and know better!