Athelstan House school in Hampton

[Nushi16]

HI everyone, does anyone know if the Athelstan House School in Hampton is any good?
I'm thinking of seding my toddler there but I dont know anyone who sent their kids to this school, also someone said it's not that good. I'd really appreciate it if someone can tell me something about this school.
Thank you x

To all prospective parents who may be reading this - may I encourage you to come along to one of the Open Mornings and see for yourself. You will have the opportunity to meet the children, the teachers, the head and perhaps some of the parents.

I have already commented earlier in the thread, our 2 daughters are thriving at this school. Our eldest is about to sit her assessments for her next school and we are confident she is well prepared and ready to embark on the next educational journey. She has had the best possible foundation in her early years, we are delighted this is the choice we made for our children.

Athelstan House is excellent at what it sets out to do – it provides well-rounded education to children from aged two and half to seven. This is done in a very nurturing environment and children are encouraged to be the best they can be, they are not however pressurised in a hot house, highly competitive environment. They achieve success by the high staff to pupil ratios and being allowed to develop at their own pace.

The school community is lovely; all the parents have chosen the school as they love what it has to offer. Parents support one another through the trials and tribulations of bringing up children, rather than trying to compete with one another about whose child is the greatest. This makes such a refreshing change and cannot be said for many schools in the area.

Working in the Independent sector, I can say without doubt that the children at the school are achieving a similar if not higher level than local competitors, so claims that they are not at the right academic level is simply incorrect.

Interestingly, the Headmaster at the school I work for won’t take my children until they finish at Athelstan House as he values the school, his relationship with them and what they are trying to achieve. Even if I could move them I wouldn’t, as I really love the school and feel blessed that our children have been so fortunate to start their school life in such a great place.

Having visited many local prep schools, I have never heard anything but high praise for the children from Athelstan House and how schools love taking children from AHS as they are kind, polite, thoughtful, intelligent and well-rounded.

The school is also very accommodating and understanding regarding working parents. They open at 7.40am to allow parents to catch the 7.50am train to Waterloo and don’t close until 6pm. They always bend over backwards to accommodate us if our logistics ever go awry. Having attended many nurseries over the years, I have never experienced so much positive support.

If you want to see for yourself, go and look at the school and make your own judgement. They are justifiably very proud of the children and are more than happy to show prospective parents around.

My children love the school and so do we.

What interesting comments.
Again lots of insult throwing and anger because someone disagrees with the opinions expressed on here.

I find it fascinating that a few simple comments advising new parents to make an informed decision could be met with such animosity. It's just an opinion on a site designed for differing opinions.
When you offer a good product or service you don't need to insult people or become angry with them because they don't like it.

Freedom of speech and the right to express an opinion is a basic human right. When you educate your mind you learn to open it to opinions different to your own, how else can you learn?
To the writers on here, Why don't you take a second to reflect on why someone might have a different opinion? Perhaps you might help the school fix their faults. That is far better use of your time and collective effort.

Those of you posting on here, go back and read through this thread. The group bullying tactic is sad and does the reputation of this school no favour.

The are major issues that need addressing, if there were not, such simple comments could not have garnered such an over bearing response.

Again just my opinion, if you don't want to listen to it, don't read my comments and make better use of your time. Have enough respect for users of this site to allow them to form an unbiased informed judgement.

My only intent is to support parents in the position I was in when I first started at this school, and to allow other parents to make the right choice for their child.

I have a right to an opinion. If I choose to express it I will. This is a discussion forum......that's the whole point.

I think this article should put to bed any spurious comments by a certain poster on here...

"Athelstan House Students Scoop the Best Prep School Offers - Without Third Party Tuition!

Pupils in Year 2 at Athelstan House Pre-Preparatory School in Hampton scooped an incredible array of offers to the best local Prep schools, following their 7+ assessments.
A large majority of children received multiple offers from a wide range of prestigious local Prep schools including Lady Eleanor Holles, Denmead, The Mall, Newland House, St Catherine's, Rowan, Danesfield Manor, Danes Hill, and Downsend.
The three Athelstan girls applying for places at Lady Eleanor Holles have all been offered places, with Head teacher, Ffion Robinson commenting on the great potential and well-roundedness always displayed by girls from Athelstan House."

Link Here:

www.forsanityssake.com/profiles/blogs/athelstan-house-students-scoop-the-best-prep-school-offers-withou

Totally agree with adviceforfree, infact I felt the same after reading the reviews. I felt the glowing reviews gave me a completely wrong picture of Athelstan. It is nothing like any of the above posts.Please keep an open eye. I must say I’m totally disappointed with the school. I will write a detailed review later.
But just a warning to all the future parents; please don’t go by the reviews.The school is not for active, assertive, bright children. I would strongly recommend you to visit Jack and Jill or Newland House before you make a decision.

Would really like to read your review ... Do you have experience of Jack & Jill and Newland House? I am considering both and, until I read this thread, Athelstan was also a possibility ... I'd love to hear more. Do they focus too much on the additional / special needs kids at Athelstan?

Hi Paula 31 and any other prospective parents,

Please don’t pay too much attention to ‘Mom14’ or “adviceforfree’ who most current parents believe to be the same person. This person left the school with a real axe to grind and for reasons only known to themselves want to try and destroy the reputation of a wonderful little school.

There are lots of great reviews on this forum talking about the nurture and care that the school provides for the children, however we understand that a key consideration when choosing a pre-prep is where will my child go after pre-prep and will Athelstan House get them into where we want them to go?

The below is all factual, cannot be disputed and wholly demonstrates that the school delivers on educational results as well as, if not better than any other pre-prep in the area. The children also achieved the results without any outside tutoring that is common in some other pre-preps.

The current Year 2 has 14 children, their results were as follows:

Lady Eleanor Holles
Three girls applied for LEH and all three were offered a place.
The comments from LEH fed back to the parents and the school was that yet again Athelstan has put forward wonderful grounded children who were all a pleasure to meet, they were an asset to school and we look forward to receiving them at LEH

As an aside the current Head Girl at LEH is a former pupil of Athelstan House.

The Mall
Two boys applied and both were offered places.
Comments from The Mall staff were that they were lovely confident children who were a credit to the staff at Athelstan.

In an assessment at Downsend School in Leatherhead one pupil impressed the school so much that they offered her a scholarship place.

A pupil was awarded one of only seven places available at Guilford High, over one hundred children applied.

Two children applied to St. Catherine’s and both were offered places. The head of the prep school was very open about how much she loved getting children from Athelstan.

Most of the Year 2 children were offered multiple places. In addition to those mentioned above, these included offers at Denmead, Rowen, Danes Hill, Newland House and Danesfield Manor.
Head Teachers commented on their high academic achievements, well roundedness, lovely manners and general confidence.

As with any open forums of this nature, under the guise of anonymity people can express opinion, be it right or wrong. However you can’t argue with real facts. Year 2 results clearly demonstrate the school delivers an excellent educational platform that will help them to succeed in their school days wherever they go after.

Hello Athelstan Parents
I just wondered if any of you could verify what adviceforfree has said about 4 families leaving as well as her and also they're being a high turnover of staff at the school. I realise these things happen from time to time and it may just be one of those things but before I pay a double deposit for my twins it would be great to get the lowdown. Please feel free to send me a private message if you prefer.
Many thanks
Paula31

Thank you so much Athelstan parents for all the detailed and re-assuring private messages you have sent me - it really does sound like a wonderful little school!!
Paula 31

Have not checked on here in a while and it's interesting to see that I apparently have been posting anonymously with an alias!
How bizarre
I'm not doing anything wrong and therefore don't need to hide behind various names.
Mum14 I'm sorry that you also had a bad experience.
I don't have an axe to grind. I have always said that there are lots of good points to the school but some not so good ones. That's all.
I just think that with all things it's good to get a balanced view. Its also ok for someone to have a different opinion to everyone else.
I have never detailed my personal experience at the school because it was exactly that, personal, and I think the reason so many parents are considering my opinion is that it's not hateful or malicious and unlike the posters on here, it's not to start a war. Simply to help other parents get a balanced view. If I had detailed my experience then this would paint a very different picture of the school. I could do this easily, but I have not.

I attend another school and everyone has their own opinions about things. The great thing is that people are not reviled for it nor ganged up on. Adults should be able to have an educated discussion about the pros and cons of a service. That's all this really is.

I still find it quite shocking how angry everyone is. Perhaps that says more about the school then anything I could ever put on here.
I wish every parent a happy positive experience with their child.

Very sad to see the group bullying tactics. Even sadder that rather than trying to make things better there's just more of the same negative outpouring. It is no surprise that people at the school are not willing to speak up if things are not right. Look at the response. There are lots of parents like me. The only difference is that I don't think it's right to let something you know isn't right continue unchecked without question.

When did it stop being ok to voice an opinion?

The prospective parents on here, and for those that have messaged me privately I would say the same thing I said right at the start. Have a look yourselves and look at other schools too. Form your own opinion, think carefully about the next stages for your children and their specific learning needs. This school might be ideal for you but equally it may not.

I'm glad I have moved on. Best decision I ever made. That was right for me, that's my opinion. And there is no amount of slander, bullying or negativity that will change that.

Freedom of speech. Look it up.

Hello Advice For Free. It's great that you want everyone to be better informed but it would be really helpful to that end if you would elaborate on what at the school isn't right and what is being allowed to continue? I understand that you don't want to share your personal experiences but you allude to systemic problems at the school. If you genuinely want prospective parents to avoid making the same mistake then you need to tell us more, please do tell us exactly what the problems are.
The other parents are happy to list all the good points (nurturing / small class sizes / personal attention etc) but what are the negative points??
Sorry to push you on this but as you can imagine this is a very tough decision and your posts (& those of mom14) are making me question my impression of the school. We all know you can only learn so much from a school visit so if there are fundamental problems which we will only discover once it's too late then please, please let us know.
Thanks!
Paula 31

If any of you are still searching for reviews or feedback about this school - you probably already know if not just want to let you know that Athelstan house is shutting down this year . Whereas the other schools like new land house have started their nursery now and I heard it is very good too. Jack and Jill have extended their school to take children upto 11 years . Jack and Jill also celebrated 65th anniversary last year . Good school will always stay :)