Mayfield Primary school

[NewZealander]

Hello everyone! I will be visiting Mayfield Primary this week and would love to hear some feedback on the school. It would really help. My son is nearly 6 (so he would be going into Year 2) and he is presently at a New Zealand school. I read the recent OFSTED report and have elected to reserve my judgement, but I am so encouraged by some of the feedback I have been reading here about the school. I would love to hear more!! :-)

Hi - have you spoken to the local authority about places - having just done the getting school place thing - really it will depend what availabity there is how much choice in schools you have - unless you are thinking private I guess - if you have a choice why not visit the other options that should help to clarify - and there has been a good thread recently on primary school area on here one usefulness or not about ofsted report/reputation etc

I have a happy child in Y1, who looks forward to school each day. The teaching in YR and Y1 has been good, though I have previously heard concerns about teaching quality mid-way through the school. You'd need to get an opinion from someone with children higher up the school on that. If you haven't visited yet, it would be what I would be focussing on - how they ensure coherency, constant standards, etc.
I don't know to what extent they 'teach to the test' for KS2 - as far as Y1 is concerned, it is the furthest away from a SATS factory you could imagine - and somehow my son has learnt a decent amount of academic stuff too. What I do know is that he'll leave as a happy balanced individual in a class of confident children. Academically? I don't know.

You can't go far wrong in North/West Cambridge though.

My daughter got a place but it wasn't as easy as it used to be, lots of parents were after the 60 places this year. I know many of the childrens who are going and they are all bright (I help at the nearby preschool where my daughter is). It's a nice school with newish facilities and lots of green around it. It seems this year Mayfield is very sought after as most children in the nearby preschool applied (not all got in as the catchment was very tight this year and only the sibling's rule overruled the distance).

Hi Tokengirl .. like NewZealander I'm looking for a place in Sept in Yr2. We had a look around Mayfield and were really impressed with the grounds and facilities .. and loving the chickens. Also really impressed with the pre-school - where hopefully my 3 year old could go. What is the current Yr 1 like? My daughter is in a London class dominated by 22 boys .. she's shy, young for the year and slightly behind in her reading. The most important thing for us is a happy, well balanced class where she can grow in confidence and get the help she needs (there's a good chance she's dyslexic). The academic side we can work on at home if necessary - but I'm concerned by the Ofsted report - that the quality of teaching at Mayfield isn't great.

Y1 is mostly bright well behaved kids who'll do fine.....
my son's 'average-minus' areas have done really well this year - up from 'it's a concern' at end of YR to 'meeting expectations' at end of Y1. (With fairly low input from me)

After trying since July to get a place we were stalled at every occasion. We have decided to walk up to Orchard Park Primary where the staff want to talk to us about our boys.

It's not up to the staff, though, is it? All places are allocated through the admissions process, so the reason staff at Orchard Park will talk to you is that they are far from at capacity. That said, I hear good things about Orchard Park on the grapevine so it might be just what you need. Also OP should look at Arbury - now rated outstanding and St Luke's, and not pay too much attention to Ofsted!