Hatcham Temple Grove Freeschool

[wendyi]

Just moved to New Cross and am in the process of looking at primary school options for my son. I wondered if any one had any experience of the new Haberdashers Askes free school? It's our closest school, but feels a bit untested at the moment. We might have a chance of getting into John Stainer also, which I liked a lot when I visited.

Children of friends of mine go to both the new free school and John stainer and seem happy with both. I was worried about the free school being untested and personally I didn't like John stainer so we chose elsewhere but as I said the feedback from friends has been positive. One of my concerns was how the bi-lingual teaching will work from y1 and that of course is still untested.

Hi there, thanks for your response. May I ask which school you chose and how you are finding it? Also, what were your reservations about John Stainer, if you don't mind me asking?

Hi, I ended up going privately and he absolutely loves his school but that's probably not a lot of help to you.

With John stainer I was concerned about the size of the site/lack of green space/playing fields and the huge expansion of numbers (one of the benefits of the free school is the access to the secondary school facilities), I also personally didn't take to the headmistress (although I know lots of people think she is fantastic) and I was refused a meeting/visit beyond the very busy/crowded open day despite the school apparently priding itself on engaging with parents/local community/new parents etc. also the classrooms felt a bit chaotic and discipline didn't seem great from what I saw. I just felt that it wasn't right for us but as I say that is very much a personal view and I know people who are very happy with it (and of course it recently got an outstanding rating).

I quite liked myatt garden from looking around and was quite impressed with the head there but we were a bit far to stand a chance of getting in there also again the size of the site was an issue for me.

I would have chosen the free school if I'd decided not to go private. However I think it's such a personal choice as to what is likely to suit your dc and you.

That's very helpful, thank you

Hi there

I know this is a late response to you but have you thought about Kender Primary School? We're hidden away in the Kender triangle in New Cross Gate. We're a rapidly improving school with lots of lovely outdoor space that we're very proud of. We also welcome visitors to show our school off to!