Willington v Donhead

[mja091074]

Hi

Like many parents, we didn't get the state primary school place we wanted for our son last week.

I have just rung around the private school and was surprised to hear that Willington still have spaces for reception 2014. Why is that when every other private school in the area has waiting lists as long as your arm? Does anyone have experience of Willington (good or bad). Maybe the "good" ofsted report puts people off - but they do send their boys onto some excellent secondary schools.

We are also on the waiting list for Donhead and have only heard good things about this school. However, the RC element does put us off as we are CoE. Do the boys spend a lot of class time studying RE there?

Thank you in advance for any info.

Have Ds at Willington and we love it. Donhead is also very well spoken of so either way I think you will do well if you go for either of these. Donhead is allied to Ursuline where my daughter goes, we are also not catholic and don't find it overbearing with respect to religion
Message me if you want more specifics re willington

DS2 is at Willington. All I can say is it's a bit of a hidden gem. Great school, we really like it.

Hi everyone, thank you for the feedback. From what you have said, Willington certainly seems to be a great school. I have a couple more questions! How big are the reception classes - I think there are 2? Are there a lot of ex-pats who go there? What do you think of the new headmaster? Do you know what schools the 11 year old leavers have gone onto? Thanks again for your help in making a tough decision!

Reception size when Ds was there was 13 for one class and 18 for the other. Ds has never been in a class of more than 14. It is a multicultural school but not necessarily ex pat. Certainly more ex oats at Ursuline than willington.
Ds has Korean, mixed race Chinese, mixed race Indian children in his small class. His teacher gas taught them Some Zulu as she is from South Africa.
New head master is still quite new, I think he will be good for the school.
Can't remember exactly the destination of 11 plus leavers will have to look it up.
The real appeal of willington for me is the enthusiasm and approachability of the teachers and the family feel. They really involve families at all events and levels. Siblings always welcome along to watch assemblies, sports days etc.

If you register there is a new parents evening in July and a Saturday morning for the whole family in the summer.

Ex pats not ex oats!

Any negatives about the school? I haven't seen it yet but the grounds look small.

I would say the sport, they do a range of orts but if you are a competitive sports parent and want to see your child winning at all ootunities I would say look elsewhere.

Another good thing for me is the holiday clubs they run, they do various art, craft , coding and cricket camps in the holidays which are good for keeping them occupied .
Have you looked at the website?
All of the replies are re willington but Donhead is very popular as well , possibly more sporty. The thing to bear in mind is that Donhead goes to 11 but willington really wants you to stay til 13 although many do leave at 11.

Thank you so much for your helpful responses. It would be great to hear from someone with a son at Donhead????

OP I really think you should go and visit both schools as they are very different - heads, grounds, ethos, vibe, you name it, these are two schools that have very little in common. We ended up sending DS to squirrels, but from our visit to both schools and meeting the heads, we were absolutely clear that one was more our 'style' than the other.

Thank you for all the advice. We are going to Willington tomorrow and will see Donhead if we move further up the waiting list.

I was also going to raise this with the head, because in my opinion Willington fosters good relations between boys and across the age ranges. Ds has friends in other years and does not feel intimidated by bigger boys. The boys are expected to watch the younger years perform in assemblies etc and be supportive not mocking. The clubs group boys together with other ages and nurture groups extend across the age ranges.
I wouldn't have my son anywhere near a school with a reputation for bullying.

We have been to look at Willington today and were very impressed. The school is being inspected next week and will hopefully be able to shake off their "good report" status. I forgot to ask when the school day begins and ends? The only real negative I could see is the lack of space, particularly outside space.

School starts after 8:10, in reception parents must escort their child into classroom, dater that drop in playground any time between 8:10 and 8:30.
Pick Up is staggered , so reception out at 3:20 I think, the year 1 at 3:25 then year 2 at 3:35 and so on.

Games are played at really nice and huge playing fields at Drax, you can visit just off Barham road .they go by coach.
I can't remember the games schedule for reception but in yr 2 they do field games 2 days , swimming on another and gym or athletics on another. So they are kept very active despite the small site.