Cavendish or West Didsbury CofE primary school??

[marieturnbull]

Need to decide between the two above primary schools and im completely stuck. Cavendish is a couple of streets closer to home with a great holiday club but its a huge school with a mixed bag of families. West dids is a lot smaller and will probably boast better results. Help anyone!?!

Y

Cavendish is a wonderful school but if you're not keen on your children mixing with different types of people you may not like it

I know families at both who love each. The West Dids free school families mainly chose it as they were not likely to get into Beaver Rd or DidCofE.
The new school only has 40 pupils at the mo - maybe 60 next year so it small and intimate. They love it as its tiny and new with high standards. Extra curricular is only just developing in terms of sports and music etc. There are tons of holiday clubs elsewhere inc other schools that you can use. Cav is a great school with all the advantages of its size. It's similar to BRd in that it has great variety of kids from all backgrounds and very active community. Read threads on small v large schools to help your decision.

I should add that I wouldn't get too hung up on what results the schools may or may not get. The West Did free school may have a more MC pushy parent intake at present, small classes (it's not full) and it's all precious first borns so far, so any comparison is like comparing two different things. Think what you actually want from the school in terms of overall experience and go from there.

What do you mean by 'a mixed bag of families' - is it necessarily a bad thing that Cavendish has a (wonderfully) diverse community? I love that the school pledges it's "creating brilliant citizens", it implies a focus on resilience and moral fibre, alongside the academic subjects. You can't compare schools purely on the SATs results because the most important thing is that ALL children do as well as they can whether they are the next Einstein or whether they have severe special needs. A few kids with the latter might 'depress' results some years, don't be misled.
We love Cavendish. It's amazing how they go the extra mile with activities and trips, and the range of clubs is vast - loads of sport, art, cookery, debating, Spanish, cycling etc (I think they are trying to start a Latin club next). They also have wrap around care which is great for working families. The PTA also do loads of exciting stuff - look at the websites. Have you visited both schools?
Don't let a fear of a mixed intake cloud your judgement. Remember, somewhere in Didsbury, people richer than you are choosing Moor Allerton because they fear you & your DD/DS might be a bit 'rough'!

Brilliant post Ima. We are not Cav but would have been delighted to go there. (too far away in the year we applied). Love the head teacher. All the staff and PTA people I know there are ace. Huge advantage is its diverse community and warm welcome feel. It really is comparing apples and pears. I also know a couple who opted for the new free school who love the tiny intimate feel of the classes but they do also do lots of extra curricular stuff outside of school such as extra sports and drama as they can't offer it yet. They do have good wrap round too tho.

Haha I also laughed at the MA prep reference. Very true despite Cav, DCofE, BRd, StC and BO (now) all being good schools for free. I hear lots of people who used MA nursery as they were too far from all these to get in previously have now migrated to West Dids CofE for reception as the extra 60 local places mean they can get in. It's had huge impact on admissions distances too