St Cecilia vs Ashcroft

[chicca74]

Dear Mums, I would love to hear your thoughts and experience you have regarding St Cecilia and Ashcroft Academy.
These are the 2 state schools in our area we are looking at.
We live in Southfields and there is not really much choice for boys.
From what I have gathered:
St Cecilia: nice pastoral care, not fab academic. Kids are not streamed anymore due to lack of funding recently cut. Mix intake.
Ashcroft: v strict, much better results, socially more challenging.
DS (year 5, lovely and outstanding primary school) is not massively academic but clever. Sometimes I feel he needs a bit of a kick to get in gear but he is also a gentle soul and I worry about the tricky kids. I just would like him to be pushed to his best. Thank you.

Sorry I can't help much as mine is still at primary so no experience. But I attended the open day at both schools. In fact I visited Ashcroft three times. I didn't like it at all at the fist visit, crossed out from my list, but somehow went back and liked it, then made the last visit just last week, and, not very sure now... I didn't have any high expectation towards St. Cecilia so was nicely surprised by the friendly atmosphere. Two pupils who showed us around were lovely too. But I do worry about their academic side. They seem doing alright, but may not be challenging enough. DS is quite academic. Would love to hear more voices on those two schools.

I can highly recommend Saint Cecilias and think it's a great school pastorally and very friendly. I think they have a lot to offer. It may not push your child to try and be one of the top ten kids in the country for academics, but I think they would certainly encourage and equip your child to do very well and get to uni with great results.
For a happy, content and enjoyable secondary experience I would say yes all the way for this school. This is a place to go and as a parent you are well informed and part of the process. I was pleased we found this one. My opinion only of course.

Can you apply to Fulham boys school? You may have a shot via waiting list, it does move a lot. Have not heard great things about Ashcroft, friend's daughter went there, lovely girl who said she could not wait to leave the place (and she did leave for 6th form elsewhere).

Visited Ashcroft about six years ago when we were looking at secondary schools for DS. Didn't like it at all, particularly not impressed by the 'offenders' wing for the naughty pupils.