Private primary schools near Marden Kent?

[meandmycoffeecup]

Any recommendations?
I know that there is a state primary in Marden but looking at private school option as well.

Saint Ronan's and Marlborough House in Hawkhurst, and Dulwich Prep in Cranbrook are the well trodden preps for this area, plus the Schools at Somerhill in the other direction. Do you live in Marden already or are you looking to move into the area?

I am looking to move into the area. I am concerned that with the new builds there the Marden Primary School will be over subscribed.

There is building going on all over this area, but Marden has been particularly affected. Obviously it would depend where you were living as to whether you'd be affected by it - do you have school age children already or would you be applying for reception in due course? The primary school doesn't have the best reputation, but I don't know much about it. Big benefit to Marden is of course the train line into London if you or a partner need to commute. If I was moving into the area and was looking at a village rather than a town (TW/Tonbridge etc) I'd personally look at other villages. Brenchley, Goudhurst, Sissinghurst, Cranbrook, Benenden etc. All have good primary schools. The local preps are all excellent but £££!

Thanks @snowballer. My DC is still at nursery but will need to apply for reception place soon.

There’s also Sutton Valance private school, not far from Marden.

St Ronan's all the way- it's a brilliant school and very well run.

I’m just adding this on lest it’s helpful to any other parents. We too thought Saint Ronan’s looked like the dream place for our kids to spend their schooling. It is worth probing deeper than the amazing surroundings and facilities. They seem to actively curtail parental involvement of any kind - there is a Saint Ronan’s way of doing things and that’s that. The school celebrates “free play” but, in the younger years, that seems to allow for behaviour which our previous schools would never have tolerated: pushing, shoving, punching, unkind things being said, kids pointing and giggling. At first I just thought it was my oversensitive child and that maybe all non selective schools are like this. But I now realise it’s a cultural thing: staff shout at kids, some have said unkind/shaming things to the pupils in front of the class. If the staff behave poorly, it’s little wonder the children aren’t behaving wonderfully. It looks magical but I am finding it anything but right now. Hope it’s helpful - just ask some serious questions if you’re thinking about joining and find a range of parents to speak to. I have only just stumbled upon the many who have withdrawn theirs kids from the school and I wish I’d spoken to them earlier so I knew what to expect. I never thought I’d be dealing with pseudo bullying and bad behaviour but I am. “What’s not to like?” (The Tatler byline for the school). Turns out quite a bit...

@TootTootToots I've just read this and was interested to hear your point of view. We have a child at a different prep in the area and Saint Ronan's appeared to be very much on the up, scooping up children from one of its other neighbour preps that was having problems. I do hear however there is a "bursting at the seams" feeling as it was taking anyone and everyone that wanted to move. Are people now leaving SR? We initially were very keen on it when we looked round, but were put off by the wackiness of it - and doubly put off by the fact that the wackiness actually seems to be affected and not even genuine!

I may have been unfair/excessive. There is definitely a tendency towards rougher play and a higher tolerance of behaviour I would hope to see clamped down on.

My sense is of a school that has undergone significant growth, now coping with Covid regs etc, and it would probably do very well to reiterate and foster its values of kindness and respect across the board - for pupils and teachers alike. Less focus on expansion, new builds and sweets, more on embedding the culture and strengthening the academic rigour.

I don’t get a sense at all of bursting at the seams - class sizes feel relatively small if anything but that might be different the higher up you go.

I don’t get wacky either. There is a focus on nature and the forest which isn’t that dissimilar to every other prep in the area. I’m hoping to see academic rigour which is something we did have concerns about. I don’t sense though that any of the other preps are that much different. Whether SR can handle and challenge very intelligent kids remains to be seen.
But yes there definitely seem to be kids that have come from the surrounding preps.

Ok, thanks! When I say wacky I more mean being quite chaotic, but that was just my impression. I think there's a lot of movement between Dulwich, MHS and SR and there always seems to be one that's more "up" than the others at any one time; I think Saint Ronan's is in that position at the moment. I have friends who are SR parents who are getting cross because more and more children keep arriving, hence my bursting at the seams comment. Hope it settles down for you.

Yep agree with you - this is SR’s chance to dominate the three preps in the area. The new head at MH may well mean that in three years’ time, they will be in the ascendant. Re chaotic - maybe Covid has been good for them as you just can’t be chaotic when you’re working in bubbles and minimising mixing. They’ve done that very well and are strict about it so it’s brought clear order, which maybe it didn’t have before?

TootTootToots may I ask, despite your comments above does your child/children remain in the school? Your rather damning description of teacher and pupil behaviour would, if as you described, presumably be sufficient for you to remove your child/children? It does sound like an isolated incident and one you presumably took up with the school directly? Knowing the school, this description appears to be the antithesis of the true environmennt and learning experience SR provides. If perhaps this is a more impulsive post and you still have children in the school, it may be wiser to remove it to avoid misleading readers. Additionally, given it appears to be younger years referred to, it does seem a bold early call to intimate children are very intelligent and require special handling, something SR should, one suspects, adequately accommodate should this be the case, without the need for tiger parenting.

I have been a parent at St R for a number of years, various family members have children there and friend's teach there. I know it really well. I am also a teacher in the local area and have experienced all of the schools through work. They all have different characters and cater for different styles of parenting. Perhaps St R is not the school for you Toot Toot Toot. However, I do not recognise the description you have given of St Ronan's at all. If you have concerns please contact the school directly, rather than slating it unfairly on here.

I’m similarly aghast at some of the comments above @TootTootToots and particularly the suggestion that staff behaviour is poor and that employees ‘shout at the kids’. This isn’t our experience of the school at all and I can’t help but wonder if you’ve extrapolated inappropriately based on one less than perfect pedagogical apple? Our sense of SR from the last four years is that it’s an inspirational place for learners and that it fosters happy, outgoing children. Re. their handling of ‘very intelligent kids’ our one concern about the school is that tiger parenting isn’t knocked back more assertively. It seems to us that the children are stretched where they can and need to be and supported when that’s what’s required.

@Summertimerolls it is genuinely quite wacky - that’s not affected - but it’s not as though they’ve got Timmy Mallett taking assemblies! It’s still a competitive school first and foremost and the wackiness is what brings the fun around the edges but if you’re after a more staid experience definitely don’t sign up; the magic only works if you want it to.