Lewisham borough- Secondary schools- Trinity Church of England and St Matthews

[OztoLdn]

Hi all,

We just moved to Hither Green in SE London, my daughter is in year 5 so quickly need to decide where to apply for high schools.
I have heard mixed opinions on the Secondary schools in the area, there aren't many options, unfortunately.
I would love to hear from parents who have kids at St Matthews Academy and Trinity Church of England.
What is the best way to find out if a school is a good school? I want to find a school with good pastoral care, good extracurricular opportunities, and no tolerance to bullying.

If you have a recommendation for a school in the area please feel free to share.

Thank you!

St Matthew's is Catholic and Trinity is Church of England so there's a big difference in ethos. We don't have a child at either, have only visited on open days.
St Matthew's seemed very focused on results and regular testing. Trinity has good results and appeared well rounded and caring.
Are you at Trinity Primary school?

Schools are already starting to publish September open days. Have a look too at the Lewisham secondary schools admissions web pages for advice on dates and catchment areas.

Have a look at Harris Academy Greenwich too, as potentially close depending where in Hither Green you are.

Good luck! We were applying last October to start secondary this September and I found it very stressful having to make the decision.

Lots of advice and support on the secondary schools forum pages too.

Thank you.
Trinity is our closest secondary school and it's 1.3kms, so I imagine we are in their catchment.
My kids don't go to Trinity primary.
Can you provide the link to the secondary schools forum please?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary

The secondary school pages here on Mumsnet are very helpful.

If you use Facebook also try the Mummy's Gin Fund group.

It might be worth also posting on the local Facebook pages for suggestions if you haven't already e.g. Come Hither to Hither Green or Hither Green Mummies and Daddies for some views? This question used to come up a lot. From memory, other schools HG kids attended were Thomas Tallis in Greenwich, Prendergast (Ladywell / Vale) and Deptford Green and the various Bexley / Kent grammar schools (requiring the 11+) but I have no personal experience and no idea of catchments unfortunately.

Hiya. DC at SMA - generally good experience and he has been very happy. MFL is currently weak and it is a school which is focused on results and lots of testing, although not sure how different that is to other schools. Children achieve well there. Look round - Prendergast is good as is Eltham Hill.Trinity is a good school and I have friends with happy children there.

Ps do go and visit

Our experience of trinity was awful. Probably ok for children who do not have any mental health problems etc.

Can I ask why it was awful?

My son found it very hard to go to school. Due to mental health issues. I could physically not get him to go. I begged for a reduced time table and they refused. Until somone else got involved. But they only agreed to do it for 2 weeks .managed to get ds to do it. On this particular day he was meant to go in ( after) lunch break. But instead he went in when lunch break started. The member of staff had a go at him. Also rang me to have a go at me. Ds ended up leaving . So everything was undone before it even got a chance.

Another time he went missing within the school no one could find him eventually they found him self harming in the toilets. And again member of staff rang me having a go at me.

Same member of staff used to ring me shouting down the phone telling me I would go to prison loose my child benefit etc etc.

There was no actual support / help put in place.

On the end I took him out of the school.

But obviously that's my owm personal experience. There's probably lots of children that have done fantastic there and are happy .

Sorry to read that re; lack of support or empathy.

Thanks for your feedback, we ended up getting our first option at Bonus Pastor.

That's great. Dd friend gos there. She seems happy. Not heard anything bad about it . Hope your child is happy there.