Anyone have experience of Parkgate School, Clapham Common?

[peasoup]

Anyone have any experience of this school. Am thnking of it for my DS for nursery; but also want to know what it's like as a whole school for him to carry on at till 11. Also would like to hear any recommendations for nursery and primary schools Clapham area. I'm a novice at this; my DS is 2. And I'm relatively new to the area.

bump

bump

it's not in my old copy of the good schools guide

are you looking for private?
if so you need to get your name down at places asap

other places to consider- thomas', broomwood, eaton house the manor

If it's not in there does that mean it wasn't considered "good" enough? It's on Clapham Common. It's called Parkgate House actually, not just Parkgate School sorry, my mistake.
I was put off by Eaton being all boys but i now hear they're taking girls this Sept. I'm not sur eif we'll do private or not; am confused and undecided.

No it just means they haven't visited or reviewed it
Friend of a friend had a child there and was happy but they have now left London

Yes Eaton is admitting girls from Sept

Best thing is to make appts in Sept to see nearby schools incl the state ones

Thanks THEBlonde. Can't view Parkgate or anywhere till Sept now so will just have to wait. Suspence is killing me! Have you visited the other Clapham schools?

some opinions here

I am in Balham but have visited Broomwood and Thomas'

Cheers, Blonde. No mention of Parkgate. Good to hear opinions of all the others though

I haven't read the thread that TheBlonde linked so am going to right after posting here. My DS1 is at Parkgate. He's just 3 so is in the lower nursery. He loves it, they are very sweet there. Quite a few of the children on my street go there and it has a real "community" feel about it - most children are local and walk the school run. He is on the list for an assessment for Thomas' for reception but as he is so happy and settled he will probably stay at Parkgate for big school. Ds2 is due to start the nursery in Sept 09.

I think that as the children get older though quite a few leave - lots obviously for leaving London reasons but also boys tend to leave to do "prep" elsewhere as Parkgate only goes to 11 and most boys senior schools start at 13.

Eaton house is taking girls but at a seperate site. I considered Eaton House for mine (both have places) but as there are no girls in our house I think I will co-ed them to start with.

Hope that helps

Oh good, thanks for your reply 2Hot crosses. I hadn't managed to find anyone who knew anything about Parkgate so far. They said it was too late for me to view the school now as they end this week so I'll need to wait till Sept but the suspence was killing me.

yes, its the end of term today! There's only 200 odd pupils in the whole school so it's lovely and small and the teachers know most of the children. Does mean you're unlikely to find many who know much about it though!

Where else are you thinking? The thing about Parkgate is that it is a school so the nursery has a uniform etc (just a track suit though) whereas stand alone nurseries tend to do "smocks". Parkgate was my first choice for DS but friends have theirs DCs at Marmalade Cat, Chatham Hall and Mouse House. Thomas in Clapham don't have a nursery dept, that's in Battersea. We didn't get a nursery place at Eaton House and I called when DS1 was 3 months!

Thanks HotCross. Sounds nice I will have a look in Sept. Don't like the boys only thing at eaton House and if the girls are going to be on a different site then it'll still be boys only so I'm not interested...not that I'd have got a place there anyway by the sounds of it!

Hi All.

I'd love to hear from local mums who have experience of Parkgate House nursery and school. My daughter has just been offered a place - afternoons only even though she has been on the waiting list since 6 months old! Any info/advice very welcome ... thanks so much