Chesterton Primary School in Battersea

[moll7]

Hi

Does anyone have any views on Chesterton Primary School in Battersea.

I am asking for a friend who is considering it but doesn't know much about it and good to get opinions from people who know it.

It has an outstanding ofsted report.

I don't know the school directly, but it's not far away.

It has really good value-added scores, and a reputation for excellent, dedicated and innovative teachers.

But I don't think it's over-subscribed (it wasn't 2 years ago).

It has a very local footprint, much if which is made up of the estate immediately behind it. Some families are long-standing residents, but there are a lot of new arrivals to UK and a very high proportion of children who speak next to no English, and households where English is not spoken at home. I think there are a fair few children whose backgrounds can only be described as chaotic.

The school does really, really well by these children - indeed I've heard from one family (with direct experience) nothing but praise for the way they differentiate in the classroom.

Do those impressions match what Ofsted said?

Thanks for your reply.

Yes thats the impression we got from the Ofsted report.

I think the main concern is that there is a high proportion of students with English as a second language and whether her DD who is of average ability might get overlooked.

However, as you say, it seems that the school does really well for all children.

Also not on any of the nearby estates (although not far away)
and wondering if that make it more difficult for her DD to make friends.

English as a second language IME is not a huge deal, because if the children enter a good school at age 4 (or younger if it has a nursery) and are immersed in English then they will normally have bilingual English in no time flat.

The only exceptions are if there's a huge block of children with a single language, in which case it's possible that they might not mix with the others, (but I'd be surprised if that's the case in Battersea) or if there's a constant inflow of brand new immigrant children who need to start learning English from scratch at age 9 (more likely to be an issue, but even so a class can probably absorb one or two each year).

It might be a drawback to making friends with some of the other mothers, but that's not really a dealbreaker on an otherwise good school.

I don't know about blocks of language, but there are new arrivals is all ages.

I think the social aspects of friendship groups do matter, but it's hard to make a view on this. But your friend might get some idea from a school visit, and from seeing what the children are like at pick up time.

One thing to ask about at the visit is where their children go on to. This might seem a bit precious from a prospective reception parent, but if all/most children go to the comprehensive next door (whatever it's called this year), then that is pause for thought.