Primary Private Schools

[ozhodge]

Oh what a week. The kids (Nursery & Year 2) were put through their paces this week at assessments and meetings with the schools. Was certainly more than was expected at some of them (naively i guess). The good news is that we got made offers. Now comes the part about choosing from them. I would really appreciate people's thoughts on St Dunstans vs Dulwich College Prep for Year 2 boy and St Dunstans vs Blackheath High vs Sydenham High for Nursery girl. I've searched on here and found a few older threads on each individually.
Obviously location is now an issue (Blackheath vs others) but we are still hoping to live in Greenwich/Blackheath. Any help would be great appreciated.

Westerngirl: I posted what one family told me: it's simply something people might want to be aware when deciding about a school (IIRC, there's loads of children's work on display at the main open days). If alert to this as a possibility, they can see if it seems to be bourne out in practice, and decide how it stacks up against everything else the school offers.

I know of two other families who have left the school recently, but have no idea if that makes up an exodus. I don't know those families well enough to know their reasons, and there are many potential reasons.

hatsybatsy - we tried blackheath prep for year 2 now and year 3 sept. No spaces so St Dunstans is the only option for us to live in Greenwich. To be honest i am not too stressed about it as i travel 25 mins every day now to take the kids to school.

louisecp when we were looking at schools, the head of DS's pre-prep commented that DC Junior School is very gentle and nurturing for boys - but that they have streaming etc to push the most able. Have to say they were the most lovely charming boys when we were doing the various tours.

Just wanted to comment on our experience of DCPS.

I have had 2 sons go all the way through the school from nursery to year 8. Unfortunately I would not choose it again and nor would I recommend it.

The younger years of the school are fine but as you progress through the school we have found that it becomes increasingly a school run for the very few elite boys and not for the vast majority of boys.

We have found that our boys who were bright and talented but not superstars were entirely invisible in the school.

Eg one boy who was wonderful at public speaking was given monthly opportunities to read at assembly. Because the school is so large that meant many, many boys never had the opportunity to speak in assembly. The truth is that they would not have been as good as the first boy but it would have been good for them to try.

Our boys did not have have access to the experiences that would grow them as students instead these were available to only the very exceptional.

Kizzy very interested to hear your thoughts on DCPS.
I have 2 sons there currently and am having doubts about it for exactly the reasons you state.
Would you say your boys lost confidence as a result of their time there? Has it affected their performance at senior school?

Hi Bellablubell
I would say it has affected their confidence particularly with ds1. Older son is very disengaged with school and never makes any effort with school work. This started at DCPS when no matter what effort he put into his work it was never noticed.
Younger son although academically able was very quiet and horribly disadvantaged at the school. Luckily he has won an excellent scholarship to his next school and so he goes to his next school with an expectation of achievement. DCPS never noticed him academically eg we had to kick up a fuss to make sure he was in the scholarship stream, his teachers didn't think he would get a scholarship and he never won an academic prize at DCPS.

Thanks very much for replying. We have already come to the conclusion that if we do stick it out we are going to have to be the sort of parents that are always up at the school making a fuss (DH has agreed to do this too!). My older son is also very quiet and has completely slipped under the radar this year. The school does seem to favour the more extravert.
Glad to hear that you stuck to your intuition with your younger boy and that he has done so well. You've given me plenty to think about.

Glad I could help. We are not the sort of parents who complain and make a fuss at school so it was very difficult to do so but I am now glad I did. The school is so big and I don't think they have systems in place to spot and nurture the talents of all the boys. They are just too busy spotlighting the elite.

We have never regretted our decision to send the kids to St Dunstans. A wonderful school and the kids are really thriving. Also the commute from Greenwich to Catford is really actually quite good. Contrary to what people had said it takes 15mins by car. 25mins being the longest when there was bad traffic. Public transport is also easy. DLR to Lewisham then rail 2 stops to Catford. Total journey time 20mins. Just in case anyone was considering.