any experience of royal russell, croydon high school, old palace or cumnor

[toxicmango]

hi there, am thinking of sending my little one to one of the above (year one). Have you had any kids who went to the above, or do you know of someone who had had their kids there. I have visited the schools, checked their results but nothing beats real life experiecnce. many thanks in advance

Hi, my son is in Year 1 at Royal Russell, loves it and is doing very well.

Do you mean that your little one would join Year 1 in September 2012? So he/she is in Reception currently?

Or is he/she already in Year 1 and so will start Year 2 in September 2012? If so, they only have one place free at the moment, unless anyone leaves at the end of this term I guess. So I would check out the availability situation before you make you mind up for one school or the other, if you haven't already

Happy to give you more information if you give me some guidance on what exactly is important to you.

Hi there, starting yr1. Looking for strong academics but also building all round capabilities. RR academically strong although not as the others, but seemed very homely and friendly and also the new heads message suggest looking to improve academically. Impressed by chgs but worried about lots of movement in staff.

My 3 year old is currently at Old Palace and is due to start RR in Sept. Having accepted the place at RR, I'm now having doubts as to whether it is the right place for him, given their reputation of not being as academically driven as Cumnor. However, my son while bright (reading and writing already) does not like rigid learning environments where he is forced to sit down to formally learn. I'm not sure if it is because of his age or his personality, which is why I chose RR in the first place and also because of their very relaxed environment and facilities. At the same time, I do want him to be challenged.

My son is at RR in reception and we are very happy with our choice.
The teaching is superb, challenging but so supportive based on needs of the individual child. All the children are happy, polite and even at the young age of 4 so respectful and caring of eachother.
His day is always full of fun and exciting activities, but learning so much without even knowing its work!!
We looked at a number of schools but just felt that RR offered our son the broadest range of opportunity to achieve his potential.
Hope this helps, but do go and see the school for yourself!

Deciding where to send your little one can be SO hard especially when each school claims to have great academic records & an unbeatable pastoral system. My daughter attends Old Palace & is currently in Reception so she would be in the same year as your daughter next academic year. I am a teacher at a local secondary school - needless to say, my husband & I did our research leaving no stone unturned when it came to finding the best school for our child!!!! Firstly, we visited each of the schools - it is interesting to see who shows you around the school & to what extent you are shown into classrooms - to me, if you are allowed to see children in a classroom, then the school is confident that they have nothing to hide! We visited all of the 4 schools you mention & at Old Palace, we were shown around by a member of Senior Management (i.e. they were willing, able & proud to give their time to prospective parents). They were actually the only school that made us feel our child should be there to look around as well - i.e. it is as much the child's decision (albeit their young age) as to where they go to school in terms of feeling happy & comfortable as it is the parents'. Secondly, our daughter has come on in leaps & bounds! It is really quite amazing! She is very young for her year but is reading so confidently & fluently (I am a teacher but have no idea at all how on earth they have managed to do this - it is completely beyond my understanding!). She has developed enormously in terms of confidence (she has always been quite shy), & honestly couldn't be happier there. What I love most is that Reception are not doing 'Dinosaurs' for their current project like most of my daughter's friends at other independent & state schools, they are learning all about bugs - & what she doesn't know about bugs, isn't worth knowing!!!! Old Palace is so different - I mean this in nothing but a hugely praising & positive way. The staff are simply fantastic, caring, fun & most importantly, they REALLY know your daughter - this applies to the class teacher, classroom assistant, canteen staff, after school club staff, caretakers & the Junior School Head & Deputy Head. Even the overall Head of Old Palace Senior & Junior Schools really knows each child - to me, all of this is irreplaceable. Lastly, the class sizes are small which means that your child really does get to know her classmates but our daughter also seems to know nearly all the other girls in the school - the older ones really do look after the little ones & give the little ones so much to aspire to. Extra-curricularly, it would be hard to find a school that has more to offer & staff who find every day so exciting! I wish I had gone to Old Palace & the school has even made me seriously consider re-training to be a primary school teacher! If you want a lovely, fun, committed, varied, active, academic (but no over-pressurising) & brilliant school, then I wholeheartedly reccommend it. Good luck & please don't hesitate to post any further questions.
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