Barclays Primary School, Leyton in London - opinions anyone?

[Blossom8]

Does any parent have their child/children at this school and how do they find it? Ofsted rated them good and a rapidly improving school and I noticed their recent SATS results were the best yet at 82% but would welcome any reviews from parents.

We are in the catchment for Gwyn Jones in Leytonstone but I've heard they are not performing as well as they once did.

What ever you do, do not send you child to this school. I know this school, its staff are very poor. The head is just out for the money and has not got the children in the fore front of his mind. The office staff are as rude as rude can be. Try any other school in the area but please don't send your little ones there. My neighbours were thinking of sending there two little ones there until they went to an open day, now they go to Gwynn Jones as they saw what it is really like NOT NICE and it is about to become a 6 form entry so how are your children meant to learn in an over crowded environment like that, and it is about to become a Lion Academy, and that is not good at all, and this was done by the head. Please try else where for your kids sake and education. How I know this, I did some work in the school last year and it was awful, I will never go back and I go into schools all over the south east as I am an out sorce educationalist. Hope this helps and sorry to rant but its worth it just to save you the heart ache.

I'm afraid I don't have any personal experience of the school but wanted to suggest that you go and have a good look round the school yourself. OFSTED reports don't always give a full picture and I know parents who moved children from a good to a satisfactory school and were much happier and vice-versa. When you look around really look at what the children are doing, are they happy, engaged in what they're doing, what's the atmosphere like? Do the staff look harassed and stressed or relaxed, happy and energetic? Whilst I'm not suggesting you ignore the previous posters comments do take time to form your own opinion, there are almost always a number of staff who disagree with the vision of the school and see changes as a negative, it is not necessarily the opinion of all, or even the majority of people working there, I'm saying this as someone who works in a primary school too. If you are brave enough hang out at the school gates at the beginning/end of the school day and see if any parents will share their opinions on the school. As for 6 form entry, it is a very large school but in E17 that's the way it's going, schools are very over subscribed with not enough places and many schools in E17 are now 4+ form entry. Unfortunately with the decline of Local Authorities and the loss of consultants schools are increasingly looking at other ways of operating, becoming an academy is one of them. Not my choice as an educator but my daughter is in a primary academy in E17 and as a parent I haven't any issues with it. I don't know Lions academy but you could try googling to see what you can find out about how they operate, what their approach to learning & the curriculum is and see what you can find out about other Lions academy schools.
Good luck in your search- choosing a primary school is not an easy job!

Blossom, if you PM me, I am happy to talk to you about this school, four kids in my family are there and I know staff as well (I'm a teacher). xxx