Channing / Tetherdown

[Peppercorn1]

Hi, we have been offered a place for Reception at Channing, there will be a two form entry this year, this will be the second year in a row they have taken an increased entry. We would really appreciate feedback on your own expereiences there and if you feel the school can easily maintain standards / and resouces for the expansion of the junior school? We have also been extremely fortunate enough to be offered a place at our local state primary,Tetherdown, reputed to be an excellent primary school too, so we are in quite a dilemma (any feedback on this school too would be greatfully received, I understand the head is leaving so the future is a bit of an unknown also the Ofstead, which is 'Outstanding', is now quite dated..).all feed back greatfully received..

Hi there, I probably can't add a great deal to your knowledge re schools - I'm not familiar with Channing and probably only know what you do about Tetherdown (my DD had also secured a reception place, which we're delighted about). I hadn't actually been aware of an impending change of head teacher. That can always be somewhat unsettling, though hopefully factors such as proactive/supportive parents could protect against any ups and downs along the way - in the short term at least.

What I will say is that I spent last weekend with a good friend who privately educated her 2 DDs from age 4. They are now both teenagers, and have had great school experiences. However despite this, my friend said that if she had her time again she'd have sent them to the outstanding primary at the bottom of her road and then gone the private route at secondary level. She'd calculated how much it had cost them and I think it made her feel slightly queasy! It would be different of course if the school at the end of her road wasn't great, but that wasn't the case. Having said all this, at the time neither she or her husband would have been persuaded out of the infant private option, so I guess it depends on how strongly you feel about it.

Oh and the other thing she mentioned was she always felt it was a bit of a shame for the girls that there were fewer opportunities to socialise locally (private school was driving distance). I'm sure there are some advantages of Channing though that may weigh more heavily for you than things like ease of school run/proximity to friends - hopefully someone else will be along soon with more info about Channing.

Hope that helps - either way sure your DC will have a great time at school!

Thank you, I really appreciate your feedback, being able to walk to school, friends houses and being part of the local community is really important to us but I suppose one of my main concerns is what will happen at 11, I hear that this a very stressful and pressurised time for parents and children alike, with Channing this potentially is not an issue......

My kids go to Tetherdown and I know quite a few who go to Channing. Channing is a lovely school, very caring, beautiful grounds and they are about to build a big new sports/music complex.

On the other hand, choose Tetherdown and you get a real community school - all my kids friends live within 10 minutes walk which I think is important at that age. New head is coming in September which I'm sure will change things, but Tetherdown has some VERY committed parents so I can't see things slipping too much.

As for choices at 11 that is tricky and to be honest most kids at Tetherdown do get tutored, which probably helps to explain the results. Year 6 is stressful, but plenty of kids this year have got offers from grammars and independents. Might interest you to know, that I heard on the grapevine, 12 girls in the currant Year 6 got an offer from Channing this year!

Hi Peppercorn1, some parents at Channing are not happy with the double intake. The real issue is whether there would be an automatic move to the senior school (as it is the case now) or not.

Only time will tell I guess...

24 girls in each class is quite a lot compared to other independent schools. Having said that, there are 30 children in each class at Tetherdown. The reception teaching assistants at Tetherdown don't seem qualified (I don't think they need to be, but I did not have a good feeling when I visited).

On balance, I would say Tetherdown + Kumon (both English and maths). Then tutor starting from year 2-3.

I think you will want an independent secondary. Fortismere is ok, but way too liberal for many people (you might be one or those)

I think IHateVeggies makes a good point. I have experience of another supposedly good primary state school not a million miles away from those listed here. Very active parents with high expectations and good secondary school outcomes. However this is achieved with tutoring/kumon from year 1 or 2, and active parents doing the extra homework with the kids, not from year 5 as I thought at the start. Some kids can handle that, some can't.
So I would take a strong independent if you haven't got the time or inclination to be that actively involved. However if you are prepared to be that actively involved, I would go for the state school.

A bit concerned about the tutoring comments on here. Does anyone know approximately how many children at Tetherdown are tutored? Yr2/3 seems awfully young, and I can't say this really fits with my idea of a positive primary experience (for my DC at least). Horses for courses I guess. Is the general feeling that children tend not to need this additional tutoring in private education beacuse the teaching is better/smaller class sizes/more one-to-one time etc. Sorry if coming across as completely clueless!

Peppercorn - I understand your concerns re what happens at 11 - dreading this already! Fortismere definitley not everyone's cup of tea, however I guess it's some years away and potential for all sorts of changes to take place in the meantime (secretly hoping new head at Tetherdown will introduce a school uniform )

Ditto!

Hi fastforward, not all children get tutored in state schools but many are

What I understand from talking to friends with children in state schools is that, for example, creative writing is not a priority in state schools. However, at either 7+ or 11+, the children will have to write a good story full of adjectives etc.

Some children in private schools are also tutored. They are all young, I understand that, but if you want them to go into a selective secondary school they need the tutoring.

Please don't believe the parents who say "we did not do any tutoring just 1-2 bond papers". It is, mostly, a lie.

It also depends on your child. My oldest is quite lazy, my youngest is more willing to do homework.

With my children, I focus on their weaknesses. So, the oldest one needs to be better at story writing, the youngest needs to be better at writing simple words.

I have identified specific activities to help them with these weaknesses. Happy to explain in more detail, I don't want to go on and on.

I know all children are different but do many of the children at the private schools get tutored as well?

Hi peppercorn1, many are tutored. In different forms (kumon, private tutors, etc) but they are.

Go to Highgate library on Monday and Wednesday between 330 and 530 to have an idea (kumon time). Plenty of channing/Highgate students there. Probably more from private schools than state ones.

Many, many parents in private schools are obsessed with giving their children a top education.

I tend to agree: you can save the money and give it to your child later, but you can never give them a good education again. It is an investment, you give them the tools to have a chance at having a decent career.

Gosh, it's just so different from my own experience of primary when tutoring was unheard of.

Emanuela - I can see how tutoring in a specific area of weakness could be beneficial (oh, how I wish I'd had some maths tutoring at primary . . .) and I'd have no qualms about doing this as I had a terrible time at secondary beacuse of gaps in knowledge. I'm just really uncomfortable with the idea of tutoring to frantically keep up with everyone else who's being tutored. Having said that, we all know that's where the good results come from. I can imagine many parents finding themselves in a situation where it's really hard not to tutor, even if you feel strongly about it, if you can see it's putting your child at a disadvantage compared with his/her peers. I'm really not so worried about grades, particularly in the early years of primary, but do remember how it felt to not be doing as well as other children in a specific subject.

Unless something dramatic happens we're not going the independent route at secondary either, so we probably don't have to worry quite as much hoping Tetherdown doesn't see this and withdraw our offer for fear we'll drag down their averages!

To answer the question on how many children are tutored in the particular school you are interested in, it'll be practically impossible to answer that. In the similar state school I mentioned above, the parents were denying it but then you'd end up sharing the same tutors and word would get out.

As to how many are tutored from private schools, I would venture a guess that less are tutored in the early years (Y1-Y4) but almost all are tutored from Y5.

So the question in London is not how many are being tutored, but from what year.

Hi there Peppercorn

We are in a similar situation as the one you were in last year now (we are waiting to hear form Channing but trying to decide between Channing and Tetherdown, which is on our road so a space seems likely, in the meantime) and wondered which choice you made and whether you are happy with it?

We went to the Tetherdown open day recently and were impressed by the new head.

Any thoughts gratefully received.

Thanks!

Fwiw, Tetherdown's recent downgrading from outstanding to good was all to do with not stretching the brightest pupils and leaving it to the parents to tutor. They are tutored to get into private secondary, grammars and to get into the top set in fortismere.

Coldfall Primary has much better pupil progress than Tetherdown despite having a slightly more mixed socio-economic intake. Tetherdown teachers generally don't mark work much. I wouldn't particularly recommend Tetherdown apart from the social life. I don't know much about Channing but presume that the teaching and marking might be better, but at a price.

Tetherdown doesn't stretch any of the pupils. but the ones who the teachers think are the top pupils get more verbal positive feedback than anyone else. The teachers don't do much marking at Tetherdown so most pupils don't get much positive verbal or written feedback from the teachers. Tetherdown was downgraded by Ofsted partly because the teachers don't do enough written marking, which is a longstanding situation which was overlooked by the previous Ofsted inspection.