Problems with the Gatehouse?

[thefruitmonster]

Hello! As someone with experience as a mum at Gatehouse school I was wondering if there were any other people out there with DC who go there. We are having a bit of a shocker in some areas. Are there any of you who are also having difficulties and of so what about (vague is fine if necessary)....or perhaps it is just us?!? TIA smile

Sadly we are not in the catchment for either but thanks for the suggestion. Are yours there?

Hi, we have put our DC on the waiting list... Can you elaborate?

Generally a mixture of things some of which include....an 'unapproachable' (that's me being polite!!) head, seeming lack of organisation in too many areas, a low standard of information home (from a school you would at least expect correct spelling - letters and homework diaries, grammar, dates etc), sometimes correct homework being marked wrong, reports verbatum year-on-year for different children...to name but a few. However the biggest one is not recognizing the needs of one of our children and ignoring our requests and / or suggestions for helping DC. I could go on...and on. The website looks the part these days and have only met one other parent who is not thrilled with the place. Just wondering if it's infact our two families or whether everyone else is being polite?!? Nursery is certainly best bit by far and would recommend that part. Also this is all IMO. Looking forward to hearing thoughts.

I live very near Gatehouse, and have heard this from a few people; one of whom is on MN, but can't remember who it was... Will have a look.

Anyway, no, it's not just you.

Thanks tethersend! I would be interested to know what they thought if you can dig her out on MN. :)
Just out of interest, are there any local schools you would recommend?

Have PMed you, fruitmonster.

In terms of local schools, TH has introduced catchment areas this year- DD goes to Columbia primary nursery and has got a place for reception in September. It's a fantastic school.

Bonner and Olga are also great. And if you're close enough, there's Lauriston, although that's in Hackney.

Do you live in TH? Do you know which catchment you're in?

Sadly not in Hackney tethersend - have heard great things about Lauriston. Sadly options in our new catchment are not great really. We would have certainly gone State had it been an option.

Bran - we have heard of LCS but sadly it is full for one DC year group. Oh well. Interesting that you used the Clipper though. Might look into that.

Still wondering if there are any other Gatehouse-rs out there? Thanks for your PM though tethersend.

I wonder what your local options are?....everyone seems to be happy with their local schools -or that is the impression I get. There are good ones besides Bonner.
I took my dd out of gatehouse for money reasons, but I was always only lukewarm about the place when I was there, I really didn't think it was a good use of money, although I had no specific issues. My daughter is happier at her new school, nicer more relaxed friends, but that is just luck of the draw. There were lots of "big personalities" in her Gatehouse year.
Probably what I liked least about the place was how white it was, it felt so artificial and removed from the area it stood in.
Transferring in-year means you stand a better chance at over subscribed schools, so even if your most local ones are definitely out of consideration, you could stand a chance at a school further afield. I waited a bit less than a year to get my dd into a school. We were offered Sir John Cass, but it was just too much of a hassle.

As a final point, I hear that those that want to go on from Gatehouse to independent secondaries pay for extra tutoring, which seems to defeat the object of paying for primary.

We are happy with the gatehouse and feel that there's a good cross section tbh. I find the information flow quite good - maybe it differs from year group to year group and specific teachers? In terms of state schools I've heard good things about the Orchid primary on Well Street if that's close to you? Interested to hear what other issues you have with the school - pm me if you want.