Lochinver House School

[roseamongstthorns]

scouring the countryside for a prep for ds - anyone got any insights / thoughts on this one?

We had two ds' there and have mixed feelings about it:
on the plus side

• LochinverHouse has excellent facilities and large grounds - and I admit we were plenty seduced by those
• it pushes the boys hard and rigorously academically, and they aim to prepare the students well for the next steps in common entrance exams etc.
• as with most schools I guess, there are a couple of truly outstanding and inspiring teachers there
• their music and sports departments are broad, wide ranging and well provided for
• their trips away are interesting, challenging and popular with the students

on the 'less than positive' side:

• it's an all boys school, which wasn't a consideration for me at the time, but having had the experience, now I'm less certain. There's a huge 'laddish' ethos amongst the boys, and co-eds have moved much further up in my wish list for secondaries. I was disturbed to read on another thread here about the bullying.
• bizarrely this laddishness does sometimes influence the teaching staff ethos too. One year my ds had to do a team building trip in Year 5: it included some sort of assault course where they had to go underground in complete darkness. Now, I appreciate the concept of encouraging children to reach beyond their grasp, of challenging their comfort zones etc, but you can cross a line from helping them push those boundaries over to frightening them or humiliating them to the point of making some of them sick or cry. Unneccesary and counter productive. Disrespectful.
• It's good to be academically focussed and determined, but there needs to be sufficient cover and support for those who have challenges on some of those fronts, and I felt that the school fell short there.
• new headteacher but same difficulties in managing staff: there is not always an appropriate fit for staff and this needs to be recognised - it doesnt do the staff in mind any favours to place them in positions they are not qualified to fulfil. (Let alone the disfavour it does to the students).

My children enjoyed their time there, and made some good friends with boys I liked too. A nice bunch. However, the telling question put to me by another parent there was 'would I send them there now, with what I know?' - overall, I dont think so. But this only a very personal experience - there are many boys I think the school would not only be ideal for but where they would naturally thrive.