Been offered brand new free school or last choice

[Lazymama2]

We're not sure what to do as have been offered a place at a brand new school which is with walking distance but has not been 'fitted out' yet (buildings are there). There is very little concrete info on term dates, start and finish times, curriculum and obviously no past performance on which to base a decision. Also no older kids to look up to. Other school is our last choice and has improved from satisfactory to good. DH does not want Dd to go to this school and would prefer private. I, on the other hand, quite like idea of a brand new school.

Thoughts/ideas anyone?

PS please dont turn this into a debate of state vs. private as I believe every parent does what is best for thier child/family circumstances and im not for/against one or the other.

I went along to visit for the second time before the April deadline for applications.

I was assured a new school building would be ready by September. Now I am no builder but these seemed very optimistic to me. I asked what the back up plan would be in the event the work was delayed and I was shut down with a (slightly aggressive) 'it won't be delayed". " I understand thats the plan now" I said " but sometimes it happens that things take longer for unforeseen reasons...then what will you do?". The response "it won't take longer". That was enough for me. To have no contingency plan (or at least to refuse to discuss them) was enough to convince me that it wasn't the school for us.

I also asked what safety precautions were being taken for the kids given that they were spending their days on a building site and was told "none are needed". Maybe that's right, maybe they have taken medical/expert advice and that's correct but as a concerned prospective parent they could have told me that. Their abrupt and defensive answers turned me off completely.

I am not Nlondondad. I don't know Nlondondad. But he is being hounded for making sensible points that aren't being answered. I understand that the parents who are already there feel defensive about the school but people just want honest answers to questions when making decisions about where to send their kids.

It was obvious the building wouldn't be ready for September. It would have been sensible to have anticipated this openly and discussed it - preparing children and adults (those at the school and prospective families) in good time.

Lazymama2 & Totalshables, I would love to hear an update on this thread.
I am applying for the 2017 intake and find myself in similar circumstances. We live in another area in London, and despite living less than 500m from our nearest Primary and within 1.5k of another 5 we are highly unlikely to get offered a place in any of them. The only local alternative is an undersubscribed free school, set up in temporary premises in September 2015. If we decline this offer we would have to find an undersubscribed school in the neighbouring borough.
I wonder if you had any luck appealing? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Totalshambles a school parent told me that the move to the new premises has been set for after Feb half term.

This is the closest school to where I live and my DC starts school in Sept 2018. Am already wondering what to do, as it's more than likely we'd just miss the catchment area for Coleridge (despite it being the closest Haringey school to us), although I know it does vary from year to year, and as we don't have a car it'd be quite a hike to get to any of the other schools in the borough.

How long has Whitehall Park been open now - 2 years? I've not read anything about an OFSTED inspection yet. Also I'm struggling to see how, as a PP says, they will move into the new building after Feb half-term as it's nowhere near complete at the moment!

there are currently about 70 parents on site helping to make sure the new school building, with its story tree, forest school area and all the other wonderful things planned is indeed open after half term - because that's how much they love the school. Its the most amazing set of parents and kids. Its one of the things that seems to have been missed on these threads - yes its a new school but boy , does that mean that you feel like it is YOUR school and everyone goes the extra mile for it ....

Ofsted for new schools does not have to happen for 3 years which means it will happen this year... in the meantime the schools ( great) results are on the website..... But a lot of the parents there go there because of word of mouth about how HAPPPY the kids and parents are- not because of an Ofsted number....

So basically the school used parents as unpaid labour instead of hiring anyone to do it? Hmm.

Yuck just listening to Toby Young on the Today programme claiming that free schools are the most cost effective way of delivering new school places and that there is no evidence they are set up in places not needed.
I think we could argue that point with him judging by the examples on this thread..

but then it probably IS quite cost effective if you can get parents to give up their time and resources to set up a new school.
(Just wondering what happens in areas when it's not an option to be able to do that, for many parents..)

I would home school rather than send my child to a free school, they are astoundingly difficult to run and often set up by educationalists with no experience of running a business, which a FS really is. They then end up cutting costs to balance their budget, and the provision is impacted severely. Some are fine, but it's too much of a gamble for me unless they are part of a huge multi academy chain.

Gretchen I totally agree- it is really hard to run a decent school. Especially if you don't select the intake. Professionals with decades of experience find it hard. The mix of well-meaning amateurs and private companies looking to make money by lucrative contracts with free schools, all being able to have a punt at it, doesn't inspire me with confidence.
Councils should never have been legally stopped from opening new community schools with proper planning, where places are needed. It's ridiculous.
Meanwhile, school budgets are being cut..
www.fairfundingforallschools.org/about-us.html

Anyway if you want to hear Toby Young I think this is the link to the Today Programme for today - still on air so I don't think the listen again link is ready: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gwfmk

Well of course the great thing is now free schools can be officially selective (instead of effectively selective with feeder nurseries, ridiculous uniforms, compulsory Latin and 'zero tolerance' on urban hairstyles).

Perhaps Whitehall Park will redo their admissions arrangements accordingly. If they make sure they only have high achieving kids, they'll get great results which will prove that they're brilliant schools.

I have only heard fantastic things about Whitehall Park school. They have worked hard to get the new building ready and it looks great.

Hmm, I can't help but be a little suspicious that the most effusive comments about WPS come from posters who seem to have created a MN account just to post on this thread.

They really do read like PR-bot messages too, Sansary, don't they?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-39697223
Cross party MPs have criticised the Conservative's spending on new free schools in places that may not need extra capacity at the expense of other schools... which brought this thread to mind!

Help! I know this is an oldish post but I need some advice.
Back in November I went to view Whitehall park (temporary site) and St. John's upper Holloway. I really liked both. I loved the teaching methods, headteacher and the fact staff turnover was very low at Whitehall park. At St. John's I loved the way it was small, headteacher and the fact it was one form entry.
I chose Whitehall park as my first choice and St. John's as my second. I got St. John's. slightly dissapointed at first but after doing a bit more in depth research I noticed they were a pretty good school. Unfortunately as Whitehall park is a new school they have no statistics. I work in education and understand that results can be effected in many ways so I tried not to base my judgement too much on this.
I received a call yesterday offering me a place at Whitehall park. I now have no idea what to do.
Can any parents/staff give me some advice on Whitehall park as it stands now? All information seems to be quite old.

Am interested too, as some of the comments above seem a bit bot-like in their effusive praise.

After a lot of research this weekend I have happily decided to accept Whitehall park. The headteacher seems to be very knowledgable and is what I call a 'miracle head' someone who can turn around an underachieving school. Which is an extremely difficult thing to do. Their extra curricular activities are great. If any staff are reading this can you please do ballet lessons for reception children please . Their results are fantastic. I have a feeling that their Ofsted will be outstanding. Which means I have accepted at the perfect time as this school will be oversubscribed and will be the new grafton.
When I viewed the school back in November (I think) I thought the teaching methods were fantastic, children seemed happy and parents were friendly. The only thing which really put me off was the site. When I found out it was a temporary site then I had decided then and there that this was the school I wanted. So when I got my second choice I was slightly disappointed but after further research I was quite pleased. My best friends children attend the school too so that was a bonus. But I keep telling myself there was a reason I initially chose Whitehall park. So fingers crossed I have made the right decision.

initially I was panicking about getting Duncombe or Hungerford so I guess I should be grateful I was even offered my second choice.

What's wrong with Duncombe and Hungerford?

Personally I don't like the vibe from Duncombe. I find it very dreary. Their results are pretty bad too. Regarding Hungerford their latest Ofsted report speaks volumes. Was rated inadequate and put into special measures. Their catchment area is also 2 miles, meaning it could have been a possibility.

Whitehall is the closest school to me so that's why I'm considering it. Am actually in Haringey rather than Islington but right on the border so Islington schools are closer. Coleridge is the nearest Haringey school but their catchment area is usually tiny and other Haringey schools are too far away. The only Islington schools with big catchment areas are Duncombe and Hungerford so am glad to read some feedback about them. I also pass Montem regularly and don't like the look of it at all.

I've never heard of Coleridge. I take it you will be applying for the 2018 intake. There's a comparison website I used to compare the results of schools. Except Whitehall as there are no KS2 (I think) results, as they haven't had that intake yet but you can look on their website and it will show you KS1. Also they haven't updated Hungerford's new report.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk

Coleridge is one of the most sought-after primaries around here and it's been rated Outstanding by Ofsted. That's why the catchment area is tiny. I think there are 3 classes of 30 kids in each year, whereas at Whitehall Park it's only 1 or 2?

The smaller the intake the better. That's what appealed to me about St. John's, it was a one form entry. It's so hard to get into an outstanding school. I live quite close to yerbury but am a few doors out of the catchment