Rosendale and Elm Wood Dulwich

[wehappyfew]

I do hope some SE London mumsnet terms can help. My PFB will be going to school next September. For various reasons we are moving to the herne hill/Dulwich area and I have narrowed our search down to the area near to the 2 schools above. I would really appreciate any opinions good or bad regarding these schools. I have tried without success to view them and therefore just have the ofsted reports to go by. Ta in advance!

We looked at Elmwood when we were moving to the area. It's great but tiny. They've built it up more since then so more kids in limited space and pretty sure the catchment is still v small. Rosendale catchment is small too - have a search on old threads, but essentially it's v desirable so hard to get into. If you want either school, make sure you live close enough. Which means very close! Elm Wood is part of a federation that includes bigger well-performing schools like Kingswood so you might consider that if you can't get close enough the the other two. The federation has also more recently taken on Fenstanton which has big new premises and isn't oversubscribed yet I don't think.

Thank you. I did figure that we need to be super close. It's just crazy that our main criteria for a house hunt is the school :(
Is the lack of space at ElmWood a big disadvantage in your opinion? I'll have a closer look at kingswood and fernstanton. But I am very seduced by the rosendale website, and Elm Woods results ;)

They are such different schools! Rosendale much more liberal and easygoing Elm Wood much more traditional and results focused I would say. You can tell a lot by looking at the students about the philosophy of the two -Rosendale kids wear there own clothes plus a Rosendale t-shirt Elm Wood ties and blazers.

As Pink says all the federation schools (Paxton, Crawford, Kingswood, Elm Wood and Fenstanton) are really similar so if you like the way they work you should like all of them! My eldest is at a federation school and loves it - the rules and discipline really suit her. If I could I would send my younger one to Rosendale as I think it would suit him much better but in reality you don't get a choice!

There are quite a few other good schools around though - have heard good things about Bessemer. I think Jessops in Herne Hill is massively improved and Dulwich Woods is also meant to be on the up.

To answer your question about lack of space at Elm Wood - they are currently building so difficult to say - I think the lack of play space is a bit of a shame but hardly unusual in London state schools.

Thanks Niam. It's all so confusing, I worry so much that I will make the wrong decision! Further to this, do either of you know which schools are especially good for sport? My son is extremely physical.

Hmm my kids do there sport outside of school - loads of really good stuff going on in the area - mini tennis, rugby, cricket, football etc. all really high standard. At Elm Wood they only really have one PE lesson a week (plus one "musical movement session) which is run by an outside company Moving Matters. They are great and DC loves that session - it's just not very much though and if it rains they don't do it at all! I have no idea if this is typical or not? Rosendale has a decent size playground and the Rosendale fields just nearby which I think they use.

Thanks all!

Hello as I have some direct knowledge of rosendale i thought i would contribute. It is a good school and is focused in being holistic rather than academic. As others have said it is very popular so to get in you need to live very close by. They have a lot of clubs in and after school including sports. I have had a mostly positive experience with the school they have lots of things like a school library bus, and a playing field. Chickens. Gardening club linked with nearby allotments and lots of trips for all years to theatre etc. The only things i dont like are that the children dont do homework at all and their academic levels are not disclosed on school reports or at any other time. So it is difficult yo keep track of how your child is doing. I hope that helps