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Hawes down infants, pickhurst infants, Hayes primary (Bromley) reviews

8 replies

miller599 · 09/10/2014 09:58

I'm in a position where I cannit decide on which house to rent. I've West Wickham abs the other Hayes. I will be in catchment for Hayes and pickhurst if I move to hayes or Pickhurst and Hawes down if I move to West Wickham. Has anyone got any reviews on either of these schools. I have heard good things about all. Will be going to the open days of them all but any feedback would be helpful either good or bad

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noramum · 09/10/2014 10:30

DD was in Hawes Down Infant until last Summer and is now in Y3 in the Juniors.

She loved the Infant, very "cuddly" school, the emotional side of development is important to them. The children love the teacher and head, they are in no way shy towards them or reluctant to speak and there is a lot of respect both ways. When the old head left the children went into a day of mourning, lots of tears in the playground and at the end of the day its was not "Yeah holiday" but "Mrs. D is not coming back".

They have good results but I found communication about academic matters lacked - a lot. We encountered difficulties in Y2 and the teacher didn't come back to us with proper explanations, no real help how to help DD and in the end she dropped levels and they didn't tell us until the final report in July.

The Juniors - the children move virtually 1-to-1 into Juniors, is so far good. Also good when it comes to results, they managed to get their Ofsted rating turned around from Requires Improvement to Good only one year after the initial downgrade. They put lots of emphasis on sport and music and getting the children independent and self confident.

Infant and Junior will become an Academy together with Langley School for Boys and Langley Girls. But Bromley pushes all primaries to become Academies so this doesn't give you an advantage or disadvantage.

Both schools have a Special Needs Class with around 10 children. I find this quite rewarding for all the children, they are part of the school life, included in all activities as well.

Pickhurst - neighbour's children go there, she is happy with Infant, not so much with Juniors. With 120 children it is a large school and this was the reason we didn't put it down as our first choice.

noramum · 09/10/2014 10:32

One other thing - last year the distance dropped dramatically as 45 out of 60 places for the Infant went to siblings.

2 years ago the Infant took on a bulge class but I think they are not able to repeat this very often due to space issues.

miller599 · 12/10/2014 04:12

Thank you noramum for your review. I'm visiting the school on Tues but a little worried regarding catchment. I've noticed it decreased this year at 0.2 miles. We live 0.3 miles which is are nearest school with the second nearest school joint at 0.6 is Pickhurst and oak lodge.

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noramum · 12/10/2014 10:16

That may very well be the sibling problems. I think the 2013 and 2011 In take are more "normal". 2012 was the bulge class, so please do not take this into account.

Good luck on Tuesday. Normally you can see the Juniors after you toured the Infant, so take a bit more time.

whomovedmytable · 22/10/2014 01:06

If you're moving to West Wickham then I'd also take a look at Oak Lodge. Although you say you'll be in catchment for pickhurst so you may be too far away?

miller599 · 24/10/2014 16:11

I will be looking at oak lodge as live 0.6 miles away same with Pickhurst. Pickhurst catchment tends to go up and down so no guarantee where as oak lodge I know I'm definitely in their catchment. Have booked to go on their open day tour.

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whomovedmytable · 27/10/2014 20:52

Hopefully the open days will give you a feel for the different schools. Afraid I haven't any knowledge of the others aside from a very quick tour of hawes down which seemed fine. Btw I wouldn't be put off by the seemingly larger catchment for oak lodge - it's actually got quite a bit of non-residential space nearby which I think skews it a somewhat. All being well my dc2 will start in reception at oak lodge next year. We are probably also in catchment for unicorn but dc1 is already at oak lodge and we're happy with it thus far so see no reason to look elsewhere. The new head seems great too. Good luck with whatever you decide.

whomovedmytable · 27/10/2014 21:14

Hi, sorry just to add, to noramums point about Bromley pushing all schools into academy status, oak lodge has recently agreed to form a multi academy trust with unicorn, Marian Vian and Wickham common primary schools. I understand the intention is to retain the individuality of each school though.

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