Is anyone familiar with Crowland Primary school? It's locted next to Gladesmore Secondary School N15.

[MzMummyAstar]

Hello, can anyone help me please? My DD has been offered a place at Crowland Primary school. It has been registered 'Outstanding' by Ofsted and apparently it's a good school. However I live exactly 2.6 miles away and I was told their catchment was small so I don't understand how she got in. I'm a little worried that it's not really a good school and that's why they accepted her as distance doesn't matter when nobody wants your school.
I am truly hoping that this isn't the case and I would love to hear from any parents who have had a child in that school or knows anyone who has attended or worked there.

Please help as I only want the best education possible for my DD and my knowledge of that school is very limited.

Hi there I only have my impressions as I visited the school in December. My only reservation was I thought they were using rather a lot of formal learning. Otherwise I would have put it down as I thought it had a very positive vibe lots of great things about it eg the facilities are good swimming pool on site lots of lovely early years activities, separate playgrounds for reception, key stage 1 and key stage 2. Yes it's an outstanding school but was told it's under subscribed so slightly smaller classes (eg 27).
Hope that helps know a couple of other schools near here may be under subscribed again so PM me if you want the other schools details. Crowlands is a bit cut off river on one side, railway line on the other near border with hackney that may explain why undersubscribed

Forgot to say the results are great

Thank you Starpatch, that information has really helped.

I'm waiting to find out when I can visit. Hopefully that will help put my mind at rest.

Thank you Starpatch, that information has really helped.

I'm waiting to find out when I can visit. Hopefully that will help put my mind at rest.

My experience is years out of date but I did some freelance teaching there a while ago, running a club, and thought it was a wonderful school. So friendly, so positive, fantastic ethos, great staff. They knew all the children by name. They had great G&T policies in place. I remember thinking I'd send my DC there. Sounds like it has stayed strong all these years which is very good to hear.

notagiraffe

Thank you so much for describing your experience from working there. It's really refreshing to hear how highly you think of the school. This really helps to put my mind at ease to hear from someone who has had such a personal experience. I'm, happy that so far all of the feedback has been positive. I just hope and pray my DD is happy there and she thrives.

Another reason that its application/pupil numbers are low is that it's bang in the middle of the Hasidic Jewish community in Stamford Hill, who send their children to Jewish schools.

Given the amount of posting on these threads from people who have the issue that despite living really close to a school they cant get in, its understandable that you might be a bit spooked by a school with an offer radius of at least 2.6 miles.

BUT

You can be a an excellent school - in this case Ofsted outstanding it would seem, and not be able to fill from children close to if for some reason the children are just not there.

in this case the Hasidic factor is certainly part of the explanation, but why not ask the school? There may also be a local shortage of non hasidic children of reception age.

Because the school may not give a balanced account of itself What1984 or because its priorities may be different to those of parents?

Well clearly you would expect any school to give a positive account of itself, although, in my experience most community schools combine this with honesty, (and for that matter Faith Schools, which is not the case here, are usually absolutely upfront about their ethos). It just seemed to me that if a school has an "Outstanding" OfSted and was recruiting children from some distance, it could be worth asking them why.

And, as I suggested, one (good) answer could be a local shortage of children in the relevant age group, combined, possibly, with an unusually low sibling year.

The school isn't going to say 'we achieved our 'Outstanding' rating by managing out children with SEN and reducing the curriculum so that the children become skilled at passing tests but don't actually learn how to learn independently' though are they?

A friend of mine's child was managed out of Crowland in this way about 4 years ago (turned out to be a blessing in disguise as she thrived at her new school). Not suggesting that this is the situation now.

What1984 and Rosebud05 - Thank you so much for your contribution to this discussion. Especially the point made about the Hasidic factor.
I've tried to make an appointment with the school so I can visit and ask questions. Hopefully I'll be able to visit there soon and put my mind at ease. It's just so hard not having much input into which school my DD will be attending.

You'll feel much better about it when you've looked round the school and met a few staff etc.

Because of its location, I don't think it's every been oversubscribed, so it's not as though word has got round and people are choosing not to send their children there now or anything like that.

Good luck.

I know this is a very old thread, but I just thought I'd give an update. I honestly can’t believe how far Crowland Primary School has fallen. When Mr. Campbell was head, the school was a joy — welcoming, supportive, and full of life. My children thrived there, and you could see how happy the staff and pupils were. Sadly, ever since Stavroulla Stavrinou took over as headteacher in 2019, everything that made Crowland wonderful has been systematically torn apart.

She’s turned the place into a joyless, toxic environment. Instead of leading with respect, she bullies and intimidates staff, governors and even parents. The values that once guided the school have been scrapped, and as a result, the children’s behaviour has spiralled completely out of control. What was once a nurturing school now feels chaotic and unsafe.

What makes it worse is that staff have told me directly about the things she’s said over the years — racist, ableist and homophobic remarks that have no place in any school, let alone one meant to care for children.

It breaks my heart to say this, but we’ve had to pull our children out of Crowland for their own wellbeing. This school is no longer the safe, happy place it used to be, and until there’s real change in leadership, I couldn’t recommend it to anyone.