Rosemary Works

[USUM]

Hi,

we're thinking of sending my DD to Rosemary Works school since we've heard a lot of good things about it. We've visited the school and liked the atmosphere very much. We have some questions that we hope someone here can help us with.

• Our DD is what you would call a highly sensitive kid and it's a source of constant frustration to us that a lot of people think she just needed to be pushed more. Does anyone know how in tune the school is with sensitive children?

• We're are not a well off family. The main reason for sending our DD there is because of her sensitivity - she won't thrive in a 30 kids class. How much extra curricular expenses are people paying on average and what are the social side like ie. Are the parents generally quite wealthy? I am worried that we and DD in particular might feel too much of an outsider.

• how far are people travelling from? Are there anyone travelling from ilford or Wanstead?

Many thanks for all your help.

I used to live nearby and considered this school, we ended up moving out of area.

The main things I remember were the extremely laid back head (main selling point was the poor quality state options leaving no choice but RW) and the composite classes.

There was a (fairly scathing) thread on here a few years ago about the school - it will come up in a search. I suspected the school was posting positive feedback under new usernames.

Thanks Poosnu, I gathered the school have been OK since..

It seems you're not too keen on the school, may I ask you why?

Mainly for the two reasons I mentioned.

I generally didn't feel that the school was worth paying for in it's own right (as opposed to an alternative to poor state provision).

If we had liked the school we would have been happy to stay in the area.

I worked on the same road as this school for a year and didn't really is was a public school . I knew how much the nursery cost but it never crossed that the school might be fee paying.

Hi if you're travelling for school you could check out Dallington, in the south of Islington. It's not pushy and might suit a sensitive child. Many children who go there live locally but not all. The parents will be wealthier than most, but you won't find a private school where they're not.

Hi Usum,
I have a child in year 4 and the nursery class (starting reception in September). We have been at the school since my eldest was 3 and have always been really happy with it. The children do really well academically because of the small class sizes and interesting/creative teaching but more importantly all the children are very happy there too and never stressed by targets and tests. The school curriculum is very varied and the children's education is about much more than just maths and literacy. As part of their school day they do lots of art, music (ks2 children all learn the ukelele), coding, peer massage, meditation, forest school, kayaking and swimming to name just a few. Due to the small class sizes all the children play with and look after each other. There aren't any huge extracurricular expenses. There are some good after school clubs (karate, 'school of rock', art, debating etc) but those are of course optional. The families there are just normal, not super wealthy at all. Some pupils live within walking distance of the school but quite a few also travel from various parts of North and East London (Archway, Victoria Park, Stoke Newington, Walthamstow). It would certainly be a good school for a sensitive child due to their very nurturing and personal approach. The website gives a really good idea of what the school is like and is regularly updated. I hope this helps. Please feel free to PM me if you want to ask anything else specifically (and no, I am not one of the owners of the school - just a very happy parent!)

Don't do it. We were there and it was a disaster. We left - in fact most of the kids who had a choice left. Everyone leaves as soon as they find out how awful it is, which is why there aren't any kids in the upper years.

Hi epicboysmum,
It's a shame that you didn't have a good experience at Rosemary Works but most people really do seem to be very happy there! It's considered a little haven by parents and children. It's recently expanded to include an upper school with small but healthy class sizes. I don't know when you were there but things have changed a lot in the last 4 years particularly - the school and playground have been completely refurbished and the new (upper school) teachers are fantastic.

It is good to hear that other people have not had such terrible experiences. This is my story, which is is outing. While we were at Rosemary Works my son developed a stress related condition due to bullying. We were in and out of the hospital for over 6 months getting to the bottom of it. The condition meant that he had an audibly grumbly tummy and uncontrollable loud sulphuric belches. Not only was he being bullied, this made him even more of a target. His teachers and the school knew about it, but made little effort to help. Once in my presence he belched and the TA said in front of the class 'oh epic boy, you are so disgusting' which of course caused no end of sniggers amongst his classmates and further stress, more belches, etc. I have a letter from our consultant which suggested that if at all possible we leave the school, as in their time of treating epic boy they had become aware that Rosemary Works were not willing or perhaps incapable of dealing with the problem. We left. At the new school we had the most wonderful, caring and sympathetic teacher. Condition stopped within weeks and never recurred. It was clearly brought on by what was happening at school. Meanwhile, DS2 was in Rosemary Works nursery class 3 days a week M-W. We left him there as we were waiting for confirmation of other school places and didn't want more disruption. He had been down for a place at Rosemary Works although we had already decided that anywhere, even home schooling was better. We had yet to inform RW because we didn't want him to be treated differently. Anyhow, the school show was Wednesday and Thursday. School told parents we had to like the school on Facebook and then book the day we wanted to watch the show. I didn't want to like the school on Facebook after what happened to epic boy. Plus, DS2 was only there on one of the performance days. I was then informed that Wednesday was fully booked and I would have to go Thursday AND if I wanted to see my son in the play I would have to pay for an extra day. This was even if we only turned up for the performance and then left afterwards. I said to the secretary 'what is it with this place - after what happened with epic boy, you would think that you would be a bit more generous to my family'. The owner came out of her office and gave me a basilisk stare. She summoned DH and I to the school a couple days later and said that DS2 place had been rescinded and asked us to leave. She also said she would return the deposit if we kept quiet, which is why I have done so until now. Finally, I sent both a letter and email asking the school to hand over all correspondence relating to my sons and our family. The consultant had previously suggested this to find out what they were doing to stop the bullying but I didn't want DS2 to be treated differently (see how much I trusted the professionalism of the place?) so didn't until we left. Schools have a legal requirement to give this to us if requested. They never did. That is just how poor the management are. They don't even fulfil their legal requirements to parents.

I'm sorry to hear this epicboysmum and wish both your boys well in their current school.

I'm happy to say though that this bears no resemblance to any experience I've had at the school in the 6 years we've been there.