Parish Church of England Primary in Bromley

[jinjamum]

Hi

My son is about to start reception at Parish next year and I am just wondering if anyone has children or know someone's children attending the school. The school was rated Outstanding by Ofsted but it was back in 2011. We all know a school can change a lot over the years so just keen to see if someone can offer a more recent view about their experience with the school?

I was also looking at last year's result and Parish wasn't doing particularly great amongst other primary schools in Bromley. Just a little bit worried that the quality of teaching might have slided over the years due to change of principal and other factors.

Many thanks xx

Any opinion/view/comment is welcome. Thanks in advance :)

Any one? We are considering Parish for DD but unsure of it b/c: last year's results, 3 form entry and different leadership etc. Can any one tell us about this school please?

I don't know if the new head will have a more positive impact but I haven't been very happy with it at all. There have been problems with staff and although they now have some great staff there are some awful ones.
The school is VERY religious, I know it's a church school but I think a MASSIVE amount of time and energy is put into this. It's got quite a happy clappy feel about it.
The new head is a very nice person and she has been at the school since she was an NQT so not a lot of experience of other schools.
If you have a child with any sort of SEN then avoid at all costs because they will do virtually nothing for you. This is party funding ( which is beyond their control) but also incompetence.
The school could be so good it just isn't.

I have several very close friends with children in Parish and they all rate the school differently due to the children they have.

One has a high achiever (2 years above expectations) and a second one bang in the middle, no problems at all, all honky-dory.

One with a child with no social or academical problems, child no. 2 just started Reception. Usual niggles with communication (the school is notoriously bad with information about inset days, dress up days and relies heavily on paper for all kind of permission/parent evenings etc).

One with a DD with suspected dyslexia, just started Y6 and the mum (herself has dyslexia) struggled for years to get the school to test/help/acknowledge a problem. It seems the Y5 teacher said now something, let's see how the Y6 teacher acts. Also the girl suffered from bullying which the school knew off but didn't bother telling the parents despite asking and when the truth came out they hardly helped to solve the issue.

Friend no. 4, one high achiever, doing ok. Child 2 is struggling in Y2 (academically and socially), they are looking to move anyway and said they would change schools if they could immediately but didn't want to uproot them twice as they plan to move out of the area completely.

So, it very much depends on your child in my opinion. The 3-form-entry seems to work ok.

Depending where you live, could other schools be an alternative? Scotts Park?

Thank you so much for all that information. In your opinion, do you think Parish succeeds in stimulating the above average kids or let them languish? Do you think the school has a good sports provision for girls?

The main sport is running around the field doing cross country. A parent has started a netball club for KS2 because there was nothing like that. So yes it's good for girls who like running. A lot depends on the teacher they get.

Really appreciate everyone's feedback. After reading the above posts I am a bit concerned. Looks like the experience of the school pretty much depends on the individual child and the teacher you get. I have the same question as vsmum20: whether the school push enough the average or high achieving children? If it doesn't work out for my son, I might consider nearby private schools after year 2. Let's wait and see what impact the new principal make to the school Xx

Yes I agree really depends what teacher your child gets. I am not very happy with this school I’m in the middle of a transfer at the moment for various reasons. Bullying seems to keep popping up in conversations .. there’s a lot of bad things I’m hearing about this school from parents seems more since New head teacher has taken over. Any children that have special needs don’t seem to be getting any extra support apparently because of funding. I don’t have much to say that is nice regarding the head of PE he’s quite harsh with the kids even reception seems a bit of a bully.

Finally some parents saying the same as me! Fed up of parents on other threads defending this school left right and centre. It’s bad avoid Parish all together! My daughter has special needs and they have done absolutely nothing even after diagnosis.. what’s happening is Parish are accepting all children that need support etc.. so in classrooms the teacher is spending all the time trying to help these children and failing so children that don’t need support are missing out. There are quite a few stories I could share all bad actually appalling! Last year this school ranked 53 out of 61 schools I think? When my lot started it was better than it is now.

Bullying is a big issue. The new head doesn’t deem it her job to speak with parents so if you have concerns it’s almost impossible to get them sorted. This school seems to be about Ofsted tables and the children’s feeling are irrelevant. Not very church like!