Eleanor Palmer vs Yerbury?

[caterina3]

Hi everyone,
we will be coming back to the UK after a sabbatical year and we are looking into schools for our daughter for Reception 2018. We have Yerbury on the top of the list and we are trying to compare it with Eleanor Palmer. Yerbury seems to ease in homework for the children, foster more creativity while Eleanor Palmer presents it self in a more academic "we will ensure your kid learns math and english" way.

Your comments/experiences more than welcome.

We went to look at Yerbury (EP not on our radar) and I didn't really warm to it. Felt it was way more middle class and less diverse than the local area. A lot of kids are tutoured for 11+ and private school. Think EP is similar on that front.
Grafton less than 10mins away is way more mixed and friendlier plus appears to have better results. The head of Grafton is a fabulous woman too and a great example to other heads.

You have a choice to make - either go simply on what feel's right for your child and you or drill into the data. On the data front Grafton is an impressive school, and the head is known for her compassion and creativity. It has a far higher level of pupil premium children, 68 % compared to Yerbury's 16 % and EP's 18 %, so if diversity isn't your thing (it should be by the way, but that's another conversation!) then EP & Yerbury are your best bet, but don't pretend it's for educational outcomes coz Grafton has 'em beat! Yerbury & EP are not reflective of the populations they are located in and as such very much reflect the priorities and aspirations of the middle class parents that attend them. The competitiveness of the parents at both schools is the stuff of local legend! You can really measure the quality of the teaching by looking at how well schools help children from disadvantaged backgrounds to progress. Grafton outperforms them both, well above the national average, Yerbury does well too. EP does not perform as well on this measure, which when you consider it is a well resourced school with a below average intake of disadvantaged pupils, is somewhat of an anomaly and rings true of my experience. EP likes to push on an open door, anything requiring a bit more effort proves somewhat beyond them. However I would advise you to not worry to much about any of this..all evidence suggest that if you are a parent from a higher socio-economic group, your child will do well pretty much which ever school you send them to. Then it all comes down to personal preference and values. All of those schools are good examples of the type of high quality London primary schools we are lucky enough to have. Don't forget Tufnell Park Primary, which is also a good school about to embark on a massive rebuild, turning it into a 3 form entry with amazing facilities. They also score above average for their pupil premium progress data....

I don't think much of EP, the kids come out of there talking about how so and so is really clever and they're not. Seems to be too much comparison rather than working on the individual?

I've also looked at the recent spelling work that EP are doing and it seems very old fashioned as in doesn't work, rather than traditional. Have read some of the minutes of the governors meetings and was less than impressed.

However I do stalk their website a bit so maybe I'm just finding fault.

Yerbury is too far from me but it doesn't seem to have the reputation it once did, or at least it's slowly being relinquished. Grafton seems to be the one people prefer.

What I would say is my children have really benefited from being part of a community. I'd think carefully about moving into a community to get a school place then moving out- however legitimately you do it.

Our children play out, one end of the street the kids go to one school, the other end go to another but they all get on. Strangely enough EP is in the middle and you don't see many of their kids about.

I suppose the long and short of it is other schools are available! I've heard good things about Tufnell Park, Grafton, Kentish Town, Hargrave Park, Gospel Oak, Hawley and Brookfield.

Are you looking to buy a new house?

If not you won't really have a choice where your child goes as the catchments don't overlap.

I knew I wanted to live in Tufnell Park and would have preferred my kids to go to grafton or Tufnell Park primary. However we ended up buying a house in the Yerbury catchment and my kids are really happy there. It might not be as diverse as some of the local schools but it's much more diverse than where I grew up and is very ethnically mixed. The ethos of the school is lovely and nearly 75% go on to local state secondaries so it really isn't all private school aspiring families!

TO be fair there is not much in it, however i will say that Eleanor Palmer is ridiculously over hyped to the point of fanatical. The ethos of EP was set out decades ago and was very much about giving kids from a less privileged background an experience which may not have been afforded to them. Sadly its been hijacked by Mrs Fraud , (or Fraud as she is more affectionately known), to be anything but.

The real problem isn't renters, it's people who can afford to buy and sell and move further away once they've secured a place. Mrs Freud is well aware of this fact and has been known to shall we say flex the admission criteria to ensure the middle class, yoga mummy media types are given preferential treatment. ;)

Teaching standards are average, teachers are clearly over worked and bullying is endemic with a number of parents withdrawing their kids.