Gatehouse School Nursery East London

[CJA37]

Hi everyone,

We're considering Gatehouse school in East London for our son. He has to go to the nursery there to be guaranteed a place for the school. I'm a little concerned about whether it's going to be lots of formal teaching - based on the school day there's a heavy emphasis on "teaching time" as opposed to free play. Also the day (8:50-3:15), 5 days a week seems very long for a 3.5 year old.

He's my first child and currently with a nanny 2,5 days/week and me the rest of the time so I don't know what level of group schooling is right for a child of that age.

Would love to hear how people feel generally about the "right" approach (lol!) for nursery education and any gatehouse specific comments.

Thank you

It’s a really big school. Classes are 24, and yours will have 3 classes in the year. In a lot of ways, it feels like a 1950s village school, both positively and negatively. They’ve been through a number of heads in the last 4-5 years, and I switched my daughter to another school in the midst of it all. Her former classmates are not getting the same sort of 11+ prep/secondary school advice as we are at her new school. But, if you’re going to move out of town ahead of secondary and want a pleasant if somewhat bland experience (and are ok with far more Church stuff than “Christian Ethos” lets on), then it’s a sweet little school.

Thanks for this - really helpful. The big classes put me off a little bit too. Which school did your daughter move to?

She's at the Lyceum, which of course has it's own issues!

I've just posted a bit of a mixed experience on it here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/3038490-The-Lyceum-School-London-updates

Thanks @ExpatMomOf1 I will check out the thread. I like Lyceum too (the uniform!!) but I'm trying to avoid a commute by tube if possible.

Thank you

@CJA37 - let me know of any questions!

Hello - we are also considering Gatehouse and have got their offer.

Can anyone share their experence? I understand there has been a new Head since 2019. Not sure if it has changed a lot.

seems like is a school with fair amount of homework + acedemic focus

I believe it is the 4th or 5th new head in about as many years... hopefully it will stabilise a bit now!

We went to the open day after getting a place at the nursery. I spoke to the team anout the change in heads. They said its all just been an unfortunate run of things. The latest head's husband is very ill so they're moving out of London. The head who has taken over (Ms Korbay) has been the deputy for some time so should bring stability. Apparently she's in the role for the duration.

The children showing us around seemed happy. We couldn't get anything bad from them. I also spoke to the teachers whose classes we saw - they all said they were very happy and well looked after.

My feeling is that it'll be a nice school. Definitely academically minded/homework/prep for entrance exams featured a lot. I am pleased to see that art and music feature heavily though so I like to think it will be balanced. My thought is that I'd rather have somewhere close by than commute with my son, although if we were closer to Angel or Clerkenwell I'd look at different options.

thanks CJA37- do you have other school in mind?

we are also considering Riverhouse but seems like they have a long waiting list. My gut feeling is that Gatehouse is better, but would be interested to know what other parents think.

Gatehouse offer schoolbus service, so my dd will be taking one of the bus if we take up the offer.

I think the Nursery is the selling point of the school TBH. It is brilliant and they settle your children well and give them a great grounding. The school had a real community feel about it (bar the inevitable cliquey parents on occasion). So I would certainly consider it as a great choice for that year at least. However since making the move to three form entry it has lost a lot of that small school appeal. They still don’t stagger the playtimes for the main cohort of the school so it is overcrowded and therefore not enough space to run free. A common issue in some London schools but with a relatively straightforward remedy IMO. Perhaps moving to three form entry was greed. Who knows. It’s a shame. The other best aspect of the school is their sport. The Games/PE is fantastic and the head of that department deserves higher praise. It is so important in young children to have such a positive role model in this area. The teaching is not great in some (a lot) of classroom areas, namely the core ones as you go further up the school. They charge if your child struggles and needs more help and do nothing for those who need some more stretching. So, mostly feeding the middle of the road TBH. ‘School of choice’ is one of the strap lines but my guess is that is based on ‘only choice’ if you want private. Worth looking further afield and at various ‘states' too.

I have DCs at the Gatehouse, one joined nursery and one went straight into Yr1. Both are very happy and settled and really love the school and are very motivated. We live locally, and felt very strongly that a daily commute for better academic standard would be counterproductive. The recent ISE exam gave great overall results but raised the point of more able children needing to be more stretched. This is absolutely true and the school does not currently prepare children for entry into the more competitive selective secondary schools. The parent body is changing and expectations are higher so it will be interesting to see how the school responds. We expect to tutor for entry into City of London/ Westminster etc. Tutoring is fairly widespread among parents more focused on academics. The overall balance for our DCs, however, has been excellent, even if they have to do a bit of work outside school to spare them from cramming for exams to reach the standard later on. Their art provision is excellent (past nursery/ reception when they get the remarkably good art teacher), music a bit 'meh'. I have not heard of bullying and the children are generally pretty happy and well behaved. Based on other parents' reports, I don't think special needs or learning difficulties are generally met with great support and they will charge parents extra for any additional support.

Just wanted to throw this out there. We are now pulling our son out of Gatehouse. Not a fan. There is bullying and they don’t deal with it appropriately and just make it worse. They have new teachers that tend to make their students feel bad about not being “competitive enough” or “performing like they should” especially between the ages of 5-7. Avoid this school, if you want your child to be a happy individual, rather than a factory conveyor belt of zombies.

Thank you for sharing. Can you pm me or give more details please?
Also can you share your occupation/education level? We are very academically oriented and would rather have an academic school and focus strongly on academics.

Hi. I’d love it if you could share more details on this.
we are planning to move from south London to north London and this school is our top choice. Our son is currently super happy at Thomas’s in Clapham but we wanted to move north and it’s been so difficult to find a school.
there’s actually very little about gatehouse so I’d love more details from as many mums as possible!

I rather find it offensive I’m only qualified to say something based on my academic level, but here goes: a double bachelor’s and two masters degrees. All three paid for 60% by scholarships. I’m a financial consultant for five tech companies, as it allows me to take care of my child and pick him up from school. Prior to that, I was an international affairs journalist and analyst. I graduated from secondary school two years early. If you are academically inclined and just want to push your child, this is the best school for you. If you want a happy child, I would look somewhere else. As someone else mentioned, they throw all of the grades into the playground at the same time, so my child gets bullied by the older children a lot. There are much better schools a little further out of London and I think they would be more worth it. I would also mention that you do feel cut off from your child and their progress. It’s constant chasing for any help or updates. Five other parents are pulling their children to go to other schools too.

Climbergirl04

Wow can’t believe PP asked for your academic credentials!

I would love to know which schools you recommend. We considered the Gatehouse but decided it wasn’t right for us. I am struggling to find a school I love in the area though.

Gatehouse is a great school. My DC has been there for just over a year. She was made to feel really welcome by the other children. Her levels have really picked up and she's actually enjoying school. I've heard there is lots of prep for the 11+ and academic independent schools. This starts in Year 4 and then more so in Year 5. There's booster classes too. Don't believe all you read on here. If your instinct says visit then do so.

Avoid avoid avoid!!

I cannot believe that I am saying this because even 6 months ago, I absolutely loved this school. But it is no longer the same school as the one we joined. I think that the current headteacher is a problem. So many established staff have left within the past couple of years, some of whom have been there for a decade at least. And you get a sense of poor morale from the remaining staff. The head repeatedly sends out patronising emails that tell you how you should think and really do grate.

However, all this I could tolerate but they seem to be totally failing my DC educationally. I have been repeatedly told that they are doing incredibly well in class, only to now find out that all year they have been struggling to keep up and are well below expected level. I have tried to get some feedback regarding this, but communication from the school is beyond awful so still waiting.

Communication in all respects is terrible. We will be told with v little notice about upcoming plays / class assemblies which results in a very sad child as there is no way that we can take time off at such short notice.

From what I hear from other parents, the pastoral care provisions which the school were previously so excellent at, are too stretched to cover all needs.

Oh, and the fees have just been increased too.

I have to say - it gives me absolutely no pleasure to write this, but this is our current experience with Gatehouse. Unless things improve (which they show no sign of doing) then we will be leaving.

Hi there, I wanted to add on this. I went into Gatehouse thinking it was a great school and it is for the facilities - they have hot lunches and van services etc. However, for a private school, the class sizes are still the same as most state schools. There are too many waiting lists for music lessons and if your child takes the van to get back home, they cannot participate in any after school clubs. What I started to notice was just how much you don't notice at first. There are no happy drawings or artwork everywhere or child touches around the place. It's all motivational sayings "work harder" "try harder." Then they started to introduce more rules on the children - Quiet corridors, so they have to march in single file between classes and not speak or say hello to friends. A bit much for 5 year olds. The staff aren't very friendly (it's hit and miss) and a lot of teachers left. Then they started group punishments - so if one child in the class is disruptive, all of the children get punished. That was when I found it weird. The final nail in the coffin is that when we shared our concerns, they didn't address them and just said we had to accept them. When my child was resistent to homework, they kept him in a room with a pastoral care worker over break times to finish it. He's only 5 years old. The whole week they had the 7 plus exams, he cried every night before bedtime. I asked him why and he said it was because he wished his head was bigger so he wouldn't get confused and could please the teachers. Even when we put in our notice to leave the school, there was no email from the headteacher (who was cc'd in on this) of "why and is there anything to improve upon." I think that should give you an accurate view of our experience. Not everyone has this experience, but we did and I am even disappointed in myself that I got bought by all the shiny bells and whistles. Just because a school looks good doesn't mean it fits with every child. That being said, it could be a great school for your child, but it wasn't for ours. He's now at a new school and thriving. I've never seen him so happy. I absolutely enjoy chatting to the staff. I know exactly what's going on with him and the teacher is so happy all the time, whereas we had two teachers that seemed stressed and unhappy all the time. If you have a massively independent, strong kid, this is great for you, but not for mine.

Yes to all of the above! That has also been our experience!
But just to say, please don’t feel guilty because the school was totally different before. We joined because at our school visits, we were so taken with how happy a school it was. It is funny that you mention that artwork because the imaginative, really impressive artwork was something else that really struck me at our visit. Unfortunately, the brilliant art teacher who had been at the school for years left acrimoniously in the summer. And yes - lots of senior staff have done the same.
Personally, I think that these changes are due to the headteacher. She has been head for 4 years now, and was deputy head beforehand, and I think that it has taken this long for her to fully impose her personality on the school.

While I respect your views, I completely disagree. I am afraid you lack long term views, are you working in a decent job or a house mom ? Children need to be disciplined and perform at a young age. They need to learn to work hard and earn their place in society. Life is an uphill battle;the next generation will have environmental problems , climate change problems , too many people with a degree and too little jobs. In this environment only with a top degree from Oxford and the right character with the right values can succeed. I fully support the gatehouse school to focus on performance. If you wanna play go to winter wonderland.

While I respect your views, I completely disagree. I am afraid you lack long term views, are you working in a decent job or a house mom ? Children need to be disciplined and perform at a young age. They need to learn to work hard and earn their place in society. Life is an uphill battle;the next generation will have environmental problems , climate change problems , too many people with a degree and too little jobs. In this environment only with a top degree from Oxford and the right character with the right values can succeed. I fully support the gatehouse school to focus on performance. If you wanna play go to winter wonderland.