Daiglen School Buckhurst Hill

[Alma27]

Hi,
I am considering sending my daughter to Daiglen School in Buckhurst Hill and I'm looking for feedback as to what the school is like. I'm hoping it will be a small, cosy, nurturing environment, not too pushy. My daughter is quite shy so I'm hoping the small class will allow teachers more 121 time so she can grow in confidence etc.
Is this a realistic expectation, does anyone have any feedback with regards to this school please?
Thank you!

I understand, but I don't think you can comment if you haven't been part of the upper prep and not experienced any of the ' 11+ prep' with your child, how would you know? Hearsay? If not ?? Professional unbiased opnion?? I know many kids who attend other 'highly sought after schools' that are intensely tutored each week for 11+ including schools mentioned in this thread. Parents don't discuss as they want the competitive school places for their child. Tag rugby and sports events were around pre COVID. I don't know when your child left but things aren't as you say in your post.

The latest full ICI inspection report is out (June 2022) and the findings are excellent across the board, backed up by the fantastic 2022 11+ offers (8 pupils, 17 offers including 7 scholarship awards).

My wife and I took a tour of the school recently and were very impressed with the pupils, teachers and facilities! Considering putting our DD in based on our impression, recent inspection report and 2022 academic results.

Anyone with children currently at the school able to provide some 'inside' feedback please?

Having had my DD at the school until y2, I have a mixed perspective and unsure I can wholeheartedly recommend.

There were some teachers who were excellent and it had the family feel/ nurturing environment we wanted for such a young age - however when my DD left the school due to us moving out of the area, they did not give a damn - literally like she was dead to them. It was appalling and it laid bare that you are a cash cow to them.

This permeates into other areas where the school showed preferential treatment when it came to disciplinary matters to children who had siblings - because to agitate those parents could risk losing more fees.

During her time at the school there were serious incidents that I could not state on here for fear that this post would be removed; however we were unhappy at how the school dealt with them - again - both boys involved had younger siblings (potential fee payers). Also we noticed harsher treatment to children of East Asian descent, of which we had a number of friends; I figure this is because quite often they weren't tied to the area and were geographically/academically mobile. Again this was laid bare when the parents informed the school that their child is moving.

I was showed around the school in case they wanted our DD to stay on, and what struck me was how sad it looked. It seemed the the pupils had outgrown the school; the classroom looked small, dingy and there was no green spaces for them to run around and be kids.

There are some strong advocates of the school on here, but likely because they have multiple children there and that it's the only school they know. Fortunately our DD was/is academically able, and with extra support was able to get into her preferred school. However, other less able children do not seem to flourish at all; in fact more the contrary which is heartbreaking.

Having written this, I would summarise to say that I would not recommend this school despite there being some excellent teachers and assistants

Wow I find this review to be quite shocking. As my earlier post suggest, my child has been at this school for sometime now and none of what you have said echoes with me (although let's be honest you have not provided much detail into your specific incidents - which is totally fine, but it makes it very difficult to relate to or make further comment on).

You also focus quite heavily on money/cash cow/losing fees - seems very arbitrary given this is an independent, private school.

In terms of classes and approach: the school is very small, centrally located just behind the high street and so of course it is limited in its facilities and potential expansion. All of this is very clear from a visit and I am not sure why you are suddenly surprised after 2/3 years that your DD attended said school?

For us, the classes sizes, feel, attitudes and general approach of the school are why we chose Daiglen in the first place. I am not sure what "academically able" means in your post but our child has thrived here so far, as has the entire class (which have been together their entire journey).

All to say that to each their own, but I said at the beginning of my post, I was shocked by your "review" and therefore felt it appropriate to provide my own insights and try to comment on the limited insights that you provided in your own post.

Definitely not about to get into a back and forth with you on this subject. I responded to your post in order to provide another perspective, that's it.