Highams park schools

[Hrand]

Hello! We are moving to highams park and wondering what is the best primary school. I’m looking for a school which focuses on the pupils well-being, creative rather than academic pushy and has wrap around care? It’s hard to tell the vibe of a school from a website. I will go and look but would love to hear people’s experience. Thanks

Selwyn has just been given an outstanding Ofsted. They have a really good balance of academic and creative support I've heard.

They also have a really good SEN dept with issues identified early and children being supported very quickly with SEN qualified TAs. I think that speaks volumes about the school.

They have loads of enrichment activities and they do a lot to encourage fun learning. One year they transformed their playground into Neanderthal caves I think, with actors, and they cooked their lunch in the forest school garden on fire. Something like that!

Handsworth has gone downhill I think. That used to be the most popular school in the area, but the school doesn't not deal with bullying well, and doesn't support children who aren't middle of the road very well either. Not stretching those that could be stretched and not identifying those that need help early enough. There is a culture of coasting I think which is a shame as a few parents have moved their kids to private schools because they feel the school isn't meeting their needs. Communication between teachers and parents is poor, and no work is marked so parents have no clue about where their children need support at home. There is 'verbal feedback' but some kids report that that doesn't happen in reality. It's just a stamp in the book.