Chiswick Schools - Orchard House vs. Belmont Primary

[MarMeg]

Good evening!

I live in Chiswick and was offered a place at Orchard House, starting in nursery for 2023. The school looks lovely, their destination stats are amazing but I have heard it was a bit of a "hot house" and mental health for my child is very important to me. Also wondering if the merger with Chiswick & Bedford Park is a good thing. Any thoughts?

We would also be considering Belmont as we are very close to the school (although this is not guaranteed). Is the academic level as good as Orchard House? The destination schools don't look as brilliant as Orchard, but is that simply because Belmont parents choose state schools for secondary and the nearby state school aren't the best?

Of course OH is expensive. We could do this, but I'd like to make sure this is really a better option AND my daughter would be happy there.

Would appreciate your thoughts! Many thanks

Orchard House is very results driven - they are a business and both pupils and teachers are judged on scores in standardised tests and entrance into socially impressive schools. It does have excellent pastoral care thanks to caring teachers but teacher turnover is high. School entrance exams are very stressful for children, parents and families as a whole. It's a whole year with one target and the academic learning is all about passing exams - this is true for any school which participates in this system. The school has good sport and extra-curricular activities to help offset this but in the end it's a race to the finish - not a lot of time for calm contemplation or exploration of ideas not on the curriculum. The focus for OHS management right now must be on the amalgamation with Chiswick and Bedford Park - a major logistical challenge on many fronts.

Orchard House are now owned by Dukes Education. They also own Radnor House (secondary) and they recently bought a new massive site for this school which they are due to refurbish and open in a couple of years time. So the risk here is that you are eased into their new secondary and the focus on 11+ diminishes. Which may be fine as probably no or a reduced version of 11+. But. Dukes are a business and you will be ransom to the ever increasing fees if choices are reduced. They will need to pay for their investment and then some to compensate their private equity investors sitting quietly behind Dukes. So, it may be fine, but very expensive, and at worst, expensive and not so good a provision either.

I would rather do Kew Green or Ravenscourt for the same play into Kew House if I had the choice. Look into the Ealing and Kew options too.

Hello, I am a OHS parent and what queenvictorvictoria wrote resonates. Great sports and drama. Not yet quite sure where the school is headed since the Dukes acquisition - but feels like now more business like. But then there are a few of those in London. I feel the fees are on the upper side and a watch out. NB: You are still far from 11+ - our experience with the lower school has been great and never felt any mental distress. Like everywhere a lot will depend on the teacher and you will have some fabulous ones and then some more average ones.

If you are only focusing on the academic results, OHS is probably a good school, which is the only advantage I can think of. Some teachers just don't like to communicate with parents and they do not give enough attention to young children. I don't think the lower school is worth the money.

Please have in mind that the stats look optically not bad as most of the top leaver places are due to girls and many times it is the same person who got the offer of all these top schools as people apply to around 8 places (yes, even people in the top academically speaking)…also for that point note, that it is so much easier for a girl to get an offer in a top school as for the odds of places available to girls (much more girls schools vs boys schools in run area) and lower birth rates of girls vs boys. My feeling also is that OHS is catering better for girls vs boys especially when they go up in years.

Many thanks for all the replies. We have the same dilemma so it’s great to hear different perspectives.

Hi everyone, we are looking at Orchard House as an option for my children and wondered if anyone had any feedback post the merger and acquisition by Dukes?

Our second option is RPPS which we are hearing more positive things about but we did really like OHS, especially the focus around sport and the location which is much more convenient for us, but we keep hearing second hand stories that it has gone down hill. Any first hand feedback on OHS would be so appreciated.