Our lady of Victories vs East Sheen Primary School

[Renee8]

Hi there,

Would really appreciate candid opinions on the following.
My DS is due to start reception this Sept and has been accepted into Our Lady of Victories primary school (OLV) in Putney. Yay! great school and I am very excited because I didn't think he'd get in as it is always over subscribed and hard to get into so I had it as my third choice, with East Sheen and Barnes Primary school as my first and second respectively, as I live slightly closer to East Sheen.

Well, he didn't get in East Sheen initially but got OLV so I was happy. However having visited the school for an information session and a look around, I saw that it lacked diversity in a big way. In a classroom of 30 kids, my son would be the only black kid and there would be one mixed race kid, the rest all being white, don't recall seeing any asians/brown skin kids etc. Same applies to the staff. I saw a black PE teacher but that was about it. And I looked in all the classrooms from reception to year 6. I love everything about OLV but this lack of diversity having little to no black/Asian and other ethnic minorities concerns me, especially in this day in age of 2022.

I don't want my child to feel like an outcast. I want him to see people that look like him, and I him to feel like he belongs. Is this intentional to only have one or two non white kids to tick a box? I am worried about micro aggressions etc towards him.
Would appreciate if someone can shed some light on this please.

Secondly, there is now a place for him at East Sheen and I know that to be a great school also and having visited, there are a few more children of various ethnic backgrounds given that it is a bigger school (x3 the size of OLV) and it is also academically strong, slightly even better than OLV, however I love the faith aspect of OLV as we are Christians. Also a couple of his friends from nursery will.be going to East Sheen so at least some familiar faces.

I am now reconsidering OLV for the lack of diversity, nothing else.

Would appreciate thoughts/experiences on this please.

Thanks in advance

Firstly isn’t OLV catholic and not CoE? They are properly a religious school and therefore naturally this limits the diversity. I think East Sheen also has slightly more diversity than Putney. East Sheen is a great school also. If you live in east sheen then I would go for east sheen, navigating the upper Richmond road daily would be hard work.

Thank you so much for your response. Yes OLV is a Catholic shool and not CoE. The diversity at OLV is literally non existent, and yes I live closer to East Sheen. Infact I will have to use the Upper Richmond Road regardless of which school I choose.

Appreciate more opinions on this from anyone else.

Catholic schools tend to be quite diverse communities. Odd that OLV should not be. That would put me off, too.

I would imagine this just reflects the cohort applying. In general the Catholic schools in SW London have higher percentages of European families - so lots of families from traditionally Catholic countries - Spanish, French, Polish etc and that may well result in fewer black & Asian kids than other non-Catholic local schools (you can look up the EAL percentages online). So there’ll be lots of diversity when it comes to languages spoken at home but maybe not so much when it comes to skin colour/ethnicity and almost zero diversity in religion obviously!
There will definitely be no box ticking exercises to achieve certain numbers or types of student though (apart from faith for a Catholic school) as the admissions criteria for oversubscribed schools in SW London are pretty clear and straightforward.
They are both excellent schools OP. To me it would come down to whether you prefer a smaller more family feel that a small school like OLV would provide or whether you prefer a larger school which might provide better facilities and a larger selection of clubs etc.

Totally agree with this!
Just reflective of the local Catholic population.
Both good schools- go with your gut or the easiest journey!

@LivesinLondon2000 , I think you've hit the nail on the head with all your points. My first time going through this schooling system so I'm learning loads but totally agree with what you've said. Thank you so much.
I've decided to go with East Sheen. It's a great school that's diverse with good facilities, great academic performance and also a larger selection of after school clubs and activities on site. Plus it's slightly closer and a bit more straightforward to get to than OLV.
Appreciate your input.😊

@Hihohihoitsofftoworkmaybe agree, thank you so much 😊

Hi there, came across this thread and was looking at our lady of victories as well. Do you think its more diverse now ? Has anyone had a recent visit ?

Thanks