Prendergast Ladywell Primary School or Haberdashers Hatcham Primary school?

[Sims1703]

Hi all. My children have been offered a place at both schools. One is close to work and the other is near my home. I visited Prendergast Ladywell and really liked it. I haven’t yet been to Hatcham Primary School but will soon. If anyone has any experience with either schools, could you please share your opinions? Thanks in advance.

I have two kids at Hatcham Primary and it’s brilliant. (The one on Hundson Road, there’s a sister school with a confusingly similar name which is also v good.)

The head is inspirational, it’s genuinely a primary where they always strive to improve even more whether it’s the pastoral care or the teaching or how they involve parents. Class teachers and music are great. There’s s huge range of extracurricular clubs, some run all year, most change term, most are free though gymnastics, karate etc are £50 a term. My kids have done card making, yoga, cheerleading, boxing, debate club, chess club, board games, face painting etc and also rollerskating - taught by the head. SEN is brilliant, one of ours was highly anxious and was able to access decent support. Plus it’s got v flexible wrap around care.

I would definitely recommmend visiting; however at primary proximity to school is SO valuable. I have a friend with children at Prendergast Ladywell and they’ve found it to be excellent as well.

i believe they are both feeders to secondary schools, Hatcham College and Prendergast Ladywell, if that’s a consideration. My oldest is at HC and it’s great so far. Vast majority moved up from primary. I know through friends that far fewer moved up to PL, perhaps because girls opt to go elsewhere. Again, proximity is v valuable though!

@wtftodo Thanks for your response. Hatcham Free School was actually my first choice but unfortunately there aren’t places available.

It’s great to hear that your children have a positive experience at Hatcham Primary. I love that they have so many extracurricular activities available. I’m also very impressed by their curriculum.

I’m glad that your friend’s children are happy at Prendergast Ladywell, I got a good feel when I went there and my children also liked it. Do your friends’ children participate in any extracurricular activities, if so, do they enjoy them?
Someone had made a comment to me about Prendergast being a bit “rough”, I don’t how true that is though.

I’ll definitely visit Hatcham primary first before making my decision.

People make all sorts of comments about schools in London, that often disclose more about their perspective / bias than anything else...I'm sure they might make the same comment about our school but from the inside, I know it's lovely and genuinely diverse, across all metrics, and inclusive. There are children with very different home lives/circumstances and everyone is celebrated. And this is reflected in the P8 (progress 8 / value added metric); children make really good progress at the school whatever their starting point, whether they are classed as "disadvantaged" etc.

Prendergast - I know my friends' kids have had access to subsidised music etc too, not sure about everything else.

I still would recommend proximity (and gut feel) over all else though!