Tooting Primary Schools

[Mharimaz]

hi

just thought i'd try again. we are moving to tooting. can anyone give personal feedback on franciscan, penwortham, links or furzedown primary schools. thanks

Penwortham has lots of good teachers, a tradition of good teaching and high standards and pro-active parents. As it's a Community School it has a measure of independence but also a very tight exclusion zone: check the map buried deeply on Wandsworth Council's website. The dep head was promoted to top job recently after the retirement of the long-standing head so steady as she goes. My 4.5 yo DS is at Furzedown. Judgement reserved. It's been a dull old slog though Foundation so far; usual mix of play and desk work, no outings, and promised swimming lessons just cancelled, no particular reason given. His teacher is OK, but uncommunicative. The school prides itself on art and music, and the art is excellent, the music, from what I've heard so far, significantly less so. The school was criticised in its last OFSTED for communications problems, and these seem to rumble on. Better organisation definitely needed. The head and deputy head (who is about to depart) both teach classes as well as administrating?
The senior staff at Franciscan seemed fine when we visited, but we noticed that standards varied widely from class to class. Some were excellent and some poor by comparison. Widely varying capabilities between teachers seemed to be the reason. One of the memorable moments was being handed the head-louse info as soon as we arrived. Not sure if this will help or confuse, but hope it sheds some light.