Alleyn’s taking over bits of North Bridge House

[JessyCarr]

Alleyn’s have announced they are expanding into north London - seems in fact they are taking over (or giving their name to) the Regent’s Park and Hampstead sites of North Bridge House. Seems Cognita may have some continued involvement? They don’t say what if anything will happen to NBH Canonbury:

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/elite-dulwich-school-alleyns-to-open-offshoots-north-of-the-rive-for-first-time-in-400-year-history-b1213399.html

Thank you for your reply. That aligns with the impression I had based on my correspondence with them. At this point, it all feels like too much of a leap into the unknown for us.

I would add that the sports (which are already basically non-existent at NBH) will be affected by the change. They are planning to convert the sports hall out of its current purpose so if your kid likes sport this will not be the place for them as they don’t have their own grounds. The school overall is not managed well in the slightest and I don’t see that changing with the Alleyn’s takeover as the staff are remaining the same

I live near the RP site and the students use Regent's Park and Talacre for sports a lot - I am always seeing them around. They dont do any swimming at all though.

I was referring to the Hampstead site but should have made that clear, sorry about that

Sadly any positive changes that Alleyns propose are thwarted by 3 or 4 Queen B parent reps who somehow control the Headmaster and don’t want the school to do anything that benefits the children or staff.

They do go swimming by the way

Ah, it was the Year 6 kids who showed me around who told me that! No idea why they say they don't.

So Alleyn’s are toothless in this supposed partnership?

Yes, and so I fear all the new parents who have joined expecting the Alleyn's ethos are going to be disappointed, until the old NBH Queen B's move on from Regents Park! And I presume the same will be the case in Hampstead...

Apparently, I’ve just heard that teachers at both sites are being paid very little by Cognita — significantly less than at other private schools. As a result, many teachers are unhappy. It seems that Cognita may be spending a large proportion of its budget on marketing.

There is also word that many parents in Hampstead are deeply unhappy with the current teaching. It’s hard to know exactly what is going on or why there appears to be limited investment in recruiting and, more importantly, properly paying high-quality teachers.

Hampstead NBH is disappointing I hear. With the headmaster being pushed out but yet made to stay this whole year the school is a chaos! Those who can are looking to leave… not sure what the “partnerships” is all about but it may take them 5-10 years to change the school.

Oh dear @1212vidi! I don’t have skin in the game as my two are at a different Hampstead school, but the only family we know with a child still at Hampstead NBH have decided to move him before GCSE courses start.

Uhhhh not surprised from what I hear. It does look like the school is reaching (reached) the bottom. I know y8 parents who have just managed to get their child out and they told me that it was not the environment that they would pay to have their child in due to many factors. They said that their newly appointed head master who isn't starting until September was more interested in talking about himself rather then they children and changes that they would make. My friends said it was their deciding factor to move as they couldn't see any better changes happening soon enough… we are relocating and finding it difficult to find a school…