Nurturing non-selective primary - accessible from East London

[Rainallnight]

We’re thinking of moving DD (year 4) to an independent school. The behaviour and teacher turnover in her state primary is just awful.

We live in East London, very good tube connections.

Would love recommendations for nurturing, inclusive independent primaries. Strong focus on pastoral care. Not looking to get into a competitive secondary.

We’ve come across Dallington and The Children’s House. Are there any we’re missing? King Alfred a bit too far away. Would consider going east out to Essex, as long as it was connected by public transport.

Sne is so miserable currently. Thanks in advance for the advice.

Why wouldn’t you just try another local primary? Nurturing and non selective is the norm for state primaries in London.

@Rainallnight Rosemary works school

Because they’re all experiencing the same issues

Thank you! Someone I know actually took her DC out of there a couple of years ago so I’d ruled it out but I must explore further

We went through a similar thing and we ended up moving to north London where there is more choice.

In Islington, there’s also the Gower School. Victoria Park there’s the Gatehouse.

Towards Essex there’s Bancrofts? Or the other way, Colfe’s.

How far east are you?

Centrally, there’s the Lyceum.

But you’ll hit a problem with secondary in two years, presumably?

Thanks @hellodolly8 A couple of those I’d not heard of. Colfes looks lovely but a bit too far unfortunately.

We’re likely to leave the country in two years so secondary won’t be a problem.

I know a lovely child who went to the Gower but I didn’t tour it.

Personally, I found the Dallington a little too small when I looked around. I’ve heard mixed things about the Gatehouse, but if it’s only for two years and you’ll be leaving anyway, I’d tour them all and see what feels right. There might not be a place, but London is transient and fees have risen, so there might be!

There’s an amazing looking new school that’s just opened by Parliament Hill, but that might be a little far for you? It’s called Wildwood Nature School.

Gatehouse is quite close to us. It would certainly be convenient but it just feels a bit meh. I don’t see anything about it that sets it apart from anywhere else IYSWIM. Wildwood sounds amazing but alas it is a bit too far.

If you’re Victoria Park, I think there’s a Montessori near Canary Wharf… can’t remember exactly.

Do you work in the city? The Lyceum might be worth a look. It’s definitely the sort of school where the kids sit the 11+ though.

The Children’s House in Dalston has just opened for older years. It was always too young for us, so we never toured it. But an interesting option? (That I know you’re already aware of!)

There isn’t much in East London!

Cavendish girls' prep in Camden, 5 mins walk from the tube. It's academic and preps for 11+, but is non-selective and has a good arts focus.

If you're definitely thinking of an independent, bear in mind that a significant part of Year 5/ 6 will be focusing on entrances/ prep for independent secondaries. (Not the case in non-indies). In my experience, this tends to really dominate for the kids / teachers / parents, so you might feel a bit out of sync. Forest school might fit the bill as it's a through-school to secondary level, so many kids will be staying on and there'll be less focus on exams / leaving / 11+ etc. What about looking more centrally too?

Charterhouse in the City near Barbican might also be worth looking into.

Also you might look into Northbridge House Regent’s Park (soon to be Alleyn’s Regent’s Park).

I’ve had a terrible experience with the children’s house school recently where they broke the law with my child by holding a class to disclose his private medical information without our consent and referring to my son as having superpowers something we had specifically said we didn’t like, this has left him so traumatised and upset he refused to go back and we are still dealing with the emotional fallout of the schools unlawful disclosure. The school admitted they made a disclosure without consent and reported themselves to the ICO but have done a complete 180 when I requested my fees back (we only joined in January and by March they did this to my child). They have handled the whole thing appallingly going so far as now trying to claim my 6 year old vulnerable child gave them consent, they did not nor are they able to under UKGDPR laws. I would not recommend them at all. They only seem to care about their schools financial position and not the welfare of the children in their care.

I also note your kid is in year 4 there are hardly any kids in the upper years so something to think about, might be socially quite challenging, I have friends that have been put off by that. y3-y5 have very few kids, less than 10. y5 is 5 kids or something like that. Perhaps they are desperate and that’s why they have stooped so low trying blame a disclosure on my child rather than taking steps to meaningfully acknowledge the harm they have caused and to offer appropriate compensation.

From friends and tours: Gatehouse - like a really well resourced state primary with fantastic pastoral care and child centred. Rosemary works i found creepy. Dallington sweet, but unnecessarily off beat. I looked round the Lyceum and if I remember there were lots of classrooms in the basement and not enough outdoor space. Forest school in Snaresbrook has a prep school and is on the central line: a solid school, with great pastoral care and very happy kids.
There are loads of excellent state primaries in north and east London which I'd aim for first.

Current Gatehouse parent with a DC in the upper juniors. We have for the main been very pleased with it, it’s a nice school with a culturally diverse mix and for the most part has been very good education wise. It’s not quirky like some of the others mentioned, and in the last few years has become more academic but it’s provided a nice well rounded education with a focus on creating kids who are kind and confident. Lots of kids go to state not just private at end so while there is a focus on exam prep y5 there is also ability to opt out to a certain extent if you are not going down that route.

We have kids at the Children’s House (including Y4!) and love it. It’s a very special school with fantastic teachers and a wonderful community. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

Also a parent with kids at the Children’s House. We have only had very positive experiences with the school - staff are amazingly talented, caring and motivated, and the parent group is generally very friendly and welcoming. I would 100% recommend it.

@Rainallnight I hope you found the right school for your child, it's not easy. I'm not sure you're correct re: resources though? Larger state primaries attract a good amount of resourcing from government and can be smart with it; it's the smaller single form entry ones which tend to struggle. State schools in fashionable areas of London can attract good, ambitious young teachers, and fundraising by motivated, wealthy middle class fundraising parents can add a decent whack of extra cash too. By contrast private schools with dwindling pupil numbers seem to be struggling from what I've seen in London. I toured the Childrens' House recently and wasn't impressed with the teachers or resources vs our current state primary. The teachers seemed variable - some very good and some who didn't seem to have much knowledge esp. around SEND. Head seemed nice but very old fashioned. Site is tiny with no space to cook lunch so kids all eat packed lunches, and class sizes in upper years far too small. The head said she was 'thinking of buying' some iPads - er, it's 2025? It all just felt a bit behind the times compared to what we've experienced in a good state primary.

So sorry to hear your experience! By any chance, did you take your child out the school following the incident? We are considering viewing their nursery, with the intention to continue through until prep. And would love to hear more current or past parents experiences please.

@InsiderIntel might be better to start your own thread as this one is an older thread and you will get better replies.

I was about to recommend St Chris in Letchworth as a very nurturing school, but then realised OP will hopefully be sorted now as this is quite old!

@InsiderIntel if you want specific people to reply to you from this thread they may be more likely to see your message if you tag them in (@ them) or pm them

@muminherts I’ve commented on older posts and got great responses. Thanks. I’ll definitely tag the specific person though.

@Newbie1011 Sorry I responded to your comment above and forgot to mention you. I’d really appreciate a bit more detail on your tour to children house.

Hi @InsiderIntel, I have 3 kids at TCH and am very happy to answer any questions. I’m sure everyone takes Mumsnet comments with a bit of a pinch of salt, and always best to see the school yourself I think - but very happy to share my experience if you want to DM me!