Avon House, Woodford Green - Closing

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Another smallish prep school gone

Staff and pupils informed in the middle of summer holidays 4 weeks before new term starts

The usual crowd will be along to make excuses but I’ve never seen it this bad before VAT.

Oh no, whats happening, is it just a rush to find school places? Terrible for staff too.

I know this school well, and the staff. It was a big shock for everyone. The children are being allowed to apply to the other prep schools in the area but the poor staff!! So sad.

That’s shocking. Hadn’t they recently linked up with Bancroft’s and St Alban’s?

Just found the information. It was Bancroft’s, St. Alban’s and Woodford Prep. Am really sad to hear the news as I was a pupil there many years ago. Hope all pupils and staff find somewhere to go.

@Liverpoolxxx no, it was WGPS and St Aubyn's that joined the Bancrofts 'family'. Perhaps the owners of AH knew that the end was close. It was unusual though that they didn't join the family as they are so close and have lots of already established links with them!

I am a Avon house parent and been looking into WGPS and St Auybn's. I get the impression that WGPS is slightly more academic, with a "stricter" culture compared to St Ayubns which seems better rounded but also potentially less academic in the earlier years. Is that the best way to think of both schools?

My DS attends WGPS phenomenal school.I have had my older children that went to avon house and it has been awful.
I pulled them out as soon as I spotted the red flags with their teaching and standards overall. Do your research and read ISI reports it gives you a good indication to what will benefit your child.

My older children went to Daiglan prep and flourished and got into Chigwell and Brancrofts.

Next Loyola preparatory will be closing down their numbers are low though they claim they have limited spaces this is absolute false! taking advantage of the closure of Avon house. Loyola focus mainly on relgious education behaviour of the pupils are poor as found on ISI reports.
No diversity at Loyola only the south Asian community which is very noticable. Parents always communicating in urdu punjabi. Very unprofessional makes us non south Asians uncomfortable.
Poor teaching and a year one teacher got sacked this year after throwing a pencil at a child's face and this was only taken seriously after the parent took legal action.
AVOID LOYOLA PREPARATORY SCHOOL IF CONSIDERING as a back for avon house.

Why is parents communicating in Urdu unprofessional?

@WoodfordParent my friend has DC at St A and is very happy with it and has high standards academically.

Hello I am a parent at avon and its been a shock. I really liked the look of Daiglen, however I was originally at ursuline in ilford which closed the academic year before. So going to try a bigger school this time. (Once bitten, twice shy) My one kid is going to be at woodford and the other at St Aubyn's. I feel so sad for the staff, they were such a lovely team, my daughters teacher just had her baby. I hope she and the stuff will be OK.

My dd’s prep school closed this summer. So sad. It was a wonderful school but not as many parents choose to pay for prep schools. We moved to a through school in Ware as the bus routes were good for us.

It avoids anyone feeling excluded or concerned that they are being discussed. Also during school event's it makes teachers uncomfortable.

Why different schools for your 2 children - was that the only option?

I think the plan is that St Aubyns take 2 classes and WGPS take 2 more, so it depends on the year groups the children are in.
Bancrofts will also be taking the AH Y6 class.
So kind of everyone to make the space (obviously it benefits them too) despite the logistical arrangements that are happening over the summer break to help the children start off feeling welcome in September.

It’s not unprofessional for parents at a school to communicate in another language.

They aren’t working there. I’m a teacher and a parent and I’ve never once been concerned that people are talking about me because they aren’t speaking English. That’s quite paranoid.

Regardless, parents don’t have to behave professionally at a school they aren’t employed in any more than they have to behave professionally in an ice rink or a supermarket.

If wg, st a and Bancroft's can take the Avon house children then they can't be full. WG used to have a waiting list.
The nearby St antonys has spaces in several year groups (state school) and will take non Catholic children who would be okay with a Catholic education.
The falling birthrate rate is a major factor for both independent and state schools closing or reducing numbers of classes.

They may not be totally full in the classrooms that are currently there, but I do know they are repurposing other classrooms and using prefabs to accommodate everyone.
I am sure some parents are using the opportunity to move to state schools and some of the other independent schools in the area.

@TheEagerAmberRobindo/did any of your childen ever actually attend Loyola? It’s nonsense there mainly focus on religious education. There is an emphasis on the Catholic curriculum (clue’s in the name: St Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish Basque knight and mystic who founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1534). However, there is a broad curriculum and a real emphasis on all-round academics (which won’t be for everyone, of course).

There is much to recommend the school: continuity of leadership (the head has been there for ages), good teaching, a lovely community ethos with emphasis o respect for self and others. Of course, no school is perfect - but we found Loyola very good indeed.

As for parents communicating in a language that isn’t English: I think I have noticed that once or twice. In
any event, we others have said: it is not “unprofessional”. Professionalism pertains to work matters and the school does not employ the parents of its students.

Your post sounds really ignorant and not based on recent, real-life experience of the school.

I know a lot of families whose son's were at Loyola and they did very well (academically as well as sport and music). The equivalent girls school closed a while back

@Whyhaveibeencutoutofmamsnotthank you for taking time to corroborate our experience. I hate the idea that prospective Loyola parents might be discouraged from choosing the school because of one ignorant, inaccurate post on a parenting forum.

The parents I know and have seen dropping off their sons at Loyola have all been fine.
The st aubyns parents seem to just stop their cars where they feel like it on the main road and the Avon house parents take no heed of the children trying to get to the secondary school opposite and can be quite arrogant towards them.
Is the dyslexia centre still open (probably where the money is now)

They are putting them in bloody portacabins at Bancroft’s. All that money for that.

It must be disappointing but is it that surprising, though? If they’re taking a whole class they probably don’t have room elsewhere. Are the class teachers moving with them?

I wonder how much notice the schools got.

There was mumuring on FB about financial impropriety at AH being behind the trouble. Have any of you heard this?

@Liverpoolxxx exactly! They have to make some room and it will only be for the year at Bancrofts for the Y6 class. The Head of AH is going with them to teach them.

Regarding the reasons for its closure - we have to be careful when speculating as innocent people could get the finger pointed at them. I do know the reasons, what I will say is that no one that worked inside the school on a day to day basis was involved.