schools in epping forest & harlow, essex

[anon123456789]

I'm trying to choose between secondary schools (state or independent) in this area. Does anyone have any personal experience to share about particular schools, good or bad? (All the things that don't show in the official reports and the league tables...) I'd also be interested to hear about grammar schools - Woodford County High or Chelmsford County High.
Thanks.

I work in Harlow and get off at Harlow Mill, the worst behaviour is from the children who go to St Mary's in Bishop Stortford.

That's because the nice children walk Bruffin

webwiz, doesn't say much for my dcs as they get the train to school as well.

However I do have colleagues with children at Passmore and St Marks. They both seem happy with the schools. However the one with a dc at St Marks says she may look elsewhere as it is very academic and she feels it may not be the right school for her son, who is very different from her other child.

My dd is at Chelmsford County High and is very happy there. I'm happy to try and answer any questions you may have

Woodford CH for Girls is actually in LB Redbridge. That and Illford CH for boys are the only two Grammars left in the Borough. Applicants from a much wider area, but hugely competitive - would have thought DC would need to be top 0.5% to have a chance. From what I have heard from girls at Woodford, many struggle to keep up, needing constant tutoring right through. Usually resulting from over tutoring to get in. Personally, unless the child is ver bright academically AND hard- working, would not consider.

The main independents that children from the Woodford/Loughton end of EFDC are Bancroft, Chigwell and Forest. All have 7+ as well as 11+ entry, 7+ is less competitive - used to be about 1 in 4 vs 1 in 7 entrants getting an offer. Bancrofts is the most academic. Have friends with children there, all very happy and doing well. Chigwell and Forest seem to fluctuate more in the league tables, with Forest doing better in recent years. I have also heard Forest have a higher numbers going on to study medicine but not sure the truth in that.

A lot of children from same area that don't make it onto the above go for St. Edmunds in Ware, Herts. School bus route goes through. Although listed as a Catholoc School, believe they take all Religions.

As for the Comps in the Epping Forest area, the best are only just above average. Being an affluent area, there's a bit of a brain drain into the independents. That said, they do appreciate and encourage the very bright. Davenant Foundation (Loughton) has a very good reputation. Not exactly a faith school, but you need to show have a 7 year record of church or syngagogue attendance to get in. Know kids there, but only in yr8 & 9 , but so far so good. Most of the others I know of have combinations of distance and siblings as main criteria. West Hatch (Chigwell) and Roding Valley (Loughton) both average or just above results wise - but very different so need to visit if considering. Know kids at both, mixed reports. Both generally have 4 or 5 times the applicants as places.

Seven King High in Redbridge also kmown to be very good.

Those Ive heard to avoid (mainly from primary school mums) are Debden Park, King Harold in Waltham Abbey and St. Johns in Epping.

Thank you all.

Mrs Bartlet, anything you can tell me about Chelmsford CH would be helpful really - eg general feel of the place, whether & how they balance stretching the bright kids against avoiding excessive pressure, what behaviour is like, the standard of the teaching, what the local area around the school is like for kids to walk through or families to live in, etc.

Circular, you seem to know lots!! The comment about risks of over-tutoring is helpful, thanks. Any tips on how to guage just how bright my bright daughter really is, prior to actual application? Can I push you, what mixed reports have you heard about Roding Valley? Any idea whether the new Head is making it better or worse? What is behaviour like? Are bright kids likely to be bulllied because of being bright and taking work seriously?

And what about Debden Park? From what I heard (& from improved results & outstanding Ofsted) I was getting the impression it could be becoming a good option. Do you reckon your contacts could be out of date, or do you reckon that the school may not really have improved quite so thoroughly as one is led to believe? What is it about the school that concerns people?

Same for St Johns - other than the obvious brain drain problem, what is it about the school that concerns people?

No chance of Davenant; excluded due to religious discrimination!

Thanks again.

Hi anon. Anytime I have been in CCHS it has always struck me as having a fun, lively atmosphere. As the majority of the girls there want to work, I think the teachers are able to be more relaxed with them and have a bit of fun.

There is a high level of expectation of what the girls will achieve (and that is in all areas - not just academically speaking). The teachers are aware that many of the girls could have a tendency to put too much pressure on themselves and so have explicitly told parents to tell them to stop working if they are going to unhealthy extremes!

The school is in a reasonable residential area near to town so easy for access to trains and buses. A lot of girls come from quite a distance.

Behaviour is generally good as most of the girls are highly motivated.

All in all it is a great school - dd is in Y9 and she loves going to school - I can't ask for any more than that!

Re gauging how bright your DD is, have you spoken to her current teachers re sitting 11+. Does the school she is at generally have children getting into Woodford? If they do, they should be able to advise. Otherwise a local tutor?

Re Roding Valley, not sure how long ago the head changed. I met one at the open evening in Sep 2007 - would that be the current head?

Thanks.
I don't think I could get a more enthusiastic comment about any school than CCHS!
As for Roding Valley, the new Head is Paul Banks, who seems to have started in January 2010.