Quest Academy Selsdon, any thoughts?

[mossy99]

We have looked around this school and have high hopes that it will be turning around its previous poor record. Now under the leadership of the Coloma Trust. Could be an option for my son?

Leadership is undoubtedly very important.

I guess that I would highlight 2 things:
When it was going to become an academy, there was the understanding that the building was going to be rebuilt. This then seemed to be abandoned as funding was pulled. So you may wish to look at those plans very carefully.

Coloma is a single-sex faith school. The Quest isn't. I suspect that there are fairly few regular church attending families in the Quest intake. Whatever your views on state funding for faith schools it is often a form of selecting the most stable families interested in education.

That said it is hard to find 6 schools to put on a CAF in Croydon. I assume that you have already listed Riddlesdown, Warlingham and Shirley High?

Totally agree re the 6 schools in Croydon! Quest have received £14 million in funding and the new build will be in place for 2013. I found the headship team to be very motivated and do not want the school to fail. However they have a long way to go and we would be taking a leap of faith going there. Riddlesdown is on the list, warlingham too but we didn't like Shirley High. Harris Academy is also an option but still has a long way to go......the whole situation is a nightmare TBH!