secondary schools around Fulham - HELP

[bnc13]

I'm late to the process and under pressure to chose the 6 schools for submission to LBHF.
Lady Margarets looks great & is v close so my first choice. Hurlingham & Chelsea doesn't sound great. Fulham Cross ?????
then I'm thinking other boroughs. Anyone know about Chelsea Academy? or Pimlico Academy? Other considerations include Holland Park, St Thomas More, Sion Manning & Kensington Aldridge Academy.
would love your view.

Name changed for this. I'd be very wary of choosing Holland Park at the moment.

I am a Holland Park parent. It is probably one of the better ones of the selection you mentioned. I will go through them...

Lady Margaret - very nice, know girls there - very happy, difficult to get into.

Hurlingham and Chelsea - sadly the local sink school no-one wants

Fulham Cross - up and coming, worth going to see

St Thomas More - nice school but you have to be a practising Roman Catholic and your child must be baptised (not as strict catholic criteria as others)

Sion Manning - used to be the sink school of Ladbroke Grove but now OK, Roman Catholic but generally easier to get into (perhaps check the distance of the last successful applicant last year). Academic results are not great but improving.

Chelsea Academy - unless you are CofE and worship in the Kensington Deaneries, very little chance (but depends how close you are). Also possible music aptitude route. School seems ok but the behaviour of the kids is quite bad and it has the lowest achieving kids in the Borough along with Sion Manning.

Holland Park - you are likely to be too far but perhaps try the art aptitude route which does not take distance into account.

Kensington Aldridge - you may be too far away. It was built to absorb the north Kensington kids and other local areas. The school only opened this week so an unknown.

Pimlico - no personal knowledge but a poster on the greycoats thread describes it as popular and up and coming.

Others to consider - Hammersmith Academy? West London Free (cross yourself and spit)

Lady Margaret's is very good my DSD went there for a while.

My niece goes to Fulham Cross and is doing very well there, as did her older sister before her.

No to Hurlingham and Chelsea.

Ashcroft Technology Academy in Wandsworth has an outstanding Ofsted report.

Another thing op, is that for aptitude places you need to apply ASAP as they are carried out well before the application deadline, so you know the outcome beforehand.

West London Free School is great. My son loves it. It really is a very good school. Small too.

I drive past Pimlico academy daily and they seem to have great buildings, but I don't know much else about it. I suspect it has a fairly large tough contingent but it is a v mixed area, so probably a good range across London society. History specialisation I think

Dorasee - can I ask, please, how they have resolved the premises issue? That's put a lot of people off (as well as the Toby Young Is Ghastly factor, of course).

Hi ArcheryAnnie, Two important things: the school has undergone a totally necessary and exciting sea change under the astute guidance of Dame Sally Coates, a force to be reckoned with. I found this very positive and exciting. This is an awesome school and I felt last year that this formidable school had become a rudderless entity, a place filled with spectacular teachers but stranded by weak leadership. This seems to have changed completely and I have total faith that this school is finally on a permanent path of success. It really has been a 'clean sweep' process, but so necessary. The new dynamic head is really on the ball ( I feel very strongly he will last- prior to him, they hired heads who, imo, were underqualified and not up to the task). Toby Young , since you mentioned him, has stepped down as trust Chair and is now a part-time CEO. There is a new Chairman of the trust in place. The site news is this: years 7&8 are at the Cambridge Grove site. The 9&10 pupils are at the brand new Bridge Avenue site. Don't know what's happened with Paddenswick House. It doesn't bother me because my son loves being in a small school and is totally happy at the Cambridge Grove site. I used to worry too much about the site issues as well, but actually, I love that my son is a big fish in a small and intimate pond. I just love that he is really happy at this school. That's enough for me. One day, WLFS will be a big, sprawling institution with loads of students, like every other secondary school. I am grateful that my son is enjoying it now at its inception. There's a lot to be said for small schools. The teaching is outstanding... really, one thing they promised on the open day was that our kids wouldn't be there just to learn, but to love to learn. That promise has totally been fulfilled. It's a great school. Can't praise it enough.

That's good to hear, dorasee. The only WLFS parent I've met recently was at a birthday party, and she got quite tearful talking about it (and not in a good way).

Agree with Archery - there seems to be more negative comment these days. Particularly about the turnover of teachers

Bargepole - why do you say that?