Ravens Wood secondary in Bromley

[amarante]

Hello, we have just been offered a place for my son at this school. Does any one have any opinion about this school? Do you have children attending?

Any advise/info would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,

Lots of change going on at RW. For the better I've heard.

I have a friend's DS at Ravenswood. She was initially devastated when the school got a bad report from Ofsted a few months after her son joined the school having looked around previously and thinking it a good fit. She says the bad review was in hindsight the best thing as the school is now on the up and really making great strides. They have a wide range of needs and abilities in the school which has been a challenge but they now seem to be dealing with those different needs and she is looking forward that from Sept 2017 her DS2 will be joining the same school. She says she isn't looking elsewhere which is a major endorsement. I don't have any personal experience of the school.

It's quite a middle class school and is working hard to improve itself.

Free school meal % is around 10% which is quite low for Bromley (compare Bishop Justus at 23%; Ravensbourne and Coopers at 33% - national average is 26%) - closer really to the grammars -Newstead at 3% and St Olave's 2%.

New headteacher is bringing in lots of people.

Was it really a poor Ofsted report? I thought it was "good"

Yes, latest report is good but when my friend's DS joined it had just got a requires improvement, so as I said it was worrying at the time but they turned it into a positive and it is now good. If they get a RI the next inspection is often fairly soon after. I don't think any of the parents ever had any major concerns and it had often been a school at the top of people's list.