Fresh feedback on Emanuel school Wandsworth

[Turandot]

Could anyone share their recent experience re Emanuel school. It souds like a healthy break from major hot houses in London but we want to be sure it stretches enough the most capable ones too. There has not been any updates on the school since 2011 unless I missed it. It looks most appealing as our prep school is fiercely academic and very sporty single sex school which is not ideal for our son . Many thanks!!!

I tend to agree with other posters here. My DD is at Emanuel as well (Year 7) and perhaps the problem lies in that girls seem to do sports in the wrong order as other schools. For example, Emanuel does netball in term 1 and hockey in term 2, when most schools do hockey first and then netball. So the fixtures schedule for Netball in Autumn was not that great, with only teams A and B competing regularly against other schools, whilst teams C, D and E only managing one or two games. This is really demoralising for those girls who want to play, but admittedly are not at the same level as the more sporty girls in the top teams, who then keep improving whilst the others are left behind.

I agree with this, that other kids are just left behind when they aren't invited to training. Very demoralising.

I would add that I know parents over at Alleyns and they moan that they do hockey first and then netball when all the other schools / the surreys seem to be the other way round! Basically, the two sports should be both running.

As I said.
It is easily remediable.

Emanuel is co-ed, so won't be able to put out the same number of teams as a girls school would. Four squads is over half the girls in a year group, but would be only a quarter of girls at JAGS (similar sized)

The fixtures calendar is definitely netball in the autumn term (including all the qualifiers for regional/national level competitions, even though finals may well be in spring term); and hockey in the spring term, for south London, and indeed (because if the nationals timetable) I thought everywhere.

Just had a quick look at hockey fixtures for South London schools. Alleyns and JAGS have multiple autumn term fixtures, with a fair few (mainly tournaments) in the spring term. Surbiton High: multiple fixtures throughout both terms. Wimbledon High: mainly autumn term.

Utility Is this the site you used to check out the hockey fixtures?
www.schoolssports.com/FindYourSchool.aspx

That's interesting.

According to the links from the site linked above, JAGS has about twice as many girls as Emanuel, and has 14 hockey teams.

Emanuel has 10, so the chances of getting fixture experience must be much greater at Emanuel. The number of fixtures is same or greater for Emanuel for all teams except 2nd XI and U12C and D.

Teams which JAGS had and Emanuel doesn't are U16A, U14B, U13C and U13D

You can compare performance too - goal difference over the season shows which teams had a successful time, regardless if whether their matches were in autumn or spring. Emanuel seems stronger in the younger age groups, which - if it's true (as posted above) that Emanuel only really started with hockey a few years ago - does make sense

Turandot

Hello,

I once interviewed for a job at Emanuel. It's not a bad school but it's not fantastically good either.

My advice, as always, is that you should look at all the state schools that are close to where you live to see if they are any good. If not, you should consider homeschooling. One does not need to be in school to learn these days, when you can watch lessons from a computer screen at home and do online tests. Private schools are so expensive nowadays that they really only should be considered as a last resort.

Interesting, Wayland

Was that under old head or new head?

AnotherNewt

Was in September 2017, about the time Robert Milne became head.

Why on earth were Emmanuel interviewing for a Fraud Invesigator in 2017? Which is Wayland's occupation from another thread.

cakeisalwaystheanswer

I interviewed for a job as a lab technician. I've since moved onto Investigations.

Wayland: Were the labs any good at Emanuel?

Utility

Wayland: Were the labs any good at Emanuel?

From what I remember, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. They appeared to be well-stocked in equipment.

@glacindathetroll

24 girls train out of 70 odd, the others don't get a look in. So only 34% have a chance of making a squad. 66% don't ...

Hi - both my children are Emanuel and love it. They're not particularly sporty so I can't comment on most of the above.
However....in year 7 the boys who do not like rugby are given the chance to do Fives. Rugby was the only negative for my son so this option was/is fantastic. For the ten or so boys who switched, their parents all say that this made their first year at secondary so much better.
Whatever you think about the school, they do listen.

Two squads in a cohort of 70 is the same as four squads in a cohort of 140ish. So the proportion at JAGS is similar. I'm not trying to say whether that is good enough, just pointing out that comparison someone made earlier doesn't show that Emanuel worse.

And when Emanuel also has four squads (one year group only) and when it is one squad only in both schools, the proportion getting fixtures is higher than JAGS. I don't know what proportion of squad training is invitation only at JAGS (website isn't that detailed)

^Two squads in a cohort of 70 is the same as four squads in a cohort of 140ish. So the proportion at JAGS is similar. I'm not trying to say whether that is good enough, just pointing out that comparison someone made earlier doesn't show that Emanuel worse.

And when Emanuel also has four squads (one year group only) and when it is one squad only in both schools, the proportion getting fixtures is higher than JAGS. I don't know what proportion of squad training is invitation only at JAGS (website isn't that detailed)^

Thanks for that @GlacindaTheTroll - the problem lies in the 'invite to train', sadly that is just universal enough making hockey only for a small number of girls.

Does anyone have experience of music participation at Emmanuel, eg what level do you have to be as a string player to play in the orchestra(s), are they good at encouraging children or is it a select few who do everything?

Does anyone have experience of music participation at Emmanuel, eg what level do you have to be as a string player to play in the orchestra(s), are they good at encouraging children or is it a select few who do everything?

This is another of my bugbears ... there's little / no encouragement to get kids to ensembles / orchestras. If they are music scholars they have to, but otherwise it is optional - therefore my child basically chooses not to go. Sitting on the field looking at Instagram is preferable ..

Oh dear, yes mine would totally do that too if not forced to go!

IME it's utterly normal for all orchestras and choirs to be optional/voluntary (maybe a year 7 choir for half a term, or preparing for a whole year musical performance)

I think the question for any school should be what they have for the DC who is interested, not whether they force the uninterested into lunchtime/after school activities. The DC themselves have to find their tribe.

Because whatever the activity, schools will expect DC to be self-starters. So (again for any school) is information about clubs/activities/ensembles readily available? Do they have any kind of 'fair' for new pupils to show them what's on offer? Does the school have a newsletter where those activities can be showcased?

@anothernewt

There is a fair at the beginning of y7 at Emanuel.

I agree on being self-starters and actually if the kid is just not interested, but it goes a bit deeper than that at Emanuel, and a lot of the extra curricular just isn't cool, therefore, they don't participate. The lure of being with friends at lunchtime overrides doing something productive and even something they enjoy (god forbid!)

but it goes a bit deeper than that at Emanuel, and a lot of the extra curricular just isn't cool, therefore, they don't participate.

That's interesting. My feeling when we looked round schools was that Emanuel kids seemed to give off more of a sense of a culture of 'cool' vs most of the other schools where there was a more tangible sense of 'keen'. I wonder where this comes from? Is it self-selecting in terms of the kids that choose to go there, something to do with the historical position/perception of the school or something about how it is run now?

@waxandwane that's a good summation of cool vs keen. I think a lot are keen, the cool culture takes over. I would suggest it was a combination of all the factors you mention.

It will be interesting with the new Y7 how it changes as it is now perceptibly harder to get in.