Cheam High School/Stanley Park High

[ChooseASchool]

NC'd for this as it's majorly outing!

Recently moved to Cheam Village, originally told that there was no room for ds at Cheam High so went for Stanley Park as it was voted TES School of the Year.

Visited SP twice and liked it a lot but the journey is less than ideal. Ds is due to start next week.

Now had a call out of the blue to say that Cheam High do have a space after all so dh and I need to go and visit it ASAP.

I'm not one to judge schools on Ofsted reports alone, I'm really hoping for some RL experiences/opinions...

Thanks in Advance!

Hopeful bump

Hi ChooseASchool

Don't live in Sutton but have DC1 at secondary school there (neither of the above two though) and DC2 potentially going to one of the secondaries there as well (top two choices are both in the borough but again neither of them those you're interested in). Also have one family of cousins who were all secondary educated locally across a range of four different schools (from Wilson's to Stanley Park), so don't take my word for it but...

Stanley Park used to have a poor reputation locally, although for them to win the TES School of the Year accolade one can only assume they're doing something very right indeed these days!

I think most parents would consider Cheam High to be a better school on paper but not sure what that's based on TBQH. One of DC1's primary school friends went there and is flourishing (although they got a place thro' tennis ability). HOWEVER their mother is not very impressed with academic standards (she is a teacher herself).

The best thing to do is visit both of them (preferably with your DS) on a typical school day and go from there. You should get a real feel for both schools, the staff and pupils in a way that you never will from reading admissions brochures and Ofsted reports.

A school can change markedly in even a few years yet sometimes reputations (good and bad) may linger significantly longer.

Good luck!

Yes, well aware that SP has historically not been well regarded but today it is certainly an impressive school.

Surprising about the Cheam academics since the GCSE% look quite good. I'll keep researching.

Thank you very much though!

Cheam High used to be highly valued in the borough for its tennis scholarships. Not sure if that is still the case.

Friend has sent her 4 DC there. 2 are at RG unis, the one who has graduated got a first from a non RG uni. One still there!

Another friend with a DC at SP who got excellent GCSEs but chose to move for Sixth Form . Yet another friend whose DC seem to be having/have had a good experience with SP's base unit.

Ds visited Cheam High this morning and liked it but not as much as Stanley Park... need to decide by the end of the week aargh

The journey isn't that bad from Cheam to Stanley Park - in the scheme of some journeys that children do to the grammars. Surely they can just get the train and walk up - lots of children do it.

Yes, it is not as bad as we thought so we've opted for Stanley Park.

It's a smaller school with an approach to learning that really suits ds. We met the inclusion team and they were so friendly. Plus, having one school building with a clear layout rather than separate blocks works better for ds. He starts on Monday

Hi
ChooseAschool
How your child is doing in stanley park.I am in same dilema but school is SP and norburymanor buisness college. your experience will be of great pls share.