NC as I’m an insider and a Southfields local so can comment authoritatively but don’t wish to out myself.
There is a huge amount of snobbery involved. Twenty five years ago Southfields Academy was the local school of choice to go to, but as the area has changed and demographics with it, it has been overlooked. There are also a lot of myths, some of which I see being perpetuated here.
Not sure I agree with OTR about Wandsworth schools “sadly aren’t great”. We have some great schools in the borough, and some not so great. The SA intake, like many schools such as Ashcroft, Burntwood, Ernest Bevin, St Cecilias, Ark Putney etc, is very mixed – we are, after all, in a very multicultural place. In my experience, the children at SA behave no differently at the end of the day than children at the schools mentioned above. Stand at West Hill or at Southfields tube to witness going home time at Ashcroft and St Cecilia’s, for example.
Inside the Academy, there is a strong emphasis on discipline, which students largely comply with. There are clear boundaries and if these are broken, sanctions are used. I have to say, and again from experience, that this is done in a warmer, more humane way than at a school such as Ashcroft. Behaviour was poor under a previous leadership team but that has changed and disruption in classes is now few and far between.
There is a very strong desire here to see each child as an individual, academically and personally and to bring out the best in them. Our GCSE students last year came in each breakfast time and stayed for late afternoon booster classes, all because they know their results are so important. And their results bear this out – we rank above a number of schools many would consider to be better academically – and we are non-selective which makes this even more of an achievement.
Unlike an increasing number of local schools, we won't kick a student out at 6th Form because they aren't making the grade. We take a large number of students from local schools who do this and these students go on to achieve excellent results here and go on to great universities, including Oxford and others in the Russell group. For info, some of these students are achieving Bs and they're still not good enough for the other school's 6th Forms - not great for a teenager's self esteem.
In terms of teaching, it is excellent. Proof of this is the school being third in the borough for Progress 8 – the measure a child makes during their time at secondary school. Disregard Harris’s results, as they removed a number of students who weren’t making the grade – google or ask them for more on this.
The leadership team at Southfields is very impressive with a vast amount of experience. It is a very stable team and the whole academy has a real, warm community feel to it. Pastoral care is very good, much better than others I have experience of.
In terms of the website, this has just been relaunched, so maybe you looked when it was still the old one or it was in transition? Do have another look.
I believe that we are the only school in Wandsworth to offer a personal tour at any time of the school day as we have nothing to hide. We give access to the whole site and prospective parents can speak to any student, not just those wheeled out who won't put their foot wrong. We have had a lot of parents through at recent and previous open events and they are amazed at our facilities in comparison with other schools. We have open events next week so perhaps come along to one of those, and then maybe book a personal tour where you can talk to the SEN team etc?
We are one of several SEN bases in Wandsworth and again, in my experience, the best one as we are equipped and willing to deal with children with a wide range of learning difficulties. I know some schools aren’t keen, increasingly, to take SEN students as they are under great pressure to achieve good exam results but the view here is, why should any child be denied equal access to a good education?
In conclusion, and sorry for the essay but I feel very passionate about this, you really should come and have a look so that you can see for yourself and make a decision based on that - not just what's being said here. And I extend a warm invitation to all the other posters on this thread so that you can see first-hand how good what we have on offer really is and maybe change some of those opinions, many of which are unfair and out-dated.