Ealing Fields or Eltborne? Would welcome views!

[solittletime]

I'm reasonably sure we have a good chance for both these schools, and would really welcome feedback from people who know them.

Obv ealing fields doesn't have a track record yet in terms of results.

Would especially like to get an idea of the 'feel' of the school and the quality of teaching.

Our children are clever enough, reasonably sociable, so pretty standard pre teens!

Thank you very much!!

Oh dear. That obviously should read Elthorne!

Hello! Bumping for afternoon traffic. :)

Ok.... one last try for the evening traffic!!

Elthorne Park you know what you're getting. There's a track record, it's established, and from what I know it's a good school.

Ealing Fields...well, you need to take a thorough look around and ask a lot of questions. That school has the potential to be great...it's in the right catchment area. But I know it hasn't all been smooth sailing there, the original head has left. Look around: can the staff there talk intelligently about the future? Are the teachers prepping the kids for GCSE and A-Levels? Do you get the sense there's a plan?

I want my children to go to Elthorne. Very good results both in terms of attainment and progress, caring environment. Ealing fields is currently being managed by twyford. I have no personal experience of it and it gets good results but it is very exam focused and I want my kids to happy (and hopefully do well).

Thank you. For various reasons I was never able to make the gazillion open tours that ealing fields organised so that is why I posted here!!
Would live to hear from someone who knows the school!

Oldest DC finished at EPHS a couple of years ago and left tor college, DC2 is in year 11, much more academic and will probably stay on for 6th form.

I would say EPHS is a pretty safe bet, especially if your DC are bright, Mr Wong seems to be doing a good job of pulling up the school and being open to change, they have interestingly just rejigged their sanctions procedure in a very sensible way.

I know nothing about EF but wonder why it has been taken over by Twyford, which I can’t help feeling will change the ethos of the school from what was originally described.

My daughter was at Both Ealing Fields in Y7, as a music scholar and Elthorne Park High School in Y8. Communications is excellent from all Twyford Schools and the four times annual curriculum testing from Y7 at Ealing Fields and all the Trust schools means that students' academic progress is continuously monitored and struggling pupils receive the right level of support. The disciplinary regime is harsh and inflexible. My daughter got 2 detentions for drinking water (at the wrong time in the wrong place) on the hottest day of the year, and a 3rd for doing the wrong homework. She had done homework, just the wrong assignment. So 3 detentions in one day for what many would consider to be minor misdemeanours. But the 'zero tolerance' approach is designed to hammer home respect for the rules. She experienced this again and again and found it profoundly demoralising. She was a bright kid but later diagnosed with ADHD so did not cope well with the whip cracking regime amid the highly neurotic social minefield of a state high school post pandemic where she knew no-one on joining from Montpelier Primary. Many kids from Little /Ealing, Christ the Saviour, The Grange were already acquainted. Many parents love the Twyford Trust regime and children thrive under it. You have to consider whether yours would be one of them. She did not thrive socially or academically there, fell in with the wrong crowd, grades dropped, along with self esteem. Some behaviour post-pandemic was borderline feral and staff struggled to manage it. The school has a strong music department, promising drama department, very rigorous languages teaching curriculum, (first Spanish, then French) good school trips (eg ski-ing, Madrid in Year 8) Iceland for geography later. Good use of Copia portal for curriculum material and excellent communications with parents. Teaching variable as in most schools. And if your child has suspected ADHD or any other issues impacting their ability to learn/thrive socially you must advocate for them as early as possible and and fight their corner every step of the way, noone will do it for you....

Elthorne Park High School is very impressive at open day, it is long established as good school and since a few years Ofsted outstanding school. Headmaster Mr Wong is a jovial and dynamic maths teacher with plenty of charm, drive and ambition for the school. They do a great Shakespeare Festival and excellent school drama productions with inspired staging and costumes and live musical accompaniment from talented teachers eg of Grease in summer 2022. There are an impressive array of extracurricular clubs and groups advertised but a lot of them don't happen in practise. The Design and Technology and domestic science options are good and greatly enjoyed by the younger years. The netball team by Y8 will already have been filled up in Y7. The parents meetings are perfunctory, online, and sometimes fill up so fast you can only talk to certain teachers. I have heard of many children thriving and you will see an excellent roster of attainment in the foyer showcasing high achieving pupils. But I have also seen disturbing footage of vicious cat fights in the play ground, heard about the proceeds of credit card fraud (in iPhones and cash) waved around in Y8, kids having their bicycle tyres punctured repeatedly by the same culprit(s), one Y8 kid arriving at school inebriated and/or high; of course most of this is probably standard for state high schools in London you just don't hear about it. Many teachers are conscientious and ambitious for the school and kids, and those who are focussed, mature and have a pre-existing friend group would likely thrive at this school, but going into it blind, especially with any social anxiety or being neurotic-atypical etc and propensity to be led astray or distressed/distracted by bad behaviour and you might sink rather than swim. And in a large school of 1400 pupils, this might not even be noticed, apart from at report time.

https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/stabbing-elthorne-park-hanwell-crime-16921057