Newstead Wood School: a warning

[AnonymousBeing]

I'm writing this largely because I don't know how else to protect girls from this school. In my seven years there I and my friends never encountered anything remotely resembling competent pastoral care, and I've been left with the impression that this school cares about its grades, and not about its students.

Due, I believe, to the high pressure environment and lack of support, this school is a breeding ground for anorexia, depression, anxiety and self harm. No support is given for students who suffer from these, and whilst I cannot say for certain there were rumours that such students were asked to leave the school if teachers felt their grades were affected.

Students are made to feel that anything below an A grade is a fail, and below an A is inadequate. Reward ceremonies after big exams are used to enforce this, for example at GCSE only students who get 7 A grades or more are recognised as having made a notable achievement.

Bullying is also badly tackled at this school. The school will do next to nothing to combat bullying, and students often give up and suffer in silence when their complaints are not listened to. Attempts to stop bullying largely consist of team building activities in the classroom, which are deeply ineffective. The school is unwilling to allow students to move class no matter how bad the bullying gets.

They are also generally unobservant; because they only notice students when concerned about their grades, if a student is high performing then learning difficulties such as dyslexia can go unnoticed until university if they weren't diagnosed in primary school. This can be an issue because a lack of diagnosis can mean a lack of support and a lot of confusion for both the child and their parents when there are things the child inexplicably seems to struggle with or cannot manage. As someone diagnosed with dyspraxia and dyslexia at university, this is something I have first hand experience of. Instead of help, my struggles were met with perplexed teachers and the suggestion that I change subjects so as to get better grades.

And certainly don't send your child here if they might want to consider anything other than university afterwards; Newstead will force them to apply to university in hopes that they will change their mind and will be entirely unsupportive of their plans.

I'm sure there are some people who have enjoyed their time at Newstead, unfortunately there are far more who have been left damaged by it. So this is just a warning; I have experienced Newstead and would 100% NOT recommend it.

(I have just been comparing the school to 'sought after;' schools in multi-ethnic London, and the figure of 20.3% is still HUGE by comparison)

Olave’s has an open catchment - I know of boys travelling from West london and central London areas.

I think there are too many variables going on in terms of what is recorded for official stats and the ethnic make-up of the school. None of daughters’ friends have English as a second language but they nearly all have parents that do, and still have grandparents abroad.

It says on the website 40% of students are from ethnic minorities

NW has had a terrible reputation for pastoral care for years.

Over 20% persistent absence is still massive. I never knew it was this high.

Cauliflowersqueeze the DfE performance tables give an EAL figure of 10.6%.

QE Barnet (boys) gives an EAL figure of 43.2% yet their persistent absence figure is 2.2%

Absolutely. The school is crammed full of highly motivated, aspirational middle class girls whose parents will be on the whole hugely interested in education. I can’t work out why their PA is so high.

Only other thing i can think of is a complacency / security [depending on your viewpoint] due to their historic outstanding Ofsted judgement.

If their results remain high, then it is unlikely that Ofsted will ever re-inspect it, which allows them to play fairly fast and loose with absence, if absence isn't a factor that Ofsted looks at when deciding whether an outstanding school might (unusually) require an inspection.

So while a 'Good', or even more a RI, school with a PA even vaguely approaching 50% of this level would work furiously to improve their absence statistics, so that Ofsted wouldn't find them wanting, perhaps an Oustanding school can allow termtime holiday, regular sickness absence etc etc because they believe that they will never be reinspected (unless results drop, which they won't because the school is so selective on entry) so it isn't an issue?

Pretty risky to turn a blind eye to PA at this level. Ofsted definitely look at absence and want to know exactly what steps the school is taking if it’s not where it should be.

What about historic figures for this? Do you know if it’s over years or just an anomaly for that year? I would be surprised if persistent absences that are so great and so different from other comparable schools would not be considered by the SMT.

That's an interesting question - and frustrating to answer because the Natuional Archive doesn't behave very well in terms of seaches / linked pages.

In 2011/12 and 2013/14 (I can't get the 2012-13 archive to behave), the PA was much more normal - around 6%. HOWEVER, the benchmark then was children missing 15% or more (so attendance of 85%), not 10% or more (attendance of 90%). i wonder if they were monitoring the old benchmark, and being very relaxed about absence lower than 15%, and this came back to bite them?

I’ve tried talking to my elder daughter about it and she doesn’t think there are major absences in her class apart from holidays (a girl in hospital for a couple of months last year). She said that study leave counted as an absence (for their mock exams) but I’m not sure why that would be any different to other schools nor how reliable that is.

Yes study leave does count as an absence if it’s before May half term. But that wouldn’t count as 1 in 5 students having attendance as under 90%.

cantkeepawayforever. Their results are slipping however, at A level. They were also not in the Sunday Times Parent Power league recently, which seems unusual.

This is totally inappropriate and could lead to legal action against you on the part of the school, OP. They will read it. There will be a general and well qualified consensus as to who you are too. I have no affilition with this organisation but worked for a private school for some years. Write to the Head, take advice and start action if necessary but don't do this! It's really not going to help you at all. It is a shame you feel so let down but this will not make things better.

85% is not a benchmark. It's 95% for the state sector so about 98% for private. If you feel your child has been treated unfairly, bullying a school with slander and flappy indulged parent power is not going to help. They will know immediately who you are and are entitled to raise their concerns with thid party safe guarding organisations accordingly. I do hope life gets better for your family but, seriously, this isn't the way to help anyone.

Perhaps it is attitudes like BearLeft's that is causing the high PA. If no one raises the alarm the school can simply brush it all quietly under the carpet.

BearLeft I could be wrong but it seems to me that OP was the child in attendance rather than a parent. I think most children/young adults would feel fairly intimidated at the thought of having to go to battle with a school that they feel badly let down by in order to resolve a problem. Slapping them with legal action would be rather insensitive in my mind.

Totally insensitive but legally acceptible. I worry when I read posts like this because I don't think it's in the OP's best interests to pursue this course of action. It's self- harm, not whistle-blowing (the latter of which I entirely support). I also don't think it's appropriate to cheer on a clearly vulnerable person who has, effectively, outed themselves here. The OP is clearly vulnerable and needs individual support. Gung-ho, ad hominem attacks on named organisations benefit no one and are best avoided, particularly by people who are fragile and/or confused. There are also the numerous other children who attend said institution to consider. This sort of vitriol helps no one!

who has, effectively, outed themselves here.

Really, so there are so few DCs unhappy at the school that you can identify the individual in the OP? Do bear in mind the comment I and my friends.

The OP is clearly vulnerable and needs individual support

And you think comments like totally inappropriate and could lead to legal action against you offers any sort of support for a young vulnerable person?

There are also the numerous other children who attend said institution to consider.

I see, so OP says nothing, nothing changes and those other children who attend are helped how?

I have already linked to another thread where other issues with the school are being raised and one of the comments made on that thread was "they do seem to think that by staying silent they are not highlighting their problems". It appears the school is not great at responding when issues are raised directly with them.

BearLeft,

Sorry, 'benchmark' was the wrong word.

In the most recent data, persistent absence is where a child has

BearLeft:
I doubt the OP is verifiable. She doesn’t say which year she left, could be anytime in tne last 3or 4 years, her diagnosis was after she left,

If the school object, they can contact MN and have the post deleted. There are a couple of other schools that do that. I have no knowledge of the most sensitive S London school to do that (KD) ever pursuing a poster.

There is no ‘vitriol’.

You sound as if you are gaslighting the OP: emphasising perceived MH and how much ‘help’ she currently needs (maybe none...) implying that
the issue is her and her perceived fragility.

You are also being alarmist.

Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

It is important that people don’t ‘out’ themselves, and actual slander is of course to be avoided.

But a simple reminder to a poster, or
hitting the report button for MNHQ will do the trick.

The OP has in any case precipitated posts which report a good experience, factual stats, and a discussion in general about high scoring selective schools.

That’s free speech for you.

They will know immediately who you are and are entitled to raise their concerns with thid party safe guarding organisations accordingly.

I reckon BearLeft works at the school.

That's a really nasty post.

And why on earth shouldn't people be able to post negative experiences of school online FFS?

Look around the boards - people complaining about shops, GP surgeries, NHS, social workers, many other government departments - why not schools?

In terms of parental pressure and competitiveness, the 11Plus Forum thread linked below is a glimpse of it. Are parents so invested in a school appearing in an opt-in newspaper league table? Keen to do down a competitor school...or could the whole thing be orchestrated by St O’s, trying to deflect criticism, and build their own 6th form by enticing NW parents? Anything is possible, out there in the mc Education Hunger Games arena

People need to check the Progress 8 scores for the ability band of their child, visit a school and check it’s ethos, atmosphere and environment, look into specific details like which MFLs are on offer, how many girls do science A levels or whatever is of relevance and interest, and drop this chattering class competitive frenzy.