Advice to chose a high school

[ERissa]

Hi every one
we recently moved to west ealing and therefor my son whom start year 9 is out of school. he is in waiting list for Drayton manor high school which is very close to where we live. main while we been told that he has to start a high school which has a availability. we been given two choices first : Alec reed academy high school and second one is: Ark acton high school. I have no idea about them and would most appreciate if any one can advise me to what to do ? is any of this school are good?
Thanks so much for your time and advise

Acton High/Ark Soane is the absolute pits. As an ex-employee of that school, I can tell you it's one of the worst in London. Check out it's latest OFSTED - failed in every category. Fights on the daily. Kids bringing razor blades. Anything would be better than that place.

To be honest any undersubscribed school (ie any school that doesn't have a waiting list) in a big city is likely to be awful. This wouldn't be true in an area of lower population where an excellent school could be undersubscribed just because there aren't enough children nearby to fill it.

Do you know where your DS is on the waiting list for Drayton? If he is the top of the list then it might be that a place comes up. Is there any way you can either home educate or pay for private just temporarily? Also get his name onto the waiting lists for every acceptable nearby school, not just Drayton - quick search shows options might be Springhallow, Brentside, Dormers Wells, Elthorne Park, William Perkin, Villiers, Greenford, Belvue. There is no limit to the number or schools you can be on the waiting list for. (Nb I have no idea whether these are any good, but as they are all closer to you than the two you have been offered we can assume they don't have places) However people do sometimes just need to move for work or family reasons so if you are on enough waiting lists a place will come up eventually.

Thanks so much for your time.

So I’ve heard. Thanks so much for reply.

I'm not keen on academy schools but in your situation where only academy schools are being offered, I would choose Alec Reed because Ark Soane is in a very difficult situation for staff and pupils, if the journey is manageable.

Because the school that has just become Ark Soane this month failed its OFSTED in February, the Department for Education (DfE) required it to become an academy and chose Ark as the sponsor. There is a lot of staff unhappiness about the potential impact of this forced academisation and the choice of the Ark chain to run the school on teachers' work and terms and conditions, and I imagine many will be looking for other jobs.

By comparison, Alec Reed has had Good Ofsted ratings in June this year and previously in 2015, and there's likely to be a bit more stability. You can still look at other schools and waiting lists, assuming home education isn't an option, although if he's starting year 9 schools might be starting GCSE programmes this year.