West London free school or Hammersmith Academy?

[Whyisitallsostressful]

I’m a new poster looking for advice and opinions of parents who have children going to either of these schools.

What do you children like/dislike about these schools? What do you think are the strengths/weaknesses? Results focus vs pastoral care?

I’ve visited both and am no clearer as to which would suit my child better. I can see pros and cons to both.

Any thoughts would be really welcome!

My child has just started at HA, we had offers from both HA and WLFS.

We chose HA in the end, even though it is further away from home, mainly because of the curriculum.

I've nothing against studying
Latin and ancient history- all learning is good (and I really like the amount of music at WLFS) but I think my child (who is academically able) will get more useful life skills (and fun!) from doing DT and drama.

HA seems to have more of an emphasis on STEM subjects including ICT while WLFS values a 'classical liberal education'- ideally both would be on offer but that would take a private school I guess.

As for pastoral care I've not much to say- HA have a 'vertical' tutor group system which seems good. That means that the tutor group which meets for half an hour a day includes all year groups so the younger and older kids get to know eachother. Maybe they do that at WLFS too I don't know.

Anyhow I've friends and aquaintances with children at both schools and ,nearly, everyone is happy with their choice.

My child is very happy at HA so far but so much depends on the other children in the year/class and we seem to have struck lucky there because they haven't come across anyone unpleasant or disruptive (yet!).

The fact that nearly every subject is taught in mixed ability classes at HA did concern me as my own experience of that wasn't great but from what I can tell the exam results aren't so different between the 2 schools so fingers crossed the reassurances I got from the headmaster about mixed ability teaching aren't so much bs!

Good luck!

They both seem to have happy children and happy parents.

We chose WLFS as it’s overall exam results and progress eight scores are slightly better. We also liked the fact that WLFS has a very active PTA and school community, more so than HA which has fewer events that bring parents and kids across the school together.

Our child is very happy, but then so are the children of friends who chose Hammersmith Academy.

We are lucky, ten years ago there wasn’t a decent non religious secondary in this area. Now there are two.

My DS is in Y10 at the WLFS and he loves it. He has thrived since going there, musically and in sport. Academically he is doing well too and this is all down to the school, because he not someone who works particularly hard out of school ie. he will do his homework in the shortest time he can get away with. He must therefore get a lot out of the lessons. He has a really lovely bunch of friends. I find the teachers really enthusiastic and dedicated. I am really pleased he is there.