Graveney Acadamey Tooting

[Tasharahman]

Hi all, my daughter has just sat her 11+ and will be attending secondary school next year. Myself and my husband and her mum are keen for her to attend Graveney Academy based on the academic results of the school and the previous offsted reports showing at outstanding, however we have been reading multiple reviews of the school and have come to find that bullying and racism, especially via the teachers seem to be a trend here. Can I please ask if anyone knows whether this is actually the case? and whether the school has followed a downwards spiral over the years? The last good review I’ve read on this site was in 2011. My daughter has been bullied in the past and I do not wish for her to go through a reoccurrence.

I have had a Dc at Graveney and never ever heard of bullying or racism by staff!

My observation it is a good school, with good teaching and good staff. However, of course it gets good results, it selects 2 classes out of 8 on super selective ability!

It hasn’t been in a spiral of decline! The music department is excellent, there are lots of opportunities.

It is a huge school and they don’t make best use of modern tech to
Put things online or communicate with parents.

Tne buildjngs are a bit shabby, and ghetto school is crowded. But I honestly can’t see that there is bullying or racism.

That’s bizarre: my typing on my phone is bad, but his ‘the’ became ‘ghetto’ I don’t know!

I'm not sure I'd trust the google reviews

Have you looked on the local facebook groups?

I've not heard of any bullying or racist teachers there

Florence, is the admission criteria changing ? Is that why it’s going to be even more difficult to get a place ?

The admissions criteria is not changing
The wandsworth test results have been sent out to parents so I'm sure the OP knows if her child is likely to get in or not

@florenceheadache - I think you are confusing the school with another

Graveney is a state school - there is never any limit on applications

One of my dc was at Graveney - it suits some children very well but is completely wrong for many others. If your child is a bright, motivated self-starter they should do well there but if your child has any kind of SEN, avoid as the SEN department’s funding has been slashed. The school is also frankly useless with children with any mental health issues.

The results are so good because 25% of the intake has scored exceptionally highly in the test and a significant proportion of the siblings admitted under sibling priority have only just missed out on a selective place so the school has many more high achievers than the average comprehensive. In my dc’s year there were 3 extension classes, all with 34+ children, 3 ‘upper’ classes, 2 ‘middle’ and one ‘support’ class.

The music department is good - sport and drama can be good but as it’s such a huge school only a small percentage of pupils get to be in the plays or in the school teams.

The school site is small and very overcrowded. The buildings are mostly shabby with poor facilities and the organisation of events like parents’ evenings is appalling. The use of technology is massively outdated and it can take weeks to get a reply to urgent questions.

I’ve never heard of any racism or problematic bullying so not sure what the reviews the OP mentions are on about. I do feel it is a school which very much rests on its laurels and is nowhere near as good as its reputation. My dc did not enjoy their time there and is now much happier at an ostensibly much less good institution but their cousin had a great time

Neither of my DC liked Graveney but I have several friends whose DC have thrived there. However, I do think it rests on its laurels (and thought the SLT attitude 'smug' on both open days I attended). My impression is that it has a high MC intake which no doubt helps it achieve the great results it does and many of the 'extension' pupils narrowly missed out on getting into Sutton/Kingston super selective grammars too.

“and many of the 'extension' pupils narrowly missed out on getting into Sutton/Kingston super selective grammars too.”
And vice versa, as it happens, getting a place at Graveney isn’t any less competitive, academically,

But of course it’s resukts are based on the intake. As are those if the Grammars. And Graveney, being essentially a comp with artificially inflated top sets demonstrates that Grammars are comps with the lower sets missing. It’s all one big Emperor’s New Clothes.

Graveney is a good school, from the 4 terms so far I have had Dc there. It is comparable to the other good schools I know of in S London. It isn’t hallowed ground.

And vice versa, as it happens, getting a place at Graveney isn’t any less competitive, academically, True but I'm just reporting on the scenarios that I knew of from DCs' friends. Some who missed out on getting into grammar schools got into Graveney (and did very well there). I can think of only one super bright (possibly brightest in whole year group) child from DC2's class whose parents preferred Graveney for her over the localish grammars. However, they're ideologically opposed to selective education, although surely Extension sets are by their very nature super selective?

They are! (selective).

For many the travelling is easier to Graveney.

And children who get in on distance can also end up in extension, and selective place students can also eventually end up in the set below extension. All based on tests / progress.

But the school has high numbers of high ability kids and aspirational families so all the upper sets do Well.

I do know kids who missed a place in the Wandsworth test but got a Sutton place: they are (or were a couple of years ago) different tests so suit different kids.