Secondary Schools Google Reviews - Charter North Dulwich

[Destinationart]

Hi,
Charter North Dulwich Secondary School is hailed as one of the best state schools in SE London / Dulwich. I’m considering this school for my son for 2020, however, I’ve just read quite a few negative google reviews by children who have attended, those reviews have also been liked by many other children...do you consider google reviews as important when researching schools? And does anyone have any experience of rude teachers and lack of teaching at this school?

I wouldn’t even think to check the google reviews- many will be made as a joke from students. If you want to hear what it is like from a student much better to try and ask for first hand experiences in person if possible. Dd goes there and enjoys it- has a few teachers she absolutely loves, and some she likes less but that’s how it always is. As a whole, I’m very happy with the school and she’s thriving

SE London has many good state schools including the Charter schools.

No, I wouldn’t take any notice of anonymous reviews by school students.

My eldest goes there and we haven’t put it as first choice for our 2nd child. I think the communication is quite poor. Often telephone messages and emails are just completely ignored.

There are less GCSE options to choose from than other local schools and no automatic entry to the 6th form (where again I thought there are less options). However, whether that matters will depend on your child’s interests.

I’ve also had to raise a couple of safeguarding issues relating to bullying (both my own and other children) that I’ve witnessed. In fairness the school responded quickly to this and there were no further incidents afterwards.

I think they probably get good GCSE results as much because of their catchment area as the teaching- Dulwich Village and local areas has some very engaged parents. They recently raised a lot of money for the school via a high profile arts campaign which was in the news.

My overall view is that if isn’t as amazing as people generally think it is but I’m sure many will have a different opinion.

To be fair I’m not sure many state secondaries are the hottest at communicating with parents.

Though the 2 that I have had kids in are pretty good.

I know a couple of teachers at Chartter and know that the school is very ‘on it’ with individual attention to detail to stay on target: interventions etc .

What are your other options, OP?

One of my friends has been raving about this school and so had a look - the GCSE results are ok but not stellar are they?

But no I wouldnt look at google reviews.

christophertray the results are very good taking into account that it’s a comprehensive so very mixed ability

The problem with the charter is the ‘mixed ability’ is drawn from the local area which is very wealthy and have very involved DP. At least 80 DC come from the Dulwich Village school namely dulwich hamlet. I would be interested to see the results of the DC who attend Charter and don’t live on the doorstep. I live in the catchment area of the school but haven’t sent any of my DC there. There are some who rave about it as their DC are doing well and some in the gifted and talented section. However there are others who have had a bad experience with their DC being bullied or not being pushed enough as they are achieving a reasonable standard. As emphasis was the school stats not the DC. One of my friends DC went there in sixth form and was told their DD was setting there sights too high on the choice of university and told the DP to get her to change them. They didn’t and she got offers from them all. Everyone I meet has mixed views but if your not looking at the private schools it’s a decent state.

“One of my friends has been raving about this school and so had a look - the GCSE results are ok but not stellar are they? “

What represents ‘stellar ‘ results in a comprehensive school? The cohorts from last year are representative of the area as they are the cohort that was admitted after the old gerrymandering ‘path’ dodge was busted, and the new ‘straight line’ distance criteria includes the estates as well as the private housing.

The results are good for a comp, as far as I can see.

(My kids are not at Charter)

I have just had another look and they are good for a comp - lower than my local high performing comp but that is a girls school but still non selective but they aren't miles about the 'good' comps in my area - not enough for the clamour it produces I think.

It also has a 0.68 progress score which is abover average so it must be doing good things.

I suppose it is all massively relative to the comps around it.

My kids go there. We and they are very happy with it. DC3 has additional needs and they have been hugely responsive.

It's a mixed ability comp. it's not perfect. Go and visit. Talk to pupils and parents. Look at other schools to make a comparison. I wouldn't rely on google reviews.

I think the catchment was 800m last year.

Thank you all so much for your responses, they have been very helpful especially as some of you have direct experience and many of you wouldn’t take notice of the negative reviews. We have already visited the during the 2018 open evenings and my son loved it. Our other choice is Kingsdale but my son found it quite intimidating (mainly due to the size) further choices - absolutely no idea! Any recommendations which are not Private Schools?
We will be visiting more schools in the next round of open evenings. We’re in the catchment area and my children attend a local Multilingual free school.
Thank you all once again for taking the time out to respond...

Hi, my child goes to Charter ND and we're really disappointed with the school. Bullying is a really big issue there and they don't seem to have got a handle on it. My son is very unhappy and we are looking to take him out. They don't seem to have enough resources to do anything well, so some of the problems are not of their own making. I agree with a previous poster in that the school has a very middle class intake, so there is support at home and money for tutoring. So I don't think the results reflect the quality of the teaching; rather the class of pupil. Some of the teaching is very hit and miss. School reports are a real disappointment, as there are no teacher comments, just three categories and where your child is within them. The parents' evening is a chaotic: you have to make appointments online and if you can't log on at a certain time, there are few slots left. In some cases, there were no times left for certain teachers, so I didn't get to see them! I appreciate they have had their budgets cut, but even so - you should at least be able to discuss your child's progress with their teachers. I think it's probably a good school if your child is in the top cohort or has special needs, but if they are in the middle, well, it's anyone's guess. Oh, and sometimes, my child has no homework. Overall, well below par and expectations (which were't that high, anyway, but it was important for our child to go to a school within walking distance and Charter fulfilled that criterion). I have another child, who is much older and we felt that, at the time of secondary transfer, Charter wasn't good enough. She went to a comp well outside the borough and did really, really well, but with major input from us. We thought that school wasn't brilliant, but in comparison to Charter, it was like Eton. Sorry, would have liked to be able to be more positive, but speak as you find...

Thank you so much for your feedback it’s really important to hear from parents. Have you any thoughts on which school you might move him to? And if you don’t mind me asking, where did your eldest go?

There are always some children and families who have a disappointing experience at every large school. I definitely wouldn’t take children’s online reviews into account, but I also wouldn’t put much weight on any individual comment in Mumsnet! Having lived and taught locally for a long time I know a lot of families who have sent their children to Charter north Dulwich. Most of them seem to feel they’ve had/are having a good experience, although few would say it was perfect. I haven’t heard many complaints about bullying apart from the one above, but obviously it does happen. I think broadly parents of children who are well behaved and reasonably high achieving seem more positive than those who have children who have more difficulties, but that may be inevitable I suppose. Obviously, it’s not a private school or a grammar school and if you think you’re going to get Alleyn’s for free you’ll be disappointed. It has all the challenges of a state comprehensive, but one with quite experienced, stable staff (by London standards) and lots of middle class children with a lot of cultural capital.

Having lived in the area for more than 20 years and had a lot to do with the school over the years as a local resident, as well as a parent, i think I am well placed to comment. Since my last post, my son has continued to be bullied. The school have tried to address it and failed. Bullying is a big problem there. In the school’s defence, though, there is quite a nasty element that is difficult to tackle. I hear a lot of parents at the school complain about bullying. When my son approached a teacher for help, she ridiculed him in front of the bully! When I complained, their main concern was to defend the teacher! In addition, the school is on its knees financially-like a lot of schools, I grant you. It’s probably a better school than most state secondaries in s London, but what an indictment of state education that is.

My son had an issue with bullying and they cam down on the perpetrators like a ton of bricks. They were super responsive to me and I was very impressed.

Absolutely no Alleyns but we're really happy. It is hugely oversubscribed and the catchment shrinking annually. We're grateful to have got a place.

Came. Sorry

The Charter School is terrible

I have some insights from Children that the teachers dont care about their children and only care about their reputation at best.

One girl reported to us mentioning that one of the past teachers at the school told a child to kill themselves. Including saying that she doesn't belong in the school.
And because of some past interactions with a kid that did some sexual actions to the girl and has done this for a long time and the teachers didn't do anything about it

The school is criminal