COLA Islington

[Reeewwwww]

I'd love to hear your experience (or what you heard through the grapevine) of the City of London Academy Islington.

Anything helps really, as we have an offer, but didn't get the chance to visit the school due to the pandemic.

Thank you so much in advance!

I have no personal experience but live locally.

COLAi replaced the old Islington Green school and has an Ofsted outstanding and good results. However, it seems to have no middle-class presence from what I can see.

Whereabouts are you roughly?

Thank you I appreciate your reply, Terentia! That's what I figured.

We live at the edge of Bloomsbury and I'm honestly curious to hear why this matters as places have been allocated?

I just wondered what your other local options would be, as there will surely be some movement on waiting lists.

I have to say COLAi was our fist state choice. Our second one was Central Foundation. I also put Holland Park and Fortismere. (I know we were way out for those!)

Can you tell me please where all the local middle class kids go to school? If they don't have a place at an independent school.

Local middle-class children do go to Central Foundation and—obviously not relevant if you have a boy—Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. There’s also a new COLA academy in Shoreditch Park but I don’t know much about it.

Or kids try for a good state school that is farther away. For instance, St Mary Magdalene is Islington’s most oversubscribed secondary and offers around 20 places to kids who do well on a language aptitude test.

Some kids try for the grammars in North London (Latymer and Queen Elizabeth Boys) but competition is fierce for these places.

Failing that parents choose independent schools or move house.

Are you going independent?

Oh yes, true. Mary Magdalene was on our list too, but I missed the aptitude test date and we're too far away to get in on catchment. So strange Mary Magdalene got a 'Good" rating, not 'outstanding'.

Our DC is currently at a prep school and we haven't managed to secure an indie place, that's why we're onto our state option now.

We could go and pay for a private 'back-up' school (for example Northbridge House), but that may not be worth the expense for us, especially since there are plenty of outstanding state schools around.

We could stay at our prep school and see what happens.

Interesting to hear this about CF. I wouldn't have thought!

Why do you think do local middle class parents not choose Colai?

You’re too far from Holland Park and Fortismere too!

It seems to me that London middle-class parents will turn up to any state primary with an Outstanding Ofsted. However, for secondary, they start to worry about peer groups and sometimes (though not at the schools I’ve mentioned) gang activity. So there are Outstanding secondary schools with little or no middle-class kids.

The secondary COLAi replaced was often called “the notorious Islington Green.” One local parent once told me “it’s still the same school.” Currently 45 per cent of pupils there qualify for free school meals (it’s 30 per cent at Central Foundation). I know parents who live nearby who didn’t even look at it. Here's a fairly recent article:

www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/education/national-education-union-calls-for-investigation-into-584-rise-in-3837860

thank you Terentia.

The article you posted mentions disproportionately high exclusions in 2019 from colai and that an enquiry was going to be held into this.

The great new is that the enquiry might have been successful and it looks like the authorities have now formed a what looks like a solid plan to make Islington safer for us all.

Maybe there's hope for a better future?

An outstanding school and a 5-year plan to improve youth opportunities bodes well for this school.

www.islington.gov.uk/~/media/sharepoint-lists/Public%20Records/Communitysafetyandemergencies/Information/Adviceandguidance/20202021/20201130YouthSafetyStrategy

I'd really appreciate it if you could put me in touch with parents who has commented that this is still the same school as the old Islington Green, please DM me if this would be possible.

And of course anyone else with feedback on all this, please comment here. I wanna hear it all.

I have no personal experience at COLA-I though some of my DC's primary school class mates have gone on there.

Full disclosure though, I did have some dealings with the school in a work context a few years ago and was really disappointed with how it was run - just seemed utterly chaotic. Things might have changed dramatically since then but I didn't consider it for my DC.

Thank you, deathbyprocrastination. That is very good to know.

Was this chaos that could affect the children or chaos in dealing with consultants / contractors / suppliers?

And do you know if the children are happy there?

I live locally and am amazed you put COLA as your first choice, especially if you live on the edge of Bloomsbury! Everyone I know avoids it like the plague, especially for boys. In terms of local options for "middle-class" kids, most go to Highgate Wood if you get in (we are literally just in catchment), move to Muswell Hill or go private. A couple go to Parliament Hill or William Ellis. Other options are Islington Arts & Media, St Aloysius, none of which are great options. It's well known that Islington is rubbish for secondary schools.

@Reeewwwww details might be a bit outing so I will PM you

Thank you @deathbyprocrastination

And thank you @Springrabbit! Could you say why people avoid it (especially for boys) please?

@Springrabbit are you referring to COLA Highgate Hill? OP has asked about COLA Islington

@Reeewwwww I can’t put you in touch with that parent, it was only a remark in passing.

Most people come on here looking for help with their decisions. It seems to me that you’ve made a decision and now you’re looking for evidence to support it. But I'm not sure any will be forthcoming.

I don’t have any knowledge of the school in question but I use this website a lot, obviously it doesn’t give the full picture, I’m sure given its outstanding status it has a lot of extremely dedicated teachers and strong leadership.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/135587/city-of-london-academy-islington/secondary

But it doesn’t mask the fact that this school is operating within some challenging circumstances: at first glance academics look very weak and 75% of children are eligible for free school meals vs an England average of 27%.

Thank you @HappyasLaura that website is very useful! I appreciate it. I gotta say half are on free school meals at Colai. Will look more at all those figures thanks to you.

And @Terentia hahaha! Sorry! I don't want to be 'that mum' asking for advice with an already made up mind and thank you for still chatting to me on here

I'm just trying to marry up the fact that there's this school with robust funding and full, glowing support by Islington Council (I called them yesterday) and full backing by the City of London, this school seems to be well connected.

It has a new building (sure, that fence! But let's compare it to Central Foundation), Colai has a state of the art gym and a leadership team that appears to have worked their buns off for the outstanding Ofsted report.

Yet, the Islington mums aren't even looking at it, holding onto the old reputation of the school in its previous incarnation and because of worry about mixing in the wrong circles.

But I get the impression that this school has a chance to continue the recent ascend and I hope that more middle class parents would send their kids there, and this vicious cycle will be broken and exam results will be up too.

And think about how great that would be for your area

We're considering the school strongly. And that brings me to the point, yes, I think I am defending it a little bit, but also because it's our only option right now.

Because frankly, I'd rather send my child there than fork out for a back up independent school or leave them at their prep with nowhere lined up in YR9.

What a few days. So anyone wrecking about schools right now, I wish you lots of luck.

Sorry, all I was talking about COLA Highgate Hill. Is COLA Islington the same as Highbury Grove?

OP - have PM'd you.

No worries @Springrabbit! The school I'm talking about is Cola Islington on Prebend St.

and thank you so much @mimble I'm about to reply to you.

OP, as the parent with a child at a local state primary, I’m already “mixing in the wrong circles.” And I’m not going to send my DC to COLA-I.

It is not your only option. In terms of state schools, you can join other waiting lists. You have said that you can stay at your prep school, and mentioned Northbridge House. Please explore these options. I can’t see COLA-I being a good fit for a prep school kid, so you are likely to end up taking one of these routes anyway. Why not do so without disrupting your child’s education and risking his happiness?

Central Foundation may be a better option for you than COLA-I.

The middle class parents in Islington favour St Mary Magdalene Academy. But Central Foundation and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (girls) are also good choices.

Strongly considering Colai too.. and I’m “middle class” … kids outside seems all well behaved. Parents I spoke too at pick ups are all happy and performance are better than many “middle class” targeted schools… follow your instincts!

How do you know there are not plenty of middle class kids there?
Our big state high is in a very mixed area in all respects & I'd have zero clue who was MC or not unless I followed them home & asked about parent jobs etc