Honest reviews of Thomas’ Battersea school

[SAW80]

Hi, just looking for some honest reviews of Thomas’s Battersea.

Are you looking for feedback on the Senior school? I believe their first Y9 cohort will start on September.

Yes that is correct but just wanted to get a feel of the whole school in general

Maybe asking in the Primary School section would give you an updated view of current parents?

Are you from the Daily Mail?

No just possibly a future parent at the school

Unless you have an actual place I don't think you will get much response from anyone.

I don't have first hand experience but also interested in hearing from current Thomas's parents planning to send their DC the new senior school, as DS has been offered a place and we really like the school on paper

We do have a place and in the process of trying to decide if to accept. We really like it on paper too but wanted some insider knowledge

@SAW80 , the problem is journalists read Mumsnet and create articles from the threads, anything said in a public forum about Thomas's battersea will be repeated every time they are searching for info on a royal schools story.
Choosing Thomas's battersea will take you into a new level of privacy restrictions etc.

we have received confirmation from Thomas’s that they have decided not to go ahead with the purchase of the Battersea site (originally due to open in Sep 23). The senior school will now be just based at Putney Vale. Very disappointed for those who were hoping to join the school next year at Battersea

@margarita20 where did you hear that?

Did they give any reasons? We were considering it for DD.

We'd not made any firm choices yet for 11+ though time is ticking down and that was one on our list as we are SW London.

Does the Putney Vale site have a large enough site?

costs and delays, economic backdrop but also the recent purchase of a new site for their Kensington prep. I visited Putney vale and thought it was good as a complement to the planned battersea site but not as the main school, quite small and limited facilities.

I agree. We’ve not visited but I’ve looked at the location and it’s on the A3. It’s not what I would have expected from Thomas’s.

it looks like they are sticking to primary education as their main focus.

it’s a shame as more secondary options within SW London are needed.

The senior school will also now just go up to 16. It’s a huge change from what was marketed and promised, the co heads are completely unknown and the site seems small for a secondary school of the size they plan. I feel sorry for the families who had faith in the school and have children in year 9/10.

And the website hasn't been updated to show any of this which is pretty poor as well. Yes I agree awful for the parents who had trusted the vision - now very let down. The royal family leaves and it all falls apart?!

The website seemed updated on Friday although confusing as the Putney site is shown 11-16 and the Battersea site 4-13.

yes. extremely disappointing and quite unbelievable to be frank. so many families relied on the promises made regarding the senior school. we are hoping a resolution can be reached.

i feel quite confident in stating that the majority of parents would have NEVER signed up for this plan - putney was never discussed as being an option for a full time campus, nor was the idea of being forced to leave at 16.

Peppa really interestingly I (ex parent) met up with two other parents recently (one ex and one still current) who were quite “involved” with the school at least at primary level who said that Putney had been “the original plan” for a senior school before the site next door came up.

I never knew this and I bet many did not, it made me slightly uncomfortable to hear that some “in the know” aren’t as surprised as others.

The marketing of Thomas’s “Battersea Square” was arguably fraudulent!

Hi! I am a current parent, and the worst part of this is how upset the children are. The Putney campus is not a choice any of us would have made. This does feel fraudulent, and I can't understand how this is even possible. Is there anything that can be done to change this horrible turn of events? Thank you so much for writing.

Re what can be done I assume especially given it’s not a registered charity, there isn’t anything parents can do. It’s a private business. All people can do is vote with their feet but of course that’s almost impossible at this time of year and disruptive for the children. We left at end of y6 last year, it was already clear that the now y7 would be spending quite a bit of time travelling to and from Putney. The Battersea site was already feeling overcrowded and with more children this year will be more so.

Thank you so much for your reply. I am hoping for a resolution that does not involve full time at Putney, nor the school ending at 16. I pray they can come up with some other plan, as this is so unfair to the children and families that uprooted or changed significant life plans based on the promise of a senior school. It wasn't even presented as abstractly as a promise would have been - it was consistently presented as a done deal. So extremely upsetting. Very happy that you escaped before this house of cards fell...

There cost of energy for schools, teacher salaries rising and expected increase in contribution to the Teachers pension scheme to be announced by the govt - the private sector has to pay whatever rate the govt sets - plus decline in birth rate and move of so many families out of London has put pressure on the whole sector. It's also incredibly difficult to recruit teachers in London esp with A level teaching experience. In Surrey the preps aren't full as there aren't enough dc to fill them. With Thomas's they also have the loss of the royal's. The 1 prep that is now bursting at the seams is Lambrook!
It's better the school group doesn't commit than commit to something that brings everything down.

Hockeygrass they purchased another building in Kensington for that prep and then pulled the senior school in the next door buildings at Battersea. I can assure you royals or not there is always a waiting list for the prep there (long term parent, since well before Royals). The fees rise each year as you’d expect and are currently amongst the highest I believe for London day schools including many private senior schools. This isn’t an inflation issue it’s a financial planning and commitment issue to something sold (missold as it transpires)

So disappointing for the parents and dc and makes it much harder to trust the school mgmt.