Frensham Heights

[Surreybubble]

Hi I was wondering if anyone could give me their opinion of Frensham Heights? We absolutely loved it at the open day and think it would be perfect for our son. The only negative I could find was some comments about there being a fair amount of chatting and moving around in lessons. Just wondering if that is really the case? Many thanks

[MigAndMog]

I have wondered about this too. I think my DD would love the ethos of the school but she can be sensitive to noise in the classroom. If it is proactive participation noise she would be fine but if it is background noise, not so much. I'm thinking the smaller class sizes would make it easier for her. Hope someone comes along with some experience of the school. We're considering upper primary going into secondary.

[EllieNBeeb]

Do you think there's a problem if students chat and move about if it doesn't affect their learning or do you believe students need to sit and stay quiet and be seen and not heard? If the latter, go for a traditional school, if you like what you saw at frensham, you can't expect them to be traditional-they aren't. Pick a school you share values with.

[Surreybubble]

I don’t think it’s a problem at all if students move around if it doesn’t affect their learning. That was really my question - was the chatting part of team work in lessons or was it just a distraction from learning?

[MigAndMog]

@EllieNBeeb

Do you think there's a problem if students chat and move about if it doesn't affect their learning or do you believe students need to sit and stay quiet and be seen and not heard? If the latter, go for a traditional school, if you like what you saw at frensham, you can't expect them to be traditional-they aren't. Pick a school you share values with.

Thanks Ellie. I guess my question is whether the chatting and moving around that makes it work for some might be too distracting for others. Like Surreybubble says, is it teamwork or other interactive discussion/activity which would be great or is it background noise that might not be helpful to some. I like the values, I'm weighing up whether traditional or progressive would suit a DD who can find background noise a problem.

[MamaTedd]

Am surprised nobody has answered in all this time. Thought it was a bit mean of the person who said pick a school you share values with- sometimes that's hard to figure out from an open day or brochure. Did you go for it OP? Also was not answering your specific question.

[MigAndMog]

MamaTedd, I agree. I would love to hear more from those already there. Some of us are trying to work out if it is the right kind of different for our kids and I think only parental/child experience can determine that. There's lots about it that would work for my child I think but she wears ear defenders in her state school class of 30 because she gets anxious that she can't concentrate on her work. She loves class discussions and giving input to those so that kind of noise is good but other kinds not so good.

[Surreymum321]

My son is in year 2 here. He mostly loves it. He’s done well. The negative is that there are only three boys in his class/year group and it’s like a pressure cooker with threes a crowd. I think he needs more peers his age and would do better long term in a bigger school.

[goldfinchonthelawn]

All I know about it is that some utterly brillinat teachers from DS's school moved to Frencham because they loved the ethos there, so lucky Frencham pupils.

[Surreymum321]

Which teacher of yours moved to Frensham? I’ll look out for them!