Highgate Woods versus Fortismere

[sdra]

Want to buy in the area but unsure where to place ourselves. Prefer Crouch End/Highgate rather than Muswell Hill but would go further up if Fortismere really is better. Can anyone give an idea of each of the schools? Not just exam results, but feel, what pastoral care is like, facilities, teaching strengths? I know (from here) that Fortismere is more tutored kids/middle class feel but perhaps Highgate Woods is actually better in terns of pastoral care. Would this be correct? I do like the area around Woodland Gardens way. Would this give me a chance to get into both? Secondary is still quite a long way off but obviously don't want to have to move again. We do have the option of private too but Highgate seems so incredibly difficult to get into.

@winterrabbit it's really not fair is it. Our good friends have 2 DDs at HGW and they're paying for their DS to go to Mill Hill. I don't know what planet that head lives on but all he seems to do is complain about the Tories. I don't think exams are all there is. They have such huge grounds they could do so much extra curricular stuff. Doesn't seem to be a bother though.

Why dont you visit the schools and ask questions. It's Highgate Wood not Woods. They are all very different schools and totally depends on your child.

Alexandra Park is very sporty. Tons of clubs!

@Meadowbreeze do you have any info about parkview? It's our local school but never seen it mentioned on mn before.

@ThreeFeetTall Nothing new, no. The only person I know who went is now 22. It's not the most popular which you probably know. Most local girls choose Hornsey Girls to avoid it.
We did look around it in 2019. Open evening was really good but their results are really bad. Our tour guide was swearing and just complained about the school. Intake is difficult but I'm sure they try. The head was lovely.

Thanks @Meadowbreeze

I actually went to both if these schools for a short while. Went to HGW for two terms in y7. It was massive, I found it very scary. Very aggressive and intimidating. I didn't feel safe there. My brother, who was in the year above me was so violently attacked and bullied by boys in y11 that my parents decided to take us both out of the school. I went to fortismere for 6th form and wish I'd gone there from y7. The kids were all so confident in themselves and very smart, lovely bright eyed teachers. I felt really well supported by the staff. This was 15 years or so ago though so not v helpful.

@ThreeFeetTall
My 2 sons go to Park View - we live about 5 minutes away and we went to two open evenings with DS1 - PV's open evening was much better. DS1 has made a lot of friends who also live very close to us and a couple a little further away. Some of this area has gentrified quite a bit in the last few years and I think PV could do quite well out of that. I did decide though that as my kids are the ones who have to study there they should have the choice.
Question about Greig? Actually I know quite a few families who've made a positive choice for Greig over the last few years, and the Tottenham primary where I'm a parent governor has a couple of senior staff on the governing body. I would have taken DS1 to the open evening but Y6 residential was the same week and he wasn't even interested in having a look.
It's true that some parents choose Hornsey Girls in Crouch End/Stroud Green for their DDs, and some DDs make that a positive choice. A local friend would probably have chosen PV for her kids herself but DD1 chose HSG and DD2 chose PV. Her DD3 has chosen HSG for Sept 22 on the basis that DD1 is 4 years older (DD2 2 years older) so there won't be an overlap for long and she won't feel in her shadow - which actually sounds like a very sensible and perceptive decision to make at 10/11! At secondary, if your kids are able to get to school by walking/public transport they don't necessarily have go go to the same one, though I appreciate that distance criteria might mean you have to choose if moving is an option.
It does annoy me that kids at Tottenham and some Wood Green secondaries have to go elsewhere to study at 16. I think some of the information here about results might be a bit out of date, but at A level bear in mind that a lot of school based sixth forms in the west of the borough are very much selecting for good academic results in the first place. While I think my kids are capable of doing very well (or getting quite mixed results if they don't put in a bit of effort) I'm quite sceptical of results if schools only take A grade/potential Oxbridge students in sixth form and weed them out in the first year of the 6th form.

I would take the views on some Haringey schools expressed here with a large container of salt, particularly if they're based on information which is 5-10 years old , is third hand or both.
Even if you think you need to make the final choice (not your kids, as I did) I would suggest talking to them about what's important to them.
And if you feel that your current family home is somewhere that you're happy and that it meets your other needs, is it really worth moving for secondary school?

Finally, this is not a comment on the quality of any particular schools because it's about more than 30 years ago, but a few years after my dad and his 2nd wife broke up, my stepmother moved to London with their kids and settled in Stroud Green (not very far from HSG). My sister went to Henrietta Barnett, then as now a selective state girls grammar, for 2 years; my brother to a similar boys' school. But they both moved to Woodhouse College at A level. Both went to medical school so they did ok. I think education standards across the borough (and the country) have improved hugely since the 1980s.

Kids who live round there might go to Highgate, Channing, South Hampstead, Habs, St Margaret's, Northbridge house......

HWS had an Ofsted in November - report says Good and sounds encouraging. Fortismere had its Ofsted in April or May - no result yet which is odd and suggests that school not happy with result. Worth waiting to see what Ofsted says - it was 'oustanding' but that was over 10 years ago.

@DSstateDDprivate that's interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if they're contesting it and it would also be surprising if they're still outstanding.

I don't think the teaching is bad at HWS, I do think the lack of anything other than teaching is really not great. They never have trips, clubs are ran by students etc. It's not fair really.

Fortismere school downgraded by ofsted

www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/education/fortismere-school-downgraded-by-ofsted-9325902

It's not surprising considering how tough it is to get "outstanding" now. Even Latymer was downgraded.

Both are excellent IMHO.

Although in this case an OFSTED report may have been delayed because it was contested, it's not the only reason why there are delays. In the case of my kids' school's last OFSTED, we went from RI to Good (in 2016) so absolutely wanted to be able to announce our result as soon as possible, and there was a very long delay because there were lots of mistakes in the draft report. made by the OFSTED inspector who wrote it, that really needed to be corrected first. The inspector was also quite slow to write the report. It was annoying because another nearby school that has had the same ratings as us since 2013 but remained much more popular even at RI was inspected by a different person the week after our inspection, and they were able to proclaim their result within a couple of weeks - ours took MONTHS.

Re. elkiedee - Fortismere Ofsted definitely contested by school involving lawyers, LA etc. Suspect they were given a R.I rating but their exam results were excellent. DS considered Fortismere for 6th form but stayed at HWS and so far, so good (A Level results were pretty good). HWS seem to be keen to improve 'extra curricular' and more clubs and this term has been better.