Claremont fan court school

[indevirg]

Any feedback on this school? Considering it alongside Halliford for DS.. all insights would be helpful! DS quiet, not sporty, arty...

Claremont was always the cheaper option for private schooling or if your child wasn't quite academic enough for other private education.

Am I the only one to find some of these comments quite “othering” and insensitive? All these references to it being people’s bottom of the list and kids going there being “nothing special” academically, bottom 25%? There will be different schools for different kids and for those parents with children there who are loving it and others who are thinking about it - I think it would make me feel a bit rubbish. (Neither of my two go there but we are very local).

I know lots of children who are very happy at Claremont. I dont think it is especially hard to get in to, however, that doesn't meant there aren't any very bright children there. I know one family who turned down a place at LEH for Claremont as they thought it was a better fit for their bright but sensitive daughter and she is thriving.

@taj0112 but the op wanted insight. If you have a child who is academically average, who is “meeting expectations” but rarely if ever “exceeding” at primary, this is a good choice.

You are the paying client. If you have a child who is top of their class, exceptionally academic, wings every test, then this is not the best choice. Such children tend to get bored at non-academic schools and want to be stretched. Otoh if you have a child who struggles or is perfectly average, they would hate the “hothouse” highly academic schools.

These are all private schools, you know your children and you try to fit the school to their personality (and the schools likewise give places to the children they think will be best suited, hence not just an entrance exam but also an interview and a school reference).

Or you send to the local comprehensive where you get the full range of ability (as at state primary) and no pre-filtering to suit the child.

Oh and look at the leavers’ destinations, you will find a few top results. So yes, there are some super bright children. But our local comprehensive gets similar results. This school just isn’t an academic hothouse. It does have lovely grounds, great pastoral, small class sizes, happy children. Our local comp, of course, has 30 per class, few facilities, less sport, fewer clubs, etc etc. If you have the money, you are paying for that private experience. Having friends whose children go here, the parents certainly don’t feel a “bit rubbish”, many are very privileged! and those I know seem very pleased with themselves and their choice. Though I do know one who scrimps and saves to make it happen. But they have made the decision so their children have a good experience at school, avoiding any usual social problems. It’s not a fair system, but then nor is capitalism. Fwiw I have gone the private route, but I find it deeply unfair.

@Academeo what you have mentioned is really useful. Thanks.

@taj0112 I asked about ability because I want to know if my child has a chance if getting in and whether it would be the right fit for him! If you go to a Prep school they usually sit you down in y5 and give you guidance on that but the state school my son is in does nothing like this so other than the vague categories of expected/below/above expected progress, I haven't got a clue!

I'm with @guinnessandblackcurrant on this. I've had 2 kids go through Claremont recently and I can't speak highly enough of it. Mr Brierley has been head for 4+ years and has made a big impact. It is not super academic but not everyone wants or needs that even for very clever students. I live locally and it's reputation is on the up.

Hey everyone - sorry I didn’t mean to offend at all! Absolutely of course everyone wants and needs to know about ability. It was just more the language used but perhaps that’s something I’m a bit more sensitive to. Fwiw I’ve got children at two different local private schools too and I’ve been keen to read all about them!

Admissions person from Claremont last week said 110 Cat score plus to me. That's not in the lowest academic 25% at all.

Berrylina - what made you feel uneasy about Claremont? Was it something specific?

@BleuNoir if @Berrylina hasn't visited since Mr Brierley took over then that's got to be 4 years??? (Happy to be corrected though).

I’ve been for the camps recently. Since there’s a new head I would definitely suggest you follow the other advice. I know one child who has gone there recently if it helps. They seem happy.

@Berrylina what are the camps? Is that holiday camps?

thank you.

Some years ago a fellow dog walker told me that she had taken her DD out of Reed's, (they only took girls in the sixth form then, ) because the boys were so dreadful, marking the girls out of ten every morning and generally being misogynistic.

Oh yes holiday camps run by an external company.

Are the governors at Claremont and senior staff still expected to be practicing Christian scientists / have an affiliation with Christian Science?

I've just shown your comment to my child who is even prouder of their A*AA at A Level now knowing they were too thick to get into anywhere else 🤣
Pretty impressive 'valued added' from Claremont too, to get such great results from such poor beginnings 😜

@guinnessandblackcurrant Congratulations to your DC. That's an amazing set of results!!

Could you confirm something? A friend looked round recently and said 18 children were doing A-Level PE. She was quite surprised by this.

Would that be the case - is that really true that many people study PE at A-Level there?

If children are doing Art, PE and Art History for instance - that's quite a different set of A-Levels to Maths, Further Maths and Physics.

There is misinformation on this thread - might be best to read the school website (e.g. re A level results and Christian Science), and go and see it for yourselves, rather than speculate

@BleuNoir I'm afraid I don't know, my child isn't there any more. They said the biggest classes when they were there were probably psychology, history and biology.

I'm 10 years out of school but I grew up in the area and Claremont was definitely in the "rich and thick" category back then.

@Ohwellwhateverthen , that is such an unhelpful comment. The school has completely changed since then. They run a mini bus route that starts at Mortlake train station in East Sheen - that shows how large the catchment now is. I'm not a parent but it's a really happy popular school.

It was a happy popular school back then too! But not very rigorous academically, and very expensive. That's still the truth as far as I can tell from this thread.

I live very close the school and have DC at sixth form stage now .For boys, there is a definite pecking order locally and you have KCS/RGS/Hampton/KGS then Reeds/Epsom/St John's then St George's/Halliford/Claremont. However that is just looking at it from the slant of academics. I have a friend whose DS was able but quite shy, not sporty and very into drama. They chose Claremont over Reeds (too sporty) as they felt the fit was better for their son and he has been very happy there.

@Ohwellwhateverthen I think calling children thick is really rude and unpleasant. It does have a much broader intake than some other schools. There will be some children there who will have worked hard to achieve grades 5,6 &7s (A,B&Cs), there will also be other children who leave with handfuls of 8s & 9s (As) . 37% of all grade last year were 8s & 9s (As). 82% were B and above.

To be fair to @Ohwellwhateverthen , ten years ago the school did have the reputation of being a safe bet for less academic children and they might try for more academic ones and have Claremont as a fallback option. Times have changed though and I have heard that the school now caters more to a wider ability range. Another friend's older son went there because he got a bit stressed and underperformed at eleven plus. I think it was confidence more than anything else. They nurtured him well and he has just graduated with a First from Exeter.