We are Y7 so only 1 term in.
Very pleased so far. My son gave his first term a 9/10.
They do a 2 week summer school, we did 4 days of this, which was really helpful both in terms of getting a bit more familiar with the school but mainly for meeting some people. It meant on the first day he already knew quite a few faces - if you get a place I'd strongly recommend it. We also found some kids locally who were going and met up before the start of term - he is good friends now with some of these.
Our son is quite academic and sporty, and prefers to keep away from overly boisterous kids / groups generally.
He's always panicked about being late, so we signed him up for the school bus in the mornings, which is available from certain locations. Once on the bus, they are signed in as if they were in school, so if the bus is late they are not marked down as late. This removed a lot of stress he might have had, especially with all the strikes recently. Obviously you get to meet a few more local kids this way as well.
He gets the bus back and has also made some 'bus' friends.
The school seems to have a slightly longer day than others 8.40am to 3.40pm. One great thing they do is the Y8, 9 and 10 start and finish 30 minutes later than Y7 reducing the chance of bullying on the way home from slightly older year groups. Lunches are also staggered. This does mean once in Y8 they will finish at 4.10pm (and of course start later).
I believe the school took an even bigger amount of pupils this year than originally advertised at around 460. The only negative from this we have seen is that my son has a couple of lessons a week in a marquee, which is not ideal obviously.
The positive of this large intake is it is easier to find people with similar (or different) interests, characters etc.
The teaching has been really good. He didn't like geography at all in primary, and history not too much, he now loves both. He finds most of the lessons interesting. He's also doing 2 languages which was a big plus, and also seems good in terms of teaching.
He got a Maths scholorship which basically means you get some extra fun lessons a month, after school (roughly 1 a month it is meant to be I think). They are going on a Maths trip to Frankfurt in the next few months which he is really looking forward to.
Homework level is ok I think. You as a parent get an app which tells you what is due, your child also has this which is handy and allows for scheduling of when to get it done around outside of school activites etc.
The admin at the start can be a bit frustrating, and dates for clubs etc not correct but it generally works out in the end. They do have a number of clubs and again the large intake allows for quite a variety. They were generally responsive when emailed with queries. Some clubs run over lunch (which makes lunch tight for some) and some before / after school.
They have quite a few parents forums you can attend in person and online which are good as you can ask questions directly, bring up general concerns and get an update on the school.
Our son got a Gifted and Talented sports award when applying, not the Half or Full sports scholorship, but they are all treated the same once in. We got in via the general lottery therefore.
They had imperial college in last week doing science experiments with the kids which he loved and was raving about when he got home.
Each child is different and some children will not have enjoyed it but I can only speak for us and our son finds the classes interesting and challenging when required. His only real negatives are sometimes the travel back and getting homework, neither of which the school can affect. We have a happy child, who is motivated in lessons and has made some nice friends which is all we could ask for.
Good luck, it's very confusing trying to work out the right school for your child. I was sure he would hate Kingdale when we did the tour as he generally doesn't like very noisy environments etc but it was his first choice - so definitely do the tours with your child.