Secondary schools Stockport

[Daydreamingmum]

My daughter is about to go in to year 8 in a Secondary school in Stockport, but she has had a horrible first year there, it started with friendship group drama that has progressed to actively being bullied through the school holidays. It is making her and the whole family miserable and is heart breaking.
I fully intend to communicate with the school about the ongoing issues but we are also looking at moving schools.
We are open to moving area and have been looking at lots of different schools around stockport/Cheshire but information is often mixed and outdated. Some schools are Ofsted outstanding but parents and children say it’s a miserable environment, others have terrible Ofsted, it’s so hard to judge and although her education is important to us we ultimately just want a happy child! We also have a younger child still in primary so any decision we make will impact his future too.
Schools we have looked at include Laurus Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme High School, Wilmslow, Hazel Grove, Marple Hall, Werneth Low high school, Harrytown RC high school (we’re not religious but open to anywhere that’s open to us)…….
I also appreciate that just finding a school that sounds ok doesn’t mean we will manage to get her in there!
If anyone has any experience of any of these schools or any others in and around the area I would be really grateful to hear about it…..

I live in Marple and have lots of friends with kids at Marple Hall and it's where mine will go when they're older. I hear its a good school, issues are dealt with quickly and the head teacher is meant to be fantastic. Sure it will have it's issues like all schools but my friends are happy with it overall I would say.

Hi op sorry your dd had a hard time.
Someone well have direct experience but my ds will be going to hs next year and his preference will be hazel grove HS. Round here it has a very good reputation- I know a lot of parents whose kids are years 7-9 and they are all very happy. As was I after the recent open day. And I consider myself to be quite a fussy parent.
my neighbour’s dd has some SEN and they have been really impressed too

Hi OP, not in the same situation but I attended two of the schools you've looked at and know staff / former staff from others. Laurus Cheadle, CHHS, and now Hazel Grove are all Laurus trust schools - I'm guessing you knew that but just to flag in case not. Hazel Grove the most recent acquisition I think. Academically they are supposed to be very good, CHHS was the "original" school so has had reliably good results for about 15 years now. I know staff work hard and there is pressure to achieve good results for the kids, with a good range of extra curriculars. Wilmslow used to be a really good school, I have heard it is not quite as good academically or behaviourally as it used to be (probably oversubscribed?) but I don't have recent experience so that's just hearsay. It's a great area for schools though generally. You could also look at poynton? Bramhall high doesn't have as good ofsted or reputation as some of the others but lots of people who attended or have links seem really happy with it so could look there too. I'm not sure the one two have sixth forms though which may be a consideration for continuity.

I'm sorry to hear about the issues your daughter has had and hope she settles somewhere she is happy and makes a good group of friends.

Thank you so much for the quick responses and info, I appreciate all of it.
Any more then please keep them coming….

OP as a starting point I would def see which schools have spaces in year 8.

My eldest DD is at Marple Hall and her sister is about to go. It has its issues like any school, but the head is generally good and my DD is very happy there and that’s what comes first for me.

I'm so sorry your daughter's been through this.

I have one kid at Bramhall. He's had a brilliant time there. The music department and drama departments, in particular, have been superb and we've been very happy with his education overall. More recently though I have heard of some horrible incidents of bullying in the younger years, not just incidents but ongoing issues where children who are being bullied have been removed from the school. There has also been a big staff turnover this year with some very good teachers leaving but I think that's probably been the same for most schools.

CHHS is academically outstanding as you'll know but again, I know of a couple of current horrible bullying issues that seem to go unresolved. Their academic results are amazing and rival the private schools at A Level but it's pressurised. I know quite a few kids who don't want to stay on at 6th form because of the pressure but also, you need very high GCSE results to continue at the school. I would not send my kid to this school if there were any SEN needs.

I know 2 kids who were moved to Hazel Grove after bullying issues in other schools and the move was very successful. I looked around it a few years ago and I was impressed with their emphasis on pastoral care. I may have sent my kid there if we had better transport links. I also know of a kid who moved to Poynton in yr 8 as she was being bullied and she's happier there. It's a good school and it was continually outstanding until about 5 years ago when I believe the OFSTED criteria changed.

It's a very difficult and I feel for you. I've always said you never truly know what a school's like until you're in it. Out of the schools I know well in the area I'd probably opt Hazel Grove.

Have you called to ask where there are vacancies? Given she's outside of year 7, it's as much about where there is a place for her year group.

Given availability you may need to look at private options too, if that's doable for 3 years?

PS I've heard good things about Laurus Trust schools through a friend that teaches there.

I will be calling admissions today to chat with them about where there may be spaces, I know that it’s not as simple as picking a school we like. I just wanted to have an idea of the schools first as we may well be basing a permanent move around it and looking for our son’s future too so I wanted to know a bit more about them all before speaking with admissions, don’t want to be trying to move her completely blindly.
Thank you all for your help. It is really helpful to get views of some of the schools that we just aren’t familiar with.
Anyone any experience of Werneth or Harrytown? We had been looking at moving around that area even before all this but those particular schools don’t seem to be well spoken of online.

@Daydreamingmum
no personal experience but I would say that they’re not particularly sought after. I know a teacher at Werneth and she speaks highly of it but admits the catchment is very mixed and I personally wouldn’t want to live out that way. You’ll be aware that Harrytown is the only catholic option that side of Stockport.

Ps as pp said Poynton worth looking at, many def do cross the county border to go there

Many catholic parents in Marple send their DC to Marple Hall rather than Harrytown, which I think speaks volumes.

As lots of others have said it would depend very much on if anywhere has available spaces. As a teacher I personally would avoid Werneth if at all possible and also Bramhall unless it was the only realistic available space. Lots of schools are oversubscribed and generally, not always, the ones with many spaces can be for a reason.

having looked in detail at the various admissions statistics on the stockport council website I think the general options are far better Cheadle/Bramhall/Hazel Grove/Poynton side of the A6 as opposed to Bredbury and surrounding areas. There is also Priestnall and others in the north of the borough but that's a very expensive area to buy.

Def heard generally good things about Marple HS BUT it is very oversubscribed due to too many kids in catchment since the HS in Offerton closed. For the new year 7, I don't think they had enough spaces for catchment kids let alone out of catchment. Whereas HGHS's catchment is bigger than the amount of kids living in it so it takes some out of area kids most years.

finally Stockport School has a good rep locally too, despite not being in the best area. Lots of kids from the Great Moor area opt for it over and above Hazel Grove.

I know people at pretty much all the Stockport schools. Tbh all have good and bad points. Teachers at Werneth said it's a great school : just not a middle class catchment. Laurus schools are pressurised to achieve grades and that has serious pros and cons. I'd actually look at ones where she'd have friends in area

I have friends very happy with kids at Stockport school & Stockport academy & kingsway. Possibly easier to get in

@iamruth I'm jumping in as in a similar situation. Why would you avoid Bramhall, please?

Didn't Bramhall have a bad ofsted a few years ago?

Yes but I'd understood that was because the school asked pupils to pick options in Yr 8 meaning they studied only their GCSE subjects from Yr 9 which Ofsted considered too early/lacking in breadth. They now choose in Yr 9.

@resipsa sadly though ofsted ratings stick for ages and parents don't read the reports. I suspect there isn't much more to it

@resipsa
i have also heard that it has a bad reputation for dealing with bullying. But I have no idea if that’s still current. But (some) people definitely avoid it for that reason. It certainly is a decent facility in a very middle class area.

bear in mind that hazel grove is the only school locally with an attached sixth form (opening this coming academic year after a few years closed) if that is important.

Thanks both. CHHS has post GCSE provision and seems to take a lot of BHS students at 16+ though.

@StillWantingADog I think prob a similar issue. Reputation and not always fact. It's a decent facility in a largely middle class area. I struggle to think it could ever be that bad really

Tbh DC from all highs scatter between local colleges & 6th forms so I'd not worry about that