Hybrid school modelled on Portland Place in London

[KeepTrying0]

Hi,

I wondered if anybody might know about this Duke Education Hybrid School plan?

My son is home schooling with EBSA and needs to learn from books at home, but also needs access to a school to get exams with practical components, and to meet friends locally. This school system sounds like a good idea to me if they would let us work from books.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/dec/26/first-uk-wide-hybrid-school-offering-home-and-class-learning-to-open-in-2024
https://dukeseducation.com/

The nearest one that is planned for next September will be cycling distance from our house which could be a really good thing.

It seems to be based on Portland Place Hybrid School in London and I wondered if anybody might know if that is working well and how it works in practice?

Thanks!

[BigCCC]

Hello OP, I saw the article and am also interested. I've a neurodiverse DS for whom I had chosen a state secondary, but this set-up would suit his energy levels well I believe. Keen to hear from those who have used Portland.

[BarqsHasBite]

If you search for Portland on Mumsnet you should find some feedback, all fairly positive I think.

[MissHavershamReturns]

Ooh this is so interesting. Thanks for this thread op

[KeepTrying0]

I did try searching but there is very little there. I would still be glad to hear from anybody who knows more about this. Thanks!

[SausageCasseroles]

I read about this yesterday and first thoughts are it looked fantastic!

I did have a slight reservation that rather than fund proper interventions/schools acaddmically able neurodvierse children are all going to be fobbed off with this meaning parents will need to reduce working hours if not wanting a child home 4 days. And also that we so should be stepping up what is available for kids who can't access traditional school.

But so definitely a step in the right direction.

But also the fear of how much cheaper having kids in one day a week is and how that might Give Them Ideas instead of making accessible provision available.

But yes this could be a huge change for those already not able to access school.

[SouthernFashionista]

I know someone with a DD in Portland. Mum is highly strung and very demanding, I suspect it rubbed off on the DD as she went from school to school by the sound of it. Seems to have worked out for her.

[BigCCC]

Hello all, I have heard back from Dukes and will be speaking with them next week. Also ascertained that Portland have a waitlist and there is minimum 14 children with EHCP on it for Sep 2024 entry. Hope you don't mind if I keep putting updates here - first school idea I've been excited by.

[Clairewestlondon]

Having worked for Dukes and had one of my children go to one of their schools I would strongly advise against it. It really is just about bums on seats and money. We got a letter when asking for a pay review after about ten years that we are lucky to get free parking and free lunch.

Education wise you would honestly get better provision in a poorly funded state school. E.g. we had salt teachers for speech and they went from having realistic timetables from children from other schools being ferried in to bring in the extra money.

Teachers end up getting burnt out so high turn over. They are very good at making a glisty website, slick new school uniform etc but in reality it's expensive baby sitting

[SausageCasseroles]

Oh that's a shame 😔. There's a specialist setting/alternate provision near me that seems tk bendojng something similar for the money. Its so wrong.

[BigCCC]

@Clairewestlondon

Having worked for Dukes and had one of my children go to one of their schools I would strongly advise against it. It really is just about bums on seats and money. We got a letter when asking for a pay review after about ten years that we are lucky to get free parking and free lunch.

Education wise you would honestly get better provision in a poorly funded state school. E.g. we had salt teachers for speech and they went from having realistic timetables from children from other schools being ferried in to bring in the extra money.

Teachers end up getting burnt out so high turn over. They are very good at making a glisty website, slick new school uniform etc but in reality it's expensive baby sitting

Wow that's shocking. Thank you for the heads up. I don't have much confidence in the state school I've chosen and it's at the top of performance, just not sure it or any others truly friendly to the divergent child. However Dukes sounds like a racket. I guess at least the hybrid school model is cheap and that's the attraction.

[Clairewestlondon]

Hello, yes being honest even the cost element it starts off sounding cheap the hybrid platform but if you read into it Portland Place they start you off on one day but as soon as you hit GCSE they say to do certain subjects it costs more as you need two days. I asked some parents by the gate as was thinking of moving my child to Portland, who said its been bought out and their children are already seeing school trying to save money by scrapping certain things, cramming more pupils in etc. I am sure Dukes will do the same and reading some parent reviews for their non hybrid schools already do since I moved on.

Sadly I think it seems all hybrid schools are modelled on the same basis that a school is struggling and they see hybrids as a good way of bringing in extra money. The parents I asked who were using hybrid had experienced several instances where whilst their child was working from home teachers would just dump an online quiz/activity and say it will take the lesson with no interaction from the teacher. The teachers if you complained would then basically say your child could not work out how to connect or their internet kept going down due to number of pupils joining. Plus in reality it was a premade resource e.g. bbc bitesize quiz that took a few minutes.

The regular school pupils seem to look down and tease / bully the hybrid pupils and as they pay more in most cases school seems more concerned about keeping them happy.

I was lucky enough that a local state school had enough land to build a new school on the playing find and the old building has been turned into special provision for a range of SEN, anxiety etc.

I also have worked in state and independent and can say the state system is a lot more moderated. I know Ofsted has its big downfalls but at least state schools keep tabs on things. For example I have worked at independent school's where teachers have taught the wrong syllabus all the pupils fail and school do not pick up on it until its too late. This was not a one off unfortunately. All they do to resolve is sack or demote the teacher. Safeguarding at independent schools also seems to be non existent. ISI vs Ofsted you are basically paying to come in and tell you that you are great (no matter how bad you really are).

If it were me, I would look for a state school which is getting the funding and space from local authority due to an influx of varying needs as they really will deliver.

I have never posted on mumsnet but made an account and felt compelled to warn people off given my experience. Please also remember independent schools and I remember one school the marketing guy told me part of his job was to write glowing reviews of the school on e.g. mums net snd google etc. I really would recommend talking to parents outside the school gate. All these prebooked open days and evenings are just a big performance with the best kids put out to play along with the schools good sales pitch.

If anything my child went ten times backwards under one of these setups but I was fortunate in the end to hit the jackpot. The state school we had to fight to get into but they allowed hybrid learning and had a great teacher to pupil ratio. They already are coming on leaps and bounds and cannot see us having to switch schools again finally! Hope you all do too.

[Shi4ld]

Both portland place school and hybrid are closing end of academic year so can’t see how they have a waitlist

[Lndner12]

They are closing!?

[Shi4ld]

yes

[Lndner12]

It's new to me. Thanks for letting me know.

[MissHavershamReturns]

@Shi4ld they still have Sept 2024 admissions on their website?

[Shi4ld]

The news was only broken to the parents at 5pm last night via emailed letter

[usernamebore]

It is very disappointing news, but not unexpected. Year 7 and 8 in the Hybrid are so tiny it was clearly impossible for it to make financial sense. They have some lovely teachers, but I could sense things were crumbling a bit behind the scenes. I think it is a great idea in principle, but you need a good cohort of kids to make it financially viable and I am not sure if there is the market.

we are thinking of going fully online, possibly Minerva. Now going have to have to tell an autistic kid who was just getting settled in this new school that we are going to have to change… 😫

[sanam2010]

really sorry to hear that. having looked at various online models, Wolseley Hall looked like a good option. But it does seem like most online schools don't teach properly but are just the framework to write reports / add the official element while the children actually just work through Hegarty Maths / Century Tech with some exception. let's see how long they take to make an official announcement. clearly it is wrong to take registration fees of people if they are closing?

[kayfrey001]

I just paid my registration fee yesterday to see if I could get my son in as an option to pure online schooling. Not holding my hopes up high to get my fee back. 😫

[Shi4ld]

@kayfrey001 To Portland place?

[kayfrey001]

@Shi4ld

@kayfrey001 To Portland place?

Yes. I paid it like 2 days ago, before any email came out that it was closing. I'm so annoyed!

[Shi4ld]

I would be annoyed too @kayfrey001 Contact them and ask for a refund.

[usernamebore]

My understanding is that the head and teachers were only told of the decision yesterday. Pretty awful. There is a consultation period until March to see if a solution can be found, but I dont hold any hopes. I suspected the plan was to subsume it all into Kings interhigh anyway once I heard inspired had taken over.
For Hybrid, this new one in September is your best bet.
As I mentioned above, the day in school was not really working for us anyway as was causing too much anxiety, so we are going to go fully online. Minerva looks best from what I can see so far - much better in terms of SEN and mental health support etc

[kayfrey001]

@usernamebore

My understanding is that the head and teachers were only told of the decision yesterday. Pretty awful. There is a consultation period until March to see if a solution can be found, but I dont hold any hopes. I suspected the plan was to subsume it all into Kings interhigh anyway once I heard inspired had taken over.
For Hybrid, this new one in September is your best bet.
As I mentioned above, the day in school was not really working for us anyway as was causing too much anxiety, so we are going to go fully online. Minerva looks best from what I can see so far - much better in terms of SEN and mental health support etc

We enrolled onto Minerva as a back up option so we start that on the 22nd January. Fingers crossed. Its not ideal as my son is newly diagnosed autistic, but is very sociable. Unable to wait for Sept 2024 as he is year 10 and want to keep going. Hope you are able to transition your child to another school all ok.