Mount House, Hadley Wood

[CanteringAlong]

I am interested to learn more about this school. However, I was reading the website and the governors seem to be venture capitalists, i'm guessing from the company that own the school. I'm wondering what this means for the school, who goes there, how things are run. I know private schools are a business really but this is new to me and I find it hard to understand.

My children are shy and I am looking for a small school but one that is nurturing with the right staff there with strong interest in pastoral care foremost.

bump?

It’s local to me. It’s definitely small and not one that has a reputation as a hot house. I think it has less sports facilities than some of its competitors.

I’m a school governor and I work in HR, I’m not there to teach but to help the school run effectively and act as a critical friend to the HT and SLT. I can’t see why being a VC would be a bad thing as a governor?

Thank you so much for answer. I know it's very small, small grounds so not many facilities and not too selective so has a range of abilities. I hope I can hear from parents who have children there. I want to know about pastoral care, bullying etc as my children are quiet and sensitive and would need reassurance about this type of care.

Being owned by VC is the concern.

anyone?

No issues that I could see by being owned by a VC and they have been spending money in the last few years on improving facilities. Many children choose to go there because of its small size and low pressure environment. The children are all very nice to each other and I've never known of any bullying.

TBH I'd like to understand more about different ownership of schools too. I think being owned by a VC just means they have to work out how to make a profit in the long run, so a portion of school fees goes to that. It also means though that they would run it efficiently in order to get to that point and remain competitive on fees. I've been looking at the school too but have previously only personally experienced charitable schools structured and run as charities, hence wondering how it works when its owned privately.

Just searching online I read that due to the VC ownership, they will take challenging pupils who have been expelled just to keep the numbers up. I hope not and am glad you haven't heard of any bullying.

My children are academic. We don't want overly pushy and unnecessary stress, but they must be challenged so that they reach their potential. Do they set the pupils for the core subjects from year 7?

Thank you. I'm so glad to hear this.

My daughter goes to Mount House and started in September. She is extremely happy there and has nice friends. The sports seem adequate to us given we were state school before. Choice of individual or team sports, lots of clubs, good and caring teachers and a brilliant headmistress who is really making the school a better one. We wanted a pastoral based, all ability school and we are really pleased we made the choice.

Thank you for replying. I went to see the school and liked the Headteacher. Amy two concerns were that

1. I saw no out door space other than the two tennis/basketball courts to the left of the big fountain. Is there no where outside the students can be at breaks?

1. My children are higher ability and getting left alone with no help from their teachers to move them on at their primary school. I would be unhappy to pay for a school that didn't set in english until year 9 if they didn't work with my children either in a class where the majority may well be working at a lower or sen level. I can't afford to pay for that!

Hi we have been offered a place at the Mount House and we have always loved it and my child does too, but has also been offered a place in St Columba's St. Albans which too is a good school and was selective to get into (55 spaces). The only thing its 35/45 mins bus journey away (private coach) which puts me off. The only thing I am worried about MH is the academics. My child is bright but shy (no education needs though) and not the best at sport (except is good at golf and swimming) but is really keen to be part of a team and MH is perfect for that and I know my child would be happy there... plus I have great confidence in the new head. I just worry about the academics and not achieving good GCSE grades when the time comes. Can someone offer advice from experience there?

Mcvittyr - I think one thing to look at is the added value. I think (but dont know - must check!) that Mount House has better added value than St Columbas. Look carefully also at results - eg how many people do each subject, how many do double and triple science not just the percentage results. St Columbas is bigger school so better for team sports if thats important (though at Senior school it seems to be the A team who get the attention).
cantering along - there's not much outdoor space at Mount House, (what there is is very pretty though!) - on the other hand there is Hadley common opposite. I wonder if they make use of that.

You can read about the behaviour in their inspection report and you won't find last years exam results published anywhere

Mount House is very very poor in dealing with bullying. One of the girls who has been bullying my daughter has just been given an award for being the nicest girl in the year by the same teacher to whom we have been speaking about her bullying for months 😞 it's just beyond belief.

That's awful and very frustrating. I did read another thread about mount house where someone said that it's so small you can't get away from people you don't like. As there isn't outdoor space I gathered kids would be safe inside in lunch clubs everyday? Is that not so?

I would be pursuing the school with a complaint!

I am honestly so at the end of my tether with the school's completely outrageous lack of pastoral care that I will give a list of examples of how they react to reports of bullying which are quite frankly beyond belief.

Just one recent example (same teacher who gave the bully an award for being nice 🥴 and is one of their pastoral leads) a boy reports a homophobic remark by another student. Teacher's reaction: "but aren't you gay?" 😔 Then gives a lecture on how he is busy concentrating on his own kids and that teenagers in the year should be dealing with their own problems themselves without involving him.

Same teacher always believes the accounts the group of bullies gives and claims there is no evidence to suggest otherwise, even though he is given names of students who corroborate the victim's statement, he just ignores it; says that's why he sends his own kids to a big state school because drama like this doesn't happen in big state schools apparently. He also told one of the main bullies that the reason people complain about her is because they're jealous of her 😣 When I complained to him and given examples of what that group has been doing, his response was: "what do you want me to do about it?" 🤷‍♀️ Then agrees that it's a toxic environment and that he wouldn't send his own kids there. That's good to know 🫤

A girl in the year reported to the Head one of the main bullies and what she has been saying about my daughter to absolutely everyone who would listen. The Head's reaction: "life is too short to worry about what [bully] said." Absolutely nothing ever happens to the bully (not even a talking to).

Bullies get referred to as the "cool kids" by the pastoral lead. Etc etc etc.

As many kids in the North London schools know each other from primary school and through school changes, it is now a well- known fact that it's not a nice place to be at the moment.

The funny thing is that the same so called pastoral lead has been discussing mental health with the year and particular changes in a student to watch out for that suggest that they are not doing well. My daughter was laughing because literally 100% of those signs apply to her and the very same teacher takes absolutely zero notice of any of them.

Please keep us posted on here (or inbox) on how things develop. This is not what i'm looking for in a school, especially with hardly anywhere for the kids to go to get away from each other!

@XelaM Oh wow, so from what I’m understanding the school is very.. performative with mental health.
also, about the bullying, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard bad things about how they handle it. I’ve heard they often side with bullies and will deny witness written accounts if they believe a “bias” is there. Is there an issue with homophobia? That’s quite common in schools unfortunately 😞 and ironically often isn’t taken seriously, so schools just create an environment where it’s easy to get away with homophobia.
Also may I ask, what year is this homophobia and bullying in as my brother wants to send his son there and we don’t want to send him to a school with intense bullying, especially if it’s going to be in his year. He is what you would call a child susceptible to bullying as he has ADHD, and sometimes is a little too hyper and this could be a targeted attribute. This sounds disgraceful!! Horrible they would give the bully an award!!!! I hope your daughter gets justice, keep pushing the school to do something about it

Hello, I hear the head teacher had changed at this school. Is it still the same problems? I must admit the lack of much outdoor space must be stifling for the students - you can't get away from people you don't want to be around.

Just bumping this post as I'm keen to hear how things are now?

The new Head is the former Deputy Head who only took over in the summer holidays when Mrs Richardson left (I think to go abroad so no dramatic reason for leaving). It's hard to say if he will make any drastic changes, as the kids have only been back at school two days under his leadership. My daughter said he tries to be very present and involved in everything. He was a decent Deputy Head, so I think he will be fine and he's very approachable.

Things have settled down for my daughter after a crappy start to last year. She seems to enjoy school again and so far the GCSE teachers in all her subjects have been good - no major complaints to be honest, but of course it's only the start to the year 😜

Hi, I'm glad things are better. Your past experience still was awful though. I'm concerned about the lack of outdoor space- i only saw the cedar lawn and two basketball/tennis courts? Where do the kids hang out? Someone said on here it's claustrophobic and you can't get away from people if you want to which did make me think too!

I don't think it's claustrophobic as it doesn't have many pupils so it's not overcrowded. It's actually never been an issue for my daughter and there are many places to hang out at lunch. I think they have different lunchtime clubs if you don't want to be outside. They use sports fields outside the school for PE and the big lawn just outside the school (by the woods).