Newbury Secondary Schools 2024

[Polskie]

Hi, we are a family of 5 living in Dublin but wanting to move to Newbury. I'm originally from Argentina but my husband is Irish.
Our children are 15, 13 & 11. Our 13 year old has autism (but very high functioning), our other 2 children are very sporty (hockey, rugby, football & highland dancing).
We are looking at St. Barts & Park House but the reviews on the schools are quite outdated. We know both schools are now ranked as Outstanding (2021 for St. Barts and 2023 for Park House)
Can anyone give us some current feedback on how they find these schools currently? Specially for children with some additional needs.

We'd be very grateful for any feedback - how do the schools deal with bullying, what are the teachers like, what's the headmaster like, how are they academically, etc.

If anyone has done the Ireland to UK move with school children any tips would be great! =)

The Park House School Newbury failed it's Ofsted in 2022 the school was closed in that form in July 2022 and the new management opened in September 2022 and has not yet had an Ofsted inspection.
It has had massive changes and currently has a reputation as being a very strict school.

Park house is not currently ofsted outstanding. St Bart's is excellent, heavily over subscribed so getting places may be difficult. Trinity has 2x additional resource units, 1x asd 1x dyslexia, so have a good understanding. Kennet in Thatcham and The Downs are also good schools. However, you would get allocated schools that had space in appropriate year, which could be 3 different, although lots of children were leaving park house last year.

If 15 year old turns 16 before 1st September, they would start A level in September and moving before is going to cause issues as GCSE'S are in the summer term. If 16 after 1st September, may end up being put a year back, so start GCSE'S from September due to being so far through syllabus, which might be an issue if your 13 year old is 14 before 1st September as they would be in the same year.

Thank you Takeachance. I called the West Berkshire School Admissions and it's as you predicted, my two eldest would be put a year down due to the system being different than the one in Ireland. And they explained that there are no places in any secondary schools so there is a waiting list now. =(

They have to find you a place somewhere but it may not be where you want or all three in the same school and it could mean some travelling.
It may be worth having another discussion about what they would do in this situation and which schools you might end up in. I suspect with a bit of a journey either towards or into Reading - Tilehurst comes under West Berks, up to Hungerford or possibly they’d see if there are spaces in any Reading or Hampshire schools. (You’ve got The Clere not far from Newbury and it’s a Hampshire school.)

Outside of the immediate Newbury/Thatcham area you have The Clere on a couple of miles outside Newbury, but just over the border in Hampshire. You have Theale Green in Theale and the Willink in Burghfield Common and John O'Gaunt in Hungerford all a bit further away, but still West Berks School.
Then back in Hampshire you also have The Hurst in Baughurst.

When are you moving? I assume they would have to find you places somewhere when you do move but as you are not living in the country at the moment they can only tell you what the current situation is with places. Presumably any spaces that come up at oversubscribed schools in West Berks St Barts/The Downs/Kennet will be taken quickly by those already on the waiting list. The places will be at the underscribed ones maybe a bit further out John o gaunt/Theale

St Barts has a strong academic reputation but also that of a “hot-house” and seems to value grades over most other things. If you don’t live within a mile (or even a km in recent years!) you can forget getting a place.

Trinity’s reputation has increased greatly in recent years and rightly so. The headteacher is staggeringly impressive. Friends have their children there and are thriving. It also has SEN support unit which parents rate highly. We applied for our DC (now in y7) and didn’t get a spot, we aren’t in catchment. Historically it had spaces for out of catchment but when Park House was rated inadequate, Trinity became over subscribed. We are 1km out of catchment and were 39/45 on the waiting list!

Park House received “inadequate” ofsted and closed. Now reopened in new academy trust. Friends who visited for their current y6s were all impressed. It does now have the reputation of being very strict and I have
no knowledge of the SEND support.

North of Newbury is The Downs, part of its catchment includes Newbury. It was rated outstanding in 2013. According to ofsted it will have a graded inspection before Jan 2025. We looked round it and liked it. DC didn’t even though they’d been to events there. Unless you are within catchment you most likely won’t get a place. Friends in catchment last year didn’t get in.

John O Gaunt in Hungerford is small(400 pupils), 11-16. It supports the SEND children well but academically isn’t great and has had a pretty rubbish rep for years. I have three separate friends who’ve moved their children from there in the past year. Friends moved their children because during their GCSE years there was huge staffing turnover leading to staff covering lessons for which they lacked knowledge. And because in some lessons books never got opened because the entire lesson was spent trying to get the students to be quiet and really to learn. JoG is in an academy trust with St John’s in Marlborough (again, outstanding and due to be inspected soon) and it seems that they filter off the best staff to keep the grades higher in Marlborough.

If you can, try to visit all the schools and perhaps cast your net wider to look at other towns as well. As well as looking at ofsted reports, check their “progress 8” scores, they can be pretty eye opening! Good luck!!

Thank you everyone. You've given me so much information.

We hope to move by this summer. Fingers crossed everything falls into place on time.

We really would prefer our kids in the same school (as do all parents). Our ASD son has never been in a school without one of his siblings and I'm afraid if they are split his anxiety would be off the charts. His sister is very good at calming him down.

I'll give them a call again next week and ask all the above questions.

Thank you so much. =)

I would be very surprised if Park House didn’t have space for all three of your children. I would query that with the local authority. They lost a lot in higher years after their ofsted and are under subscribed for this coming year, I hear. As previous posters have said, they have a reputation now for being very strict. I think it was necessary for them to go that way as the ofsted result was due to ‘the inmates running the asylum’. This is absolutely not the case now, and friends who applied for their children this coming September were very impressed. They definitely have things under control and are getting the academic results. For your child with autism it could be perfect, or it could not work at all. They don’t have a great rep at the moment for making allowances within their strict regime for children with SEND, but on the other hand, a friend said the environment, which is calm and uber controlled, was perfect for her daughter with autism. It will depend on your child. I would maybe visit and see for yourself, they are very open to visits during the school day, so you should get a realistic idea.

Another option just outside Newbury, in North Hampshire, is The Clere. It’s undersubscribed, and consequently under resourced, doesn’t have a fantastic rep but is supposedly quite nurturing. Not sure it’d be great for your sporty children though- Park House would be a better fit.

Thank you for your feedback. It’s been very helpful 🤗