Meadowhead School Sheffield

[Ermintrudewasinnocent]

Hello, any thoughts on this school - moving from London in-year transfers. I've noted the catchment is very "mixed" but I like large schools and they seem to have a lot of options and new buildings. I've also noticed they offer a lot of BTECS so was wondering particularly how they might be able to support More Able Learners at GCSE?

If anyone has any recent experience it would be great to hear

Mercia is not my place. But if you want a vegan lunch and no speaking at all in corridors and ‘teacher tracking’ in lessons, then it’s the one for you. I think it’s now one if the top 5 schools in the country.

It may not be that important in the overall scheme of things, but Mercia school meals are actually pescatarian, not vegan (though they will cater for vegans!)

The "silent corridors" rule is not enforced throughout the day, I think it's only when moving from one lesson to another, and not (for example) at the start/end of break and lunchtime.

The only secondary schools I would recommend are King Edward's, High Storrs, Silverdale or Tapton.

I would avoid Meadowhead, only ever heard negative things.

They top the p8 rankings, so they're doing something right.

King Edwards is the only local authority secondary in Sheffield, having fought hard to resist academisation. A former boy's grammar, it still has one of the highest Oxbridge entry rates in the city.

Two of the four children of my neighbour go to Mercia. They are pretty out of control at home but have adapted to Mercia's strict regime without a murmur. The school is modelled on Michaela in Wembley - the singing each morning, lining up in the yard, silent corridors, zero tolerance behaviour policy, teacher tracking, family lunch with conversation topic. On progress 8, it's third in the country (it's first GCSE cohort was last year) with deprived pupils achieving at the same level. Clearly it works for the pupils who go there but I do wonder how its 6th formers will cope with the freedoms of university. (Mercia is only interested in A level students who are aiming for Harvard, Oxford etc.)

The thing is, I suspect that some of the comments on this thread refer to historic situations with schools. Newfield Green was pretty awful but not any more. Bradfield was a good school at one time but not currently! Tapton, High Storrs and Silverdale always used to be the top 3 schools for exam results, but last year were beaten into a cocked hat by Mercia. Meadowhead used to be awful, then it was fine, and now it's ??

My DD went to a couple of Sheffield secondary schools and we looked at a lot more, but I don't think there's much point commenting based on that as it was many years ago and things can change!

Not historic. I teach in one of these schools.
The p8 scores: top Mercia, then High Storrs, Tapton and Silverdale, etc.
Very bottom? Bradfield and Chaucer.

(Mercia is only interested in A level students who are aiming for Harvard, Oxford etc.)

This is absolutely true, but they have a very mixed intake in the pre-GCSE years and I think put a lot of effort into supporting, nurturing and teaching the less able, or less keen, pupils. This is borne out by the p8 score for the disadvantaged cohort, which was the best in the country.

But what do the less academically inclined pupils do after that? I've no idea.

Agree. These are opinions based on current performance from at least 2 posters who work in at least 2 of the schools mentioned currently.

Mine weren’t historic.

I taught in one of the schools in SW Sheffield. Meadowhead and Bradfield have been struggling for about 7 years. They were good schools prior to that.

@Hallamlass I wonder if we work in the same school 😂 if you received an email today with a rather funny graph leave an emoji in your next comment 😂
If that makes no sense to you then we’re safe from exposure!

Yes, the decline of Bradfield is particularly notable.

Anyone know what school used to be where Mercia is? I grew up there but don't remember what it was called

Yeah, King Teds is an odd school.

Part of it’s catchment is from the ultra posh bit of Fulwood and the leafy bits of Broomhill. I think that’s where all the university lecturers and doctors must live!

It has a big bullying problem though. And l live near the lower school. The behaviour of the kids coming out at home time was awful. Always causing problems in the nearby shops. The shopkeepers hated them. They were so horrific on the bus once p had to contact the school.Shouting and swearing.

Tapton also nearby didn’t present these problems. But l think they are much more identifiable as in uniform.

Bullying, also not such a good pastoral system. Which of course is linked.

AFAIK it wasn’t a school site before but I believe it was built to replace Abbeydale Grange

It is odd and was odd when I was a pupil there in the 1970s. I see pupils outside the upper school when I pass and am struck by how untidy and unruly they always look. DD has friends who left a few years ago, both for Oxford, and the mix of disruptive and academic feels very similar to my experience as a pupil.

Abbeydale Grange.

It's not a direct replacement for Abbeydale Grange but was built as a free school on a nearby site (Bannerdale) that belonged to the LEA in response to increased pupil numbers in the south west of the city.

Oh I didn’t know that, thank you! Is the old Abbeydale Grange site where the new houses are?

It was Abbydale Girls before that!

Yes, it is.

Ha ha. I was there then too.

It was crazy. Either incredibly studious or incredibly wild.

I started off incredibly studious….. and then … well drifted over to the dark side for a while😁it was fun though!

Certainly fun. One of the very best kisses of my life took place behind the stage curtains at lower school in the interval of the school play, me still in my 'Oh what a lovely war' costume. One of my A level teachers (a woman so not ex-boys grammar) was quite agitated that I was friendly with this year 5 boy when she saw us chatting in the corridor at upper school as he was one of the disrupters banished to Melbourne Annex while I was a sixth former bound for university. Another younger male friend (no kiss with this one BTW!) was told 'You'll never amount to anything, (surname), because you're black.' Brutal. He's a financial adviser. So much for comprehensivisation.

Year 8 is critically over subscribed across the city as is current Y7. However, there is usually movement in the new Year 7 cohort in September and appeals are currently underway for this year group.
As your DC will be out of school due to the move, you may well get a place via the Fair Access process. This is where a panel places students in over subscribed schools. It's unlikely a school would fight this - although Mercia might🤣

Newfield has significantly improved in recent years- i would happily send my DC there. And it's never been called Newfield Green- this is an area in Sheffield near Gleadless Valley.

We have many friends and a close relative who went to Meadowhead and all been fine. It's a big comp near a large council estate but also a quite affluent intake from Greenhill/Bradway etc.
You may well get into Fanshawe if you are in catchment - they are an LA Derbyshire school so I am unsure about the appeals process in that LA.
Feel free to DM me if you have any questions.

There's quite a lot of outdated opinion on this thread. Meadowhead is rated "good" by Ofsted, has achieved A-level results better than all the schools listed as being more desirable and sends students to study at Oxbridge/medical school etc every year. It's enormous and has a very diverse catchment area which means there are difficult students but you can find these anywhere (except Mercia!). Teachers at the school send their own children there and students have an enormous range of opportunities. Don't write it off based on people's opinions from ten years ago!