Wren Enfield

[TempsPerdu]

Does anyone have any current/recent experience, good or bad, of Wren Enfield? We have done the Head's talk and have just been on a tour of the school, but I'm still not sure how I feel about it, especially as reports from local parents and teachers are also extremely mixed.

On paper it's by far the best non-grammar option close to us, behaviour is great and they seem to have lovely kids... but they all seem so subdued and kind of cowed. Our Year 8 tour guides were clearly terrified by the whole thing (gave one word answers to all the parents' questions), whereas those we've had on other tours seemed much more articulate, enthused and keen to share their experiences of school. Buildings were light and airy but soulless, and it all felt very slick but micro-managed. There was no sense at all of wider school life beyond academics. 'Education by numbers' was one phrase that came to mind as we walked around.

I'm not sure what to make of it really - we've done loads of research but even so it's so hard to tell whether or not it would be a good option for our DD.

Anyone?

I went to the tour and felt the same. For sure kids will have the grades and are well behaved but I’m not sure about their mental health and “happiness” at the end of it though. I like strict schools but it’s a fine balance to get it right without necessarily affecting the academic results. I also had the sense should you, as a parent, have a complaint or just a constructive criticism it might be more dismissed in such a school (I might be wrong) last point, I just found out that a massive housing development is meant to be build just in front of the school.. which basically will make the site a building site for several years. Which puts me off… :

Thanks a lot for your thoughts @LondonCityMum77 - interesting that your impression was very similar to ours!

The lack of space on the school site is another thing that bothers me: there is clearly some kind of complicated staggered break time arrangement going on to avoid having all the children out of lessons at the same time, there's a 'no running' rule in the playground due to overcrowding, and they haven't even added the sixth form students to the mix yet. It all just feels very hemmed in and a bit claustrophobic.

I'm on board with the single sex lessons in core subjects, but it also struck me that the children seemed to be self-segregating outside of that too - it was break time during our tour and there were over 100 boys out on the playground area, but not a single girl (to the extent that I asked the student taking us round whether the break times were separate - she replied that the girls all just chose to sit in the cafe area).

And yes, we had the same impression about the school's relationship with parents - 'our way or the highway' essentially, rather than a genuine partnership. I don't think I'd be comfortable with that level of overt control.

As I said, it really contrasted with a couple of other schools we've seen, where the pupils were much happier, smilier, chattier and more enthused about their schools, with lots of praise for the extra-curriculars etc. I assume there must be some wider school life taking place at Wren, but after yesterday I left none the wiser as to whether they had an orchestra/choir/sports teams/language exchanges etc.

I think based on all this we've probably written it off as an option - shame, as it looked good on paper!

I know other schools who forbid running in the playground (it must be a new thing to avoid accident?) I also really like the single sex teaching for core subjects BUT I never thought about the repercussions of this outside of the lessons! My daughter is a bit of a Tom boy, likes playing football and don’t like a “ girl clique” environment. Thank you for highlighting that as I hadn’t notice when I went (it was not break time) I did notice though that our tour guide was really anxious because the tour took a bit longer and just figuratively pushed us out of the door. It made me giggle but actually it tells a lot I think. Not sure my daughter who’s academic and likes to push herself would actually flourish as a whole in such a rigid environment. Curious if other parents with kids already there have more insights (good and bad)

@LondonCityMum77 I just found the sex segregation thing particularly striking, because the playground was so busy while we were there, but I didn’t see a single girl. As some of the other schools we’re looking at are girls’ schools, I was curious of the dynamics of this.

Our tour guides seemed similarly terrified of their own shadow, and more concerned about where they needed to stand and (as you say), making sure they ushered us out of the building on time than answering any questions or telling us about the school. They kept saying things like ‘That’s the gym/music room/art room, but we’re not allowed in there!’

I also really noticed how at the Head’s talk that we had attended prior to this the teacher (possibly a Deputy Head?) who was showing us in barked at the gathered parents and instructed us where to stand/queue etc in quite an aggressive manner - I immediately thought that was also probably how he, and by extension other staff, probably dealt with the students. Same at the end when we were ordered to leave the site immediately, row by row.

Overall not the most welcoming experience, but obviously just a couple of snapshots, so like you I wonder whether it was truly reflective of the school’s broader ethos

Hi there,

I know it is an old thread, but I was wondering whoch school did you go for in the end? We did the tour and went to the principal's speech and we were not very impressed. They seem to be very rigid.
Thank you in advance.

That’s interesting @Lovingred- sounds like you were left with a very similar impression of Wren to us. In the interest of full disclosure, we are not applying to secondary schools for DD just yet; we did all the tours a couple of years early as we were decided whether to stay in the area or relocate. Relocating won out in the end and we’re in the (very long and painful!) process of selling our house at the moment. The area we hope to move to has a high achieving comp that achieves similar results to Wren without the rigidity and lack of choice (which was the other thing that bothered us about the school - only Spanish as an MFL, dropping Arts subjects early on etc.)

For what it’s worth, I’ve recently spoken to a few parents who had exactly the same thoughts as us, but also a few others who have DC at the school who were doing fine and not finding the regime as bad as they had expected. To be fair to the school, their first set of GCSE results in August were impressive.

Thank you for the quick reply. I was not aware that they drop the Arts subjects early. Would you know why? it was not mentioned at any of the visits we had. Compared to St Annes where the girls seemed so confident and happy, at Wren everything seemed so robotic. We are still deciding between these 2 though.
I hope the move goes well.

@Lovingred So interestingly I just checked Wren Enfield’s website and the stuff about dropping subjects in Year 8 had disappeared (there was an information letter sent home to parents and a PowerPoint about options choices). I suspect the school has decided that it was a bad idea and quietly ditched the policy! Think Wren Finchley still does this though?

Previously pupils were asked to choose what Arts/creative subjects they would like to study for GCSE in Year 8, and dropped the remaining ones from Year 9. I suspect this was part of their laser-focus on getting the best possible exam outcomes in quite a micro-managed, formulaic way. This level of control was part of what put us off the school when we were visiting/researching options; it was all just too prescriptive and robotic.

This is the Wren Finchley options letter taken from their website:

https://0e58658be539ee7325a0-220f04f871df648cf4a4d93a111e3366.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/wren_academy/uploads/lettershome/WFIN20250512-Year-8-into-Year-9-Preference-Letter.pdf

Thank you. This is very useful. I will look into to this. We may need to reconsider our options.

Are you in catchment for Highlands OP? I’ve heard much more positive reports about that than Wren, and they seem to get good results without being quite as draconian.

As I said, the curriculum thing does seem to have changed for Wren Enfield now but personally I did feel it reflected how narrowly focused they are on results above things like creativity, extra-curriculars and general wellbeing. It’s a school that definitely works for some, but I suspect you do need to be fairly robust.

Unfortunately we are not in the catchment area for Highlands. I also heard very good things about them. We are still going to have it as an option in case the catchment area will change this year. But we need to be realistic as well when it comes to our options.
We visited Wren a few times and you can tell that they focus on results a lot. The creativity part and the students' wellbeing is what concerns us. One of my DC's friends started at Wren this year and everything is good so far. They said that their DC is very happy there.
Thank you for your advice.

I have 2 daughters at Wren, first in yr 11 the 2nd in yr 7. Both are of different abilities but both are coping very well both academically and behaviourally. It is a strict school but the students have a very healthy social life outside of the school and in my experience have developed some lovely friendships with really decent children. The rules and expectations are clear and neither of my children have had any issues adhering. Personally my experience has been very positive.

Thank you very much for sharing this. It is good to hear positive experiences as well. It gives me some hope in case we get a place at Wren.

IfIf you are thinking of sending your child to Wren academy Enfield, be careful. My experience is that the power dynamic between teachers and students is very very unbalanced and oppressive. The teachers are quick to take very punitive measures against students even for the smallest things like going to toilet out of desperation. One girl was on her period and was punished for going to the toilet. Also if you have a black child or a child with special needs be very careful if you don’t want your child to be excessively picked on. My child has complained to me several times how his black friends are always picked on and how the inclusion room is always disproportionately filled with black children every day

If you are thinking of sending your child to Wren academy Enfield, be careful. My experience is that the power dynamic between teachers and students is very very unbalanced and oppressive. The teachers are quick to take very punitive measures against students even for the smallest things like going to toilet out of desperation. One girl was on her period and was punished for going to the toilet. Also if you have a black child or a child with special needs be very careful if you don’t want your child to be excessively picked on. My child has complained to me several times how his black friends are always picked on and how the inclusion room is always disproportionately filled with black children every day