Kingsdale opinions - direct experience please

[Wanderlust9]

I know there have been lots of threads about this school but I am only interested in hearing from people who have recent direct experience with the school (last 5 years)

DD wants to go there. She has an EHCP. Will she be put in lowest sets with the worse behave kids and be forgotten about?

I have always been of the impression that this school is good for kids that have a talent: academically, music or sport. Not so good for the rest.

Does the school have a strong discipline? Lots of detentions? Or do they have some freedom?

What is behaviour like?

Does it feel crowded?

What about opportunities for trips? Are they for everyone?

Are the teachers good? Caring? Probably too much to ask for a a school of 3k children.

Thanks in advance.

Parents who didn’t get in, often hate the school ..

Hi @Sunflowers189, I was wondering if would mind saying whether your daughter achieved what they call full or half scholarship standard? My daughter achieved full scholarship standard in sport and the letter we received said something like the overwhelming majority of kids that reach full scholarship standard get a place and approximately half of those who reach half scholarship standard get a place. Guess we will find out in a month or so but grateful for any insight! Thanks.

From what I could work out with the scholarships, around the 10-15 highest ranked with full scholarship get a definite place on Allocation Day. There will also be some full and half scholars who will get a place via the banding places on Allocation Day.

After that, if a scholar turns down the place, another scholar off the list will be offered that place. By the time it gets to September, between people turning down scholarship and normal places, the reallocated ones should mean that everyone with a full scholarship offer has been offered a place and about half of those with half scholarships.

Hope that makes sense? The letter you get after the assessments normally indicates if you would be likely to be in that first 10-15 students but without being 100% guaranteed - it's slightly strange wording.

We were music rather than sport, and I don't know if that list moves faster or slower than sport.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow this is what it says - it sounds like she made the top 15% but as you say it’s not completely clear.

With reference to your daughter’s performance, in previous years, if an applicant with a similar score did not receive an offer from a higher preference school, they would have normally exceeded the benchmark
to be ranked in the top 15% on our scholarship oversubscription list for those admitted and would have been offered a place at the School. However, please be advised that this information is provided for
guidance only and does not guarantee an offer of a place at Kingsdale Foundation School for September 2025, as for example the number of first preference applications the School receives varies from year to
year and admission is subject to the School being named on your Common Application Form (CAF).

That's exactly what we had on ours and afaik DD was in that top 15% and we got an offer on Allocation Day.

But you definitely don't feel like you can relax!

While I recognise that there are areas where the school could improve, it's important to acknowledge that no institution is without flaws. Kingsdale, being a large school, may not be the right fit for every child. I've recently come across some criticisms about the school; however, I believe that these concerns don't represent the entire experience at Kingsdale. It's essential to consider the positives alongside any negative feedback, as every school has its strengths and challenges.

My daughter received a half scholarship and is very athletic, so I want to congratulate your daughter for earning a full scholarship—this is a significant achievement! We were not able to secure a spot, as we were about 80th on the waiting list in March. At that time, I knew they hadn't yet awarded all the full scholarships.

We received an update at the end of the summer, informing us that we were now in the 40s on the waiting list and asking if we wanted to remain on it. We decided to stay on the list, but we have since chosen not to pursue it any further, as our daughter is settled in her current school, and we are happy with her situation.

Sorry I forgot to quote you but my response is above.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow @Sunflowers189 thanks very much for your helpful (and quick!) replies

Yes- congrats on the full sport scholarship at Kingsdale- my eldest is super athletic and received a half - love reading about the kids achievements in the weekly sport newsletter, some very inspiring athletes. Kingsdale share a training field with Dulwich College, my kids always have very muddy shoes- but the school doesn’t seem too strict on uniform ( past year 7- when you can get a detention for forgetting a tie).

Kingsdale has pretty much the same progress 8 scores as other local schools so is, essentially, a perfectly fine large secondary. DD has an EHCP and it's our nearest coed school but we didn't choose it which people seem to find nuts given its reputation. I wasn't convinced they were on board with the provisions in the plan (no behaviour issues and academics are fine), and it is a large, busy, noisy school which we felt she would find difficult and wouldn't benefit from most of the extra curricular activities. The central atrium is very echoey. They were more on board than the local friendly uber-academy chain though. Your mileage may vary on this depending on the SN. Local friends with children there seem to enjoy it, if a bit full-on, and the kids always seem polite on the train.

I personally loathe their admissions approach which seems to be set up to deliberately exclude the children from Sydenham Hill estate (friends who live basically the other side of the wall from the school did not get a place) and to create hype among parents and kids. It fills a slot for schooling locally that doesn't admit local children, meaning they have to travel further.

Depending on where you are, Harris Beckenham has a good reputation for SEN, Langley Boys, Dulwich North Charter or Forest Hill Boys all worth a look. Deptford Green if you're more that way. It's an area with a decent number of good schools so might just be about fit.

Oh! We have a friend who taught there who had a breakdown and never returned to teaching but who knows if that was the school or not...

Oh sorry you have a DD as well- also look at Sydenham as well then- very inclusive Head. I know people will discard criticisms based on admissions policy but I actually think it's very important because it sets the tone for inclusiveness. Does a school try to do it's best by all children, or do they try and make sure some of those children don't attend? If you have a child with SEND you will know how important that is - that they feel wanted by their school.

Outside of scholars, what is Kingsdale's sports and arts provision /support like?

DD is a music scholar and in Y6 I'd have said she was non sporty and liked art but it wasn't 'her thing'.

She now (Y11) loves PE, has found lots of sports she enjoys, stayed late twice a week for dance - was in the competition team, did workshops at BRIT etc. She also played cricket after school for a few years and I think was in the team.

With art, I was contacted by staff in Y7 as they offered her a graphics scholarship with free after-school coaching. For GCSE there is a choice of fine art, photography, textiles, graphics, DT and Creative Media Production (BTEC). DD does the latter and really enjoys it, the art department is very encouraging and there are loads of opportunities to do extra if you are interested.

I’m not sure why you think Sydenham is more SEND inclusive than Kingsdale. If you look at the government Compare Schools website you will see that Kingsdale has a higher percentage of both EHCP and general SEND support than Sydenham.

Also, you are mistaken about Kingsdale’s progress 8 score. It is not “pretty much the same” as other local schools. According to Compare Schools; the Norwood School, Sydenham School, Prendergast Vale and Sedghill are all ranked as ‘average’. The Harris Academies in Beckenham and Crystal Palace and Forest Hill Boys are ranked as ‘above average’. Kingsdale is ranked as ‘well above average’.

@Runningupthathill24 you're quite right, this year, Kingsdale's P8 is excellent. However, for every previous year it has been either below 0 or very slightly positive and thus "average". That's why it has the rep for being underwhelming in this regard. Great news that the P8 is so vastly improved this year, and frustrating for kingsdale no doubt that the most recent data was delayed for so long.

Correct. When I looked at the school p8 before It was not very good. I am glad it has improved,

Yes, exactly, it's had a big bump this year- will be interested to see if the trend continues.

I didn't say Sydenham was more inclusive, I was giving OP some other options to look at locally. Outstanding schools do tend to attract more EHCPs though by dint of their outstanding-ness rather than how good their SEN provision is (if you have an EHCP you can choose a school). So the number of EHCPs is not really a reliable data point.

Inclusive also means lots of different things. Kingsdale has about 10% fewer FSM eligible children than most other local secondary schools.

I agree with your perspective. The number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in a school does not necessarily reflect its inclusivity. A larger school will naturally have more EHCPs.

To assess how inclusive a school is regarding Special Educational Needs (SEN), I recommend looking at the SEN section of the Ofsted Parent View. I've attached it to give you an idea. The responses here are from parents who have shared their views on the SEN provision.

Hi all

so yesterday was national offer day and my son didnt manage to be offered a space.

He is 240 on banding list
and number 33 on scholarship list- he got a half for sports.

he is on the SEN register but doesnt not have a EHCP.

He has his heart set on kingsdale so im hoping i get a space by 1st september, i will hold out for movement on the scholarship wait list.

To add to what Sunflowers189 is saying, SEN support is not great at most secondary schools. Kingsdale seems to have better parent satisfaction results when compared w/Charter East (based on 2023 as new data still not available but I doubt much has changed).

Sorry, meant to post this instead, for comparison

I realise your post is from a while back so I am posting this to help others. My DC has been there for 4 years. DC will probably objectively do pretty well but actually they will underachieve unless I fund some intervention and I believe strongly that this is partly but significantly to do with the school. Positives: 1. a great breadth of extra-curricular activities and a brilliant school for Music and Drama although with the very sad loss of Mrs Graham I wonder how Music will fare after a few years. You don't need a scholarship to get involved. The teachers are very welcoming of anyone who is interested. Big tick. 2. Some very inspirational teachers in English and History 3. Don’t think the size matters for friendship groups - every parent I know says their child has found their tribe; 4. Lots of achieving parents mean things get done e.g. help with the school grounds 5. SENCO has got better. 6. As an experience (academics aside) I think it has overall been beneficial as there are lots of opportunities and lots of things to get involved in. There is a liberal vibe where children have their own opinions and work a lot of things out for themselves. Negatives: 1. No good unless your child is self-motivated: a few teachers care but to the vast majority DC is an annoying statistic; 2. Very weird politics; 3. You will get 4.5 mins with each subject teacher each year and unless your child communicates you will be somewhat stranded and clueless. You will get no information about what your child is doing and minimal information about how they are doing; 4. Either virtually no homework or no comeback if child is not doing homework. They changed to Sparks for Maths homework and my DC does not like it and has done virtually no homework since. This has had a terrible effect on their maths and I feel it is now down to me to fix it. School doesn’t care that they have gone downhill and no feedback/ help/ reaction at all from school. Some of this the school can’t really fix so I just want to emphasise that if you care about results and your DC has a whiff of not being conscientious at age 10/11, think seriously about sending your DC to Kingsdale: they will very much be left to their own devices. Remember that adolescence is likely to magnify any tendency to avoid. 5. Really bad for science: decent Physics teacher this year but generally has been bad. A lot of children get private tuition and I think Kingsdale's results are a lot to do with that as there are plenty of wealthy parents. 6. Every subject teacher will change every year apart from languages. 7. I know there is a debate about the effectiveness of homework but with the content needed to be learned for GCSE, there needs to be some repetition and my DC has very little or NO homework in some subjects or NO intervention for not doing it. The school cares more about whether a child wears a lanyard.

Both my kids went there, and the younger one has SEND, though never had an EHCP. They both thrived at the school. DD struggled initially, but after her ADHD diagnosis her learning went on a massive trajectory. The teachers go above and beyond to help children exceed their potential and have high expectations. Pastorally the school is excellent, much better than the local academies which you alluded to. For example; DS, quiet, shy, gay, only ever made friends with girls, was left alone to hang out with his little possy of girlfriends - the size of the school means you can be 'hidden' if you wish to be. The school has a broad intake but everyone gets on together - it is not cliquey like other local schools. DD had some awful anxiety and was well supported by her heads of year, who were also really good at communicating with me. I think the old SENDco has gone which is a good thing IMO. Overally, the place can see chaotic (partly due to its size), but it always pulls it out of the bag and I am glad my two went there as opposed to other local schools.