Putney High Senior School - still a good a school for non-sporty girls?

[BizzyMissy]

We went to the senior school open day for Putney High in October and loved it so considering applying for DD (2026 entry). We know it has a great reputation for sport but our DD is not sporty at all. I asked girls we met at the open day and was told lots of students aren't sporty and thrive. However, met a parent of an ex Putney (junior school) student recently who told me DD might struggle to make friends if not sporty. She is generally good at making friends. Any views from current parent of Putney senior school students? Thanks!

I don't have a dd there, but my dd goes to another Independent school, which is sporty. Not all the girls are sporty, but it helps if your dd does music or some other club as a way to meet others with common interests. My dd loves doing the sports with her school friends and it is a good way to bond. But there are other opportunities such as joining the choir or music group. I am sure it is the same at Putney.

Thanks @SamPoodle123 . Good to hear. DD has lots of interests, including choir and drama and will want to join clubs.

It will be fine- DD was at another very similar school and hates all sports! She has sport and non sporty friends.

I know a non-sporty girl in the junior school and the parents actually like the school encouraging more sports and PE, the girl said PE was a lot more fun than her previous prep. She looks to be happy with her circle of like minded friends, but again this the junior school.
The new senior school head is known to be more into academics so things could change.

I have a dd in the school, completely not sporty, and she found her gang and thriving.

My DD just started at Putney this year - she was not very sporty at all and much more in to music and drama. However since starting she has surprised us with wanting to give more sports a go and although obviously not selected for the top teams, she is delighted to be in D and E teams for two sports! They play team sports at all different levels should you wish to try out. There’s all sorts of other co-curricular clubs which are not sports related as well, she will be fine!

Hello - has anyone tried to apply for an Occasional Vacancy at PHS or WHS and has any tips on how this works?

Our daughter was at Putney High and was happy and cared for in the Junior School, under the outstanding leadership of the Head at the time.

Unfortunately, her educational experience in the Senior school was very different and we blame ourselves, as parents, for being blinded by Putney High's social cachet and strong academic/sporting reputation, and for making the error of judgement, which led to us sending her there. The inexperience of the new Senior Head, coupled with her limited leadership qualities, contributed to us making the difficult and painful decision to remove our daughter due to serious safeguarding concerns.

Our daughter was subjected to a prolonged period of peer-on-peer abuse, with the leadership of the school exacerbating her suffering by failing to take appropriate measures to address the bullying. Seemingly robust anti-bullying and safeguarding policies, (albeit generic!), were in place BUT were not understood by staff and were not applied.

Our complaint went before a Panel Hearing and the School was instructed to: a) issue a written apology to our family; b) to review, as a matter of urgency, how familiar staff were with its policies relating to bullying and discipline and how closely the protocols were adhered to; c) provide greater clarity regarding requirements for conducting investigations and the recording and documentation of subsequent outcomes, and; d) to liaise with the Met Police following their involvement with Social Services and consequent intervention to keep our daughter safe at school.

Our daughter was hounded mercilessly by the same small group of girls and subjected to the most insidious and invidious forms of torment for months, causing a deleterious impact on her mental health. The decline was both profound and rapid and forced us to remove her from the only school she had ever known.

It might be worth remembering the very sad death of the Oxford University student who took his own life after being "cancelled" by his peers. Inaction or indifference, when witnessing persecution, simply enables the perpetrators of abuse and is not dissimilar to complicity!

Although Putney High School failed to protect our daughter, she survived and is thriving in her new school community just outside London.

Very sorry to read what a tough time she had. Was it the girls that moved with her from juniors to seniors or a new group? Are you able to share what the red flags were?

Hugs to you and your DD x

Sounds like Putney has not changed since the 1990s when it was hot bed of bullying and eating disorders!

My DD attended PHS in the 2000s and I don't recognise any of these comments above. She had a lovely group of friends and they all did very well academically.

The only issue for me came when there was pressure to leave for 6th form. Not sure what the school could really do about it though.

Just to echo Jeanne16. I don't recognise any of the comments above. I have DD that went from Y7 to 6th form and a DD that moved to PH a bit later. Two very different girls and both having a very happy experience. Really supportive teachers, great sports department and the school work very hard at making exam times not stressful.

I am sorry to hear about the poor girl that had a difficult time - it is never nice to hear. But ultimately with 3 kids - all having attended different schools - I do think no school is perfect for everyone. And sometimes there are trickier year groups unfortunately. Thankfully there is plenty of choice in SW London - and I say this from experience as we moved our DD to PH from another local school that really didn't work for her.

Hello all, this is very interesting, although very sad but hopefully very rare too. We need to decide between PH and KGS for our daughter to start in September in year 7, any additional experience would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Poor girl, hope this is all behind you now.

We need to decide between PH and Emanuel.

I'd just like to add another pov here for Putney. And I'm sorry for the pp whose daughter had a bad experience.

I think it's fair to say you can never 100% prevent things like these in any school.

In terms of pastoral care, my dd recently had an issue with another classmate who had been antagonistic towards her, and it had been stressful for her. She went to the head of year for a chat, and the action had been immediate, appropriate and fair. At no point did we think they have been dragging their feet or wanting to sweep under the carpet. There were other things since which they have been very on top of in terms of my dd's wellbeing. So from our experience, they've been great.