Ibstock;Wetherby&Pembridge Senior or Maida Vale

[Lyolik]

I'd love to hear thoughts from parents with children currently in above schools. I'm considering secondary school for my child and have got an acceptance from the schools above, but I'd love to hear firsthand feedback, good and bad, please.

I have a son at Wetherby currently taking GCSE's. We took a chance on this new school as I wanted not to be using my car every day for environmental reasons. When we applied the headmaster seemed kind and likeable, a bird watcher and classics scholar - my type of person! Unfortunately he left before my son started at Wetherby and there have been two changes of headmaster in the meantime -that's four years. There were also some staffing issues, an industrial dispute and several of the staff left. We were committed by then so we went ahead despite some concerns.

If your child is a self-disciplined, organised very academic type, he will probably thrive there. Sadly my son has had a bad experience and it feels like the boys who need more help are neglected. There is also a terribly misogynistic culture, racism and homophobia but I have heard that that seems to be a problem in many all boys' schools.

My child is ASD1 and it took a long time to diagnose him because he was masking. There is a SENDCO rep who is great but it feels like most of the teachers don't have even a basic understanding of what that means.

The fees are enormous and I have had to spend a fortune on supplementary books because the online resources are scant and parlously organised. The entire IT system is a mess, with way too many platforms, resulting in a sort of 'portal anxiety', where you are constantly having to check in multiple places.

I have just the one son so I can't compare with other secondary day schools but his first school was Dulwich Prep London, which was fantastic. So maybe they spoiled me!