SW London schools: info on Graveney, Chestnut, Hurlingham etc

[PForParent]

I would like to get some thoughts on secondary state schools in the Wandsworth area.

We are ruling out single-sex schools, and super-strict schools like Ashcroft.
Private schools or moving to another area are not realistic options, for a multitude of reasons.

Our priority is to find a reasonable balance between a school which is reasonably rigorous, but not to the point that it crushes kids' spirit with petty, capricious, unnecessary rules and punishments. Eg think of the scandals at Holland Park School or Mossbourne, with well-documented cases of emotional abuse.

Our impressions so far:

Graveney: seems great if we can get in with the test (we appreciate it's not easy).

Chestnut in Balham: seems less academic than Graveney but still a reasonable balance.

Ashcroft: never ever ever. Detentions for cycling to school? Please. And the supposed "catch up" if you miss a day is bs: they simply put you in a detention room, there is no teaching. Way too much homework: the kids we know who go there have given up all their other activities, have stopped reading, that's really extreme.

Hurlingham Academy in Fulham: Impressions were good. Seemed a reasonable balance. Some doubts about the school not having sixth form.

Saint Cecilia: we know many families whose children are happy there. But it seems one of the least academic, and with very little homework (the opposite problem to Ashcroft)

Harris Wimbledon: very mixed feedback. Some say it's a very good and very academic school, some say it's far too strict.

Harris Battersea: very mixed feedback, but in the opposite sense to Harris Wimbledon: some say it's good, some say it's not academic enough.

Southfields Academy: terrible impressions. The kids seemed feral. It seemed the least academic of the whole list.

When sharing your thoughts, please:

• respect our preferences. If Ashcroft or a single-sex works well for your kids, I am very happy for you, but don't try to convince me to send my kids there. If someone asks for a Chinese restaurant you don't tell them that Indian food is better :)
• please try to take into account not just your personal experience, but how someone else's experience might differ. Eg our kids are reasonably happy at their primary, but I'll be the first to say it's one of those "my way or the highway" type of schools, and it's not a good choice for anyone with any kind of special needs

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Thanks a lot!

@PForParent I agree about A.'s unnecessary strict rules that can be a deterrent for normal families.

@marilynmonroe "My kids go to Southfields and I'm sorry that your impression was that the kids were feral. It's not like that at all. My kids are doing well there and their pastoral care is fantastic."

Thank you for the feedback - collecting diverse feedback was precisely the reason for this post.

The behaviour I witnessed during the visit at Southfields Academy was the worst of all the schools. However, I understand that the show a school puts on during an open day is not necessarily representative of what truly goes on behind closed doors, so I want to keep an open mind.

Could I please ask you to elaborate a bit, on how you are finding it, on how it seems to you vs other schools, etc?

Many families frown upon it for the simple fact it is never oversubscribed, but Holland Park and Mossbourne show that a school can have a good reputation and have all kinds of other problems.

'Feral'? They're kids, who likely have had a very different start in life to yours. Children. Not animals. Jesus.

There's a very long thread on Mumsnet about Mossbourne, and a few on Holland Park Schools. I don't think we can add much here, plus it wasn't the topic of my post, but anyone interested in the issue can search mumsnet for those threads. My view is the same concerns apply to Ashcroft, too.
I totally get it that not everyone agrees. Such is life.

This is data for all the children who got Y7 places in B.
B. gives priority to children from certain primaries, so if you want to get to B., you should transfer your child to one of their feeder primaries before Y6.

@WHM0101 Yes, but is that the data at the beginning of the school year or at the end? Ie is it before or after taking into account in--year transfers?

Though it wasn't me using this word, I don't want teens pushing each other in the streets, playing gangstas, shouting and swearing anywhere near my child. Their live story is not my concern.

No idea. "Pupils joined this secondary school in year 7 from the following primary schools:" .

But I'd assume you should be at the feeder school in October of Y6.

@WHM0101 Then say that - "I wasn't impressed with the behaviour at the school." <-- that would do it.

@onestepfurtheragain
I don't need to run my choice of words by you.

I stand by my choice of the word "feral" to describe the worst behaviour I have witnessed, out of all the schools visited.

You are more than welcome to disagree with said choice of words.

If you'd like to contribute to the topic of the post, I shall welcome your feedback.

If you'd rather continue in all the pearl-clutching you deem appropriate for the matter in question, please ignore me and my thread. Thank you.

FWIW, I am all about balance. Draconian schools like Mossbourne and Holland Park can hide deeper problems (see the scandals of rampant emotional abuse uncovered) and can cause long-lasting psychological scars.
But schools with no discipline are environments which are not conducive to learning.
Again, it's all about a reasonable balance.

@PForParent I've been to a school with much better results than S. and during PE lesson pupils were pushing each other in front of the parents who came to an open morning, and PE teacher was shouting at everyone on top of his lungs. At this moment I realised that quality of intake matters as much as availability of triple science, at least for me.
Consider walking around H. Battersea or Hurlingham after school to get the feeling. But I don't think you'll be in the catchment for Hurlingham from Wandsworth or further away anyway.

@WHM0101 You raise a very good point. I noticed something similar at our kids' primary, where the difference between the classes of the two siblings seem to be down to just luck, and not to anything the school did differently

Where do you live? You cannot possibly have a reasonable shot at entry to all these schools
The Harris academies, Southfields and St C are all undersubscribed so make of that what you will

Harris Battersea is undersubscribed.
Harris Wimbledon and St Cecilia are not.

As for distances and admission chances:

Graveney: we know we'd only get it if our kid does well in the Wandsworth test

Chestnut: if she gets in the top band of the Wanndsworth test, then our chances are good as the max distance for the top band is always greater. Plus there are specialist places for art and languages

Hurlingham: should be able to get in, but catchment might tighten after they got their outstanding

Harris Wimbledon: hit or miss: some years she might have got in, some other years not

I believe St Cecilia is oversubscribed actually. It wasn’t on my radar but my DC know of children there who are all smart, hardworking and doing well. It has a good reputation.

St C - last year if you were Christian the distance was 7005 metres
Have you considered Kingsdale?

Isn't Kingsdale in Dulwich? That would be a bit too far

Depends whereabouts you are - Balham to Fulham vs Balham to Dulwich is a similar distance
Kingsdale has a lottery system

I know where we are :) and Kingsdale would be too far for us

@PForParent I didn't realize Hurlingham's catchment is still almost 2 miles straight line. For some reason I was thinking it doesn't stretch over Wandsworth bridge anymore.

my kids have had some great teachers who are young and full of energy. All the teachers are contactable directly and they always reply to queries. As it’s not oversubscribed the class sizes are a bit smaller. As I said the pastoral care is fantastic and easy and quick to organize. It’s not perfect though. They don’t do school trips abroad which I would have liked.

no school is perfect and the only way you will find out if the school is good is how your child’s gets on. So many other factors can affect that like friendships, teachers etc.

it’s a hard decision and good luck with it and go with your gut! And remember you can always change schools. You don’t need to stick it out!

@PForParent Hurlingham's catchment 1.3 miles for September 2025, just FYI
www.lbhf.gov.uk/children-and-young-people/schools-and-colleges/school-admissions/transfer-secondary-school-2025

I would avoid an undersubscribed school if you can simply because of how the funding model works and the areas these schools are in are already seeing falling birth rates

Thanks. In 2024 it was almost 2 miles, and in 2023 5 miles!
But this was in September. 1.3 is now in March. So the big question is how much the area will expand between March and September 2025.

One thing I noticed, with yesterday's results, is that there seem to be more siblings.

Hurlingham: 41 vs of 33 last year
Chestnut: 73 vs 56
St Cecilia: 55 vs 37

Not exactly like-for-like, since this compares March vs September results, but still an indication.

On Bollingbroke:
The data published on the council's website shows that the children admitted from non-feeder schools were:

2024: zero
2023: 12 (1322 metres)
2022: <5 (788m)
2021: 26 (1482m)

https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/media/yi1hafdr/previous_years_admissions_for_wandsworth_secondary_schools.pdf

2025: none as of March. May change by September https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/media/e45hqwl2/how_school_places_were_offered_for_secondary_schools_2025.pdf