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!

I actually know someone from Fulham who got place in Holland Park School thanks to it's bad rep. It would be impossible few years ago I think. Child looks quite happy and comes from a good family.
Though personally I wouldn't risk.

@Fellontheground "My specific needs"??

I never realised that wanting to avoid an environment which institutionalises and normalises the emotional abuse of children was a "specific need"

Your explanation is very interesting. Do you know during which months families typically find out if their children have been accepted into Grammar Schools or private schools? I’d like to know when the waiting lists are most likely to move so I can plan accordingly

normally lots of moment over the summer & often right into beginning of term.

Do you know during which months families typically find out if their children have been accepted into Grammar Schools or private schools? I’d like to know when the waiting lists are most likely to move so I can plan accordingly

I don't know for sure.
I hear that most families who were admitted into private schools should know by now (end of March) but I have never looked into the details.

spaces will likely change in beginning of September as some parents don't bother updating schools.

There must be a special place in hell for parents who don't bother updating schools!

I think some just genuinely forget

We have an awful time at Graveney and I do not wish it to anyone.

If your kid is neurotypical and on the extension classes, you may be ok. However as mentioned before the SEND dept is awful, including TAs and are not supporting the families at all. The current interim SENCO is unresponsive, and part time, the previous one was the same, it seems this has been going on for years. They can’t even follow their own policies and definitely do not support SEN students as they should. Some staff has very old views of SEN.

It’s an academy wannabe grammar, with a mixture of old fashion management with new academy structures and you won’t know who is who in the organisation chart, which means you are having to ask who is this person or this other.

The principal is one of the most unapproachable people, I’ve seen from all the schools we have visited. You can see the lack on empathy and understanding of how to manage a school as she was never a teacher, worked in educational policy development. There is an arrogance of having a reputation and being secondary, which seems to meant, you can be treated with disrespectful and arrogant.

Bullying is pretty bad too and not dealt with at least you can proof is on CCTV. Also a distinction of how the punishments are apply, basically there is double standard.

Some teachers are nice however others are not so great, mind you, it may be because they are not supported by the management and teams around. You will have a tutor that won’t contact you if problems arise and then all will blow up in your face at once. Then they want meetings at the drop
of a pin.

even when you have been trying to reach them. You will have a meeting and nothing will change.

The communication with families is pretty poor too. Many teams not working together, only went they had to cover up.

The standard of knowledge on the classes that are not extension is quite poor on some forms, which means some kids get pretty bored. It’s obvious kids got tutoring to pass the Wandsworth test to get in, and you will get emails advertising tutoring from external providers. Out of the blue they will make the CAT test on the 1st term and from there they move kids around classes on the start of spring term, some kids are demoted from the extension classes at this point.

Frankly we are also looking for a new school within Wandsworth but all the above names are not great for different reasons. Even private education is not that much for choice particularly if you have to factor SEN.

Graveney has this kind of behaviour sadly.

We had to do the Wandsworth test on Ashcroft and the attitude of the staff and teachers was shocking, barking orders to kids and parents dropping them, no extra time for special needs kids, it was seriously off putting.

That's not my experience of Graveney @spoodlesee but appreciate every dc is different.

I know dc who sat at Ashcroft, they said staff were a bit bossy.

That's sad to hear about Graveney. Any thoughts or experiences of Bolingbroke?

@77summers I'm sorry to hear that.
Our current primary school saw an exodus of families, because their approach was very much "my way or the highway". I know a couple of children who have special needs and the school doesn't care, so I am not surprised that other schools behave similarly.

Could I please ask you to elaborate a bit more, without of course doxing yourself?

What is the CAT test? A test to move students to a different set? But I thought Graveney uses sets, not streams, so at Graveney you could be in the top set for one subject and the middle set for another?

I have spoken to younger siblings of younger colleagues, who went to Graveney fairly recently, and their main feedback was that, if you get in via the Wandsworth test, it's a good school, but if you are in the bottom sets it can be pretty rough. One said it was like having 2 different schools on the same location, the other played it down and said that in every school there will be differences between the top set and the bottom set. Would you agree more with the former?

If you are looking to change school, have you looked into Harris Battersea, Southfields Academy, Ark Putney? They are all undersubscribed, but Harris Battersea is the only outstanding. An outstanding undersubscribed school is rare.

Lambeth also has a few undersubscribed schools; no idea if that's because they're not good, or if it's demographics.

@spoodlesee Could I please ask about your experience at Graveney?

Lambeth also has a few undersubscribed schools; no idea if that's because they're not good, or if it's demographics.

I think they are one of the boroughs hardest hit by falling birth rates.

@spoodlesee I have family who went there & enjoyed it. And I know dc there who are happy.

said that in every school there will be differences between the top set and the bottom set

I think this is true but I suppose the differences are exacerbated in boroughs like Wandsworth where you have such inequality eg some dc living in 1.5m houses

As far as I am aware most schools test dc in the first term of yr 7 & it is true that dc can move up or down but again is that unusual?

What I heard from Graveney is corroborated in this post. It is a great school if you are in the extension, but not so much if you’re not. They are definitely wannabe grammar and they definitely downgrade students that don’t make the effort.
My friends child got in through the Wandsworth test and was also downgraded because of that, despite being very bright.
I suspect their good results are a reflection of this practice, if you select the best students to start with.
@77summers my dc is going to Harris Wimbledon. Not sure this is an option for you due to catchment (and they are oversubscribed).

I'd say the problem in the area are not people living in 1.5m houses at all, it's rather the opposite - people with no education who never cared to get a job. Generations of them. Not the best role models for their kids in any aspect.

If you look at results though some of the comments do not tally.

Looking at disadvantaged pupils at Graveney; 54% achieved grade 5+ in english & maths vs 27% in Harris Wimbledon & an Attainment 8 score of 44.9 vs 43.1.

Looking at prior attainment the middle cohort had 70.3% grade 5+ & attainment 8 score of 53.9 vs HW 51.1% & 51.5. And then if you look at low attainment Graveney had a progress 8 score above 1 with 30.3% getting grade 5. Whereas Harris was 11.4%.

I just compared to Harris as it was mentioned & whilst they may really push the top stream looking at results they clearly don't just ignore the rest.

I'd say the problem in the area are not people living in 1.5m houses at all, it's rather the opposite - people with no education who never cared to get a job. Generations of them. Not the best role models for their kids in any aspect.

Yes, inequality is definitely the fault of the feckless & poor 🙄

@PatientVesta Graveney has 3 groups: extension, enrichment and endevaour.
So do they use streams or sets?
Or are these 3 groups streams, but then they also use sets within each stream?

@PatientVesta What can you say about Harris Wimbledon? Are they strict but reasonable, or strict and crazy like the various Micaela, Ashcroft, Mossbourne, etc?

I don't get the comment on Graveney and the 1.5m house - isn't most of London like that, anyway?

5 years ago GV was in an scandal about discrimination:

https://www.wandsworthsw18.com/#!pages/shared:common:ldrswandschools005

We found that the school is far too big to be able to manage the amount of the students, and it's on the border of two areas of Tooting completely different backgrounds.

Is it my comment you don't get @PForParent? I was responding to a post about differences in sets & different experiences. A lot of London is like that but I think in a school like Graveney it is more pronounced because it does attract parents who often would chose private & you will find that a lot of the dc who get in based on test score will come from a fairly narrow background. And for distance criteria the catchment is unusually small for a state school.