Thoughts on Elms Academy (Clapham SW4)

[MyWiseOpalLurker]

Would love to hear opinions from any parents with children at the school or people who know the school well.

We visited an open day and went from low expectations to being very impressed at its organisation and general feel of the school and students. Upon further inspection they seem to be a school improving in results since takeover from United Learning Trust.

Concerns are that that this could be a temporary/limited rise, based on their year groups containing 56% disadvantaged children and 22% persistent absence, which is high compared with other schools in the general area (e.g. Chestnut Grove, Bolingbroke academy) that already enjoy better results.

Or that it can only be achieved through a more brutal form of discipline (we definitely got a discipline vibe) and separation (i.e. their grammar stream) which might mean a less cohesive/functional year group experience.

Regardless it was refreshing to see a more organised and communicative school, albeit only at open day - as a comparator we have been very keen on chestnut grove but they gave us a few examples of lack of organisation/communication over the past few weeks where Elms has really shone through!

I live in the area and while I don’t chose to send my kids there I don’t have anything bad to say about the local kids who do attend. I do have feeling that there is not much of an extra curricular offering - my state school primary kids finished school later than the secondary kids at Elms and they all peel out of school at 3.15 which I feel is too early and leaves a lot of time to entertain themselves (for good or bad) - but they were generally well behaved and polite which is a credit to them.

it’s very good from a transport perspective but the outdoor facilities are limited and no state schools use the common (a bugbear of mine having kids at state primary literally on the doorstep) so don’t have false expectations of that green space being used by the school.

Thanks for the insight, really helpful and great to hear the kids seem polite and well behaved, that confirms a bunch of good impressions from the open days too.

On outside space, they do have a smallish playground and facilities, which seems slightly smaller than chestnut grove and bigger than Bolingbroke academy, but I guess that's inner London for you... Need to go out to zone 3/4 or go private for fields. I had heard the same about Wandsworth common not being used, but I see the primary schools using Clapham common Northside so I wonder what gives?

On extracurricular I think this is another thing the grammar stream 'promises' - which is enforced 4.30pm finishes with clubs set aside for those kids. Great if you can get in, but not sure where that leaves the other 3/4 children?

@MyWiseOpalLurker I don't know about Elms Academy, but I looked into Hurlingham Academy in Fulham. Same trust, same "executive principal" (whatever this means).

My impression is that Hurlingham is stricter than average, but remains reasonable, without reaching the extremes of schools like Ashcroft (detention if you cycle to school!), Michaela, Mossbourne, etc.

Other people disagree and find even Hurlingham too extreme.

Both Elms and Hurlingham have become more popular over the last few years, as reflected in the maximum admission distance, which has been shrinking.

I made a post about their grammar stream a year ago. I think it's a marketing buzzword and not that different from schools which use streams or sets without making a big song and dance out of it

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5172138-grammar-stream-just-a-marketing-buzzword-any-different-from-being-in-the-top-set

Do you have a decent shot at all the schools you mention? Bollingbroke is hard to get into unless you come from a feeder primary. Chestnut has a very short admission distance (unless you do the language or art test).

Thanks for the insight, yes grammar stream does sound like a bit of marketing (which evidently is working on me!) but maybe it is aimed at addressing this exact query of mine... No guarantee of course that my child will be in the grammar stream!

We are lucky to be in with a shot at both Bolingbroke (feeder school) and Chestnut Grove and they both tick a lot of boxes.

Our daughter didn't like Bolingbroke - it felt too claustrophobic and she had some negative feedback from peer siblings.

Chestnut Grove was our initial favourite but we have noticed a quite disorganised approach around the recent tests and open days, and you start to wonder if it's linked to their results which seem to be trending down now.

Maybe we are spoilt for choice and overthinking these things when they are a marginal set of good choices, but we got some red flags in areas where Elms seems to have outperformed in - there's just very little parent feedback of Elms online compared to the others.

NC. I'll PM you.

My son goes to elms academy in year 8 and he loves it and we are happy with the school too. He has lots of fun at school and it’s also been great for his attitude to learning. It wasn’t our first choice but I have no complaints at all. To address a previous poster, all year 7s, 8s and 9s have to do an enrichment club every Monday and they have a wide selection, they pick a new one every term. I like thatmit’s compulsory as my son would say no otherwise I think. I don’t think it’s stricter than other schools I’ve heard about from friends in terms of detentions for uniform and not doing homework etc. Their results are getting better each year and it’s becoming more popular. I think the demographic of the school is changing as it has in the past had a bad reputation from years ago when it was Lambeth Academy. A year ago the greatest distance away of a child being offered a place was 7000m now it’s 2000m. It’s smaller than other schools which I like as I think all the teachers know more of the kids, the head teacher Amy Welch always knows the kids names when I’ve seen her around the school. The school is definitely on the up which I think is great as they are so ambitious, rather than a school that has always been popular and doesn’t need to work as hard. Another poster said they never use the common - they don’t use it for PE I don’t think but my son used it for after school summer sports club last term. Feel free to ask any questions!

my son wasn’t in the grammer stream last year but he is this year - they can go in and out. Grammer stream kids do two languages, that’s the main difference I think. And their class work and homework is a bit harder for their ability.