Queens Park Community School - Brent

[lazymumofteenagesons]

I'm thinking of moving my 14 year old son from his independent, non-selective, weekly boarding school to our local school. Does anyone have any experience of QPCS which they can share with me.

Don't know about Queens Park, but have friends with dc at Hampstead comp which is not too far and they are v happy with it.

Hampstead comp is effectively in camden and we are in Brent. Not sure he would get a place.

I have heard good things about it although my dc are a long way off secondary. Tony Benn's daughter wrote an article about it, I don't know whether she sends her children there but it might help. here I think

luckywinner - thanks for that. The school seems to have changed completely since we moved here about 15 years ago. Then noone I knew would have touched it with a barge pole. I should have relooked into it earlier. They are oversubscribed now and I will have to go on a waiting list.

As long as your DS is a self-starter and fits in with the crowd (or confident/quirky enough to stand his own ground AND gain respect) it should be fine. It is not a place for the reasonably bright but prefer to go with the flow rather than standing out. My sds was the latter and I am convinced he would have done better in a school that was more structured and pushed him a bit more. He was happy however.

norflondoner - 'happy' is good but not if it means achieving significantly less. He is very sociable and gets on with most, but has never been in such a large school environment with such a 'mix' of kids. His current school is non-pushy, but going with the flow does worry me. How long ago was your DSS there?

He left a year and a half ago after GCSE. He does not live with us so I don't see it on a daily basis, but I think what he missed out on most was not being taught study skills and how to organise his time etc.

lazymum - 'tis sunshine posting in case you were confused. am having a cloudy day today

My DC went there and had a v mixed experience. There is a small, high achieving clique and if you get in with them you can do well. the parents arranged extra sessions for GCSE subjects taught badly/not fully covered at school but if you weren't in with them - or couldn't offer tuition in a GCSE subject for their DCs - then tough.
I was surprised by all this - I went to indie school but wanted a local comp for DC so he would be part of a community, but there was a definite elite group of pupils within the school that were selected for all the high profile trips to Eton etc and had all the extra support which in theory was meant for bright children from non-academic backgrounds but in reality was monopolised by mainly bright middle-class kids with professional parents who would have done well any way. This all boosts the school's performance but you have to put in a lot of extra work yourself.

anonymum5 - were these kids on some sort of gifted and talented register? Do you think this applied to every year or just the one your son was in. If I move my son it will be into the start of year 10. My reasons are similar to yours regarding community. Also I'm not sure that in a non-selective progressive independent school he is going to achieve much more than at the local comp. But, truthfully, the move does make me slightly nervous. we do not have time to make mistakes cos of GCSEs.

Some definitely were on the G&T reg. The problem with the GCSEs was that the school had not managed to cover all of the syllabus for some subjects so these parents got together to cover the extra work - it felt like a bit of a private club but then I am probably just bitter because DS and I were not asked tbh. I did spend money on tutors because I felt sometimes he hadn't really "got" somthing but was doing well enough not to need remedial help.
I think a lot depends on your DS - if he is motivated and hardworking and you support him he should do well and be selected for all the extras. I think the bright children felt cherished and special but as ultimately most of these were the middle class high achievers from professional families they ended up as an elitist clique - not quite the community feel I had in mind, but at least it was free and DS had the kudos of "inner city comp" on his UCAS form!

anonymum - did he stay at qpcs for a levels? I'm beginning to feel the move is too risky. DS2 is highly intelligent but does not perform up to that level due to dyslexia/dyspraxia and actually a certain amount of laziness! Also coming in at year 10 means he has to hit the ground running. He is quite easily swayed by peer pressure into misbehaving. He would not necessarily fit into this 'elite' group and I'm not sure about the amount of work/organisation i'd have to put into this. Sounds like the lazy option is to leave him where he is and change to the state system at sixth form.

I would think very carefully about moving a child at Y10 to any school. The teachers won't know your DS and so might not be able to tell if he is coasting/under-performing, so might accept low Bs as his level if he has A star potential they are not aware of.
Personally - but only personally - I would wait til 6th form, when he will have to take more responsibility anyway.
I would really like someone else to jump in on this thread, 'cos I don't want to overly influence your decision based on just my experiences.

thanks very much for all your replies. anonymum you have just put into words everything I was worried about. Where he is, although they don't push, thay know him and know there is potential there. I think i'll probably stay put - 'better the devil you know' and all that. We will rethink at beginning of year 11.