lorraine34cat

Hammerman all the children at the school have an opportunity to play an instrument and I can assure you in the past 7 years since my various children attended none of them got very much homework. Even now my yr six son has had once piece of homework set on a friday for submission the following wednesday. Some mathletics and that is it. Clearly things have changed since your daughter was there.

Allechre in answer to your question my children moved to independent schools from DHJS. Two boys went to Whitgift and my daughter is currently in St Dunstans. My 4th child is starting in DUCKS nursery as we have decided we want him in private from reception. I am not a supporter of the local state secondary namely charter. My eldest move their from independent in 6th form as we thought it would be better for him to be closer to home. I wont go into detail but we regretted that decision. However for most of the kids that go there they are very happy so I wouldn't want to put anyone off because I had a bad experience.

My DC have all gone to DHJS. Its a lovely state school, all children play an instrument, there are orchestras, lots of after school clubs, they compete against the local private schools in sport, lots of day trips. I could go on and on about the positives. The downfall moving from an independent is that you will find there is little to no homework. If your daughter is excelling where she is and is being challenged she may find that she wont be pushed to the same extent. My children got very little homework and even in yr 6 its one piece a week with a little mathletics. I know parents who moved there children in yr 3 to prep schools as they wanted to ensure their children were being pushed enough and also prepared fully for private entrance at 11. The school will not be doing anything to support any children who are planning to sit 11+ for entrance to secondary independents. Their priority is the SATS which is perfectly reasonable given they are a state school. A lot of children were receiving private tuition in preparation for 11+. Very few children get into the local top private school JAGs, DC, Alleyns. This will only be a consideration if your looking at a return to private in secondary. I will reiterate again though it is a great school!

What did you decide in the end?

This you will find is fairly regular. My son and two of his friends were attacked by youths on bikes and wearing hoodies along gallery road last year. They attempted to take there phones. My son and his mates were rugby boys and stood there ground. However one of the youths flashed a knife so they all decided to run instead. My son was also mugged when he was 11yrs old when wearing his public school uniform when getting the bus back from foresthill train station. Dragged by two youths into an alley. They took his phone. It was a cheap 10 pound phone and they still took it. Police never found any of the culprits which is extremely frustrating as it just leads to these youths thinking they are invincible.