East Dulwich Schools

[Tony Rabbit]

Are East Dulwich schools becoming better or worse?

Where would you recommend (or not) a parent to send their child?

It seems that even those schools that are better recommended may have some shortcomings.

It also seems that some schools that were failing have very much improved while others are now giving cause for concern.

[Keef]

Forget chosing where you'd like to send your child, these days it seems to be more a case of hoping you can get a place at any of them!

[Ridgley]

I my daughter, goes to City of London which is funded by City of London Group not in ED

[Tony Rabbit]

Why not ED? Are our schools not good enough if so where do they fail?

[Alec John Moore]

Could you be more specific? Do you mean primary or secondary? I take it you are thinking state not private.

[Tony Rabbit]

-- moved topic --

[Tony Rabbit]

Hi Alec. I was leaving it to EDF to aim is comments.

Specifically I was interested in opinions of State Primary schools and schools that receive state funding (ie church foundations).

[Havana]

Tony, my son goes to Goodrich which used to be regarded as one of the better local schools. However during recent years, the school has been on the slide. There is dissatisfaction among parents about the state of the school and discussion growing around the possibilities of starting a free school or Goodrich becoming an academy. It should be an outstanding school: it's a real shame that it has lost its way.

[chantelle]

can we get a good debate going? Anyone with thoughts on Bellenden, Dog Kennel Hill, Goose Green?

[bjm]

I think Goose Green is improving rapidly and has a great Head. Personally I prefer Goose Green over Goodrich.

My little one has been in Goose Green's nursery for a year and she is thriving there.

I sense a real commitment from people I talk to involved with the school to really drive standards up and to continue all the positive changes that have already occurred.

[Havana]

Goodrich is not short on committed parents; one of the great strengths of the school is its community.

[mrs.lotte]

I do not believe that any of the local schools are all "good" or all "bad"; you will probably find parents with good and bad experiences at any school. It is all very well recommending a school but things can change rapidly as other comments on this thread show. I believe it is all rather personal; some will prioritise pastoral care others academic achievement or sports and music provision, some may boast all of those things but have a frosty atmosphere so anyone looking for a school place should (obvious I know) visit and make up their own mind.

On a personal note we were allocated Goose Green 2 years ago, I hadn't even visited and when I did I was struck by how friendly the children were but how, in the main, it was pretty much just like all the others I visited. Here we are 2 years later, my husband is a governer and it is our first choice school for my Sept 11 reception start daughter.

In any event as Keef points out ED hardly has the luxury of choice, there is a lot to be said for getting behind your local school, you never know you may find that it is special measures one minute then a rising star with great SATS results the next ....

[Tony Rabbit]

Havana (see above) has hit the mark with her observation which echoes many sentiments I have gathered from outside this forum.

The problem is do we stay or do we move school? or might it be a case of 'the grass is not greener......'

[Keef]

Out of interest, how woke you say Goodrich has "lost it's way"? What thins would you like to see happening there? As an aside, goodrich comes out as homesick when using predictive text.

[reren]

I wonder if there is a way to harness the power of the forum :-) and get prospective goodrich parents as well as existing ones to put pressure on the head if there are changes that need ti be made at goodrich? I imagine there are a lot of parents with an interest in how well goodrich does who dont currently have kids there? Obviously would need to give the head a chance to defend him/herself so that those of us not involved could understand the full story?

[prdarling]

Interestingly after all of the primary school application chaos from last spring when so many people wanted Goodrich (or Heber) and loads of people were left with none of their choices, I know that currently at least one of the Reception classes in Goodrich only has 27/30 places filled.

Not sure if people looked elsewhere and preferred what they found??

[Havana]

Keef, 'lost its way' was euphemism for gamut of issues afflicting school and to name but a few: academic standards have slipped, a number of great teachers have left, and staff retention appears to be a problem. Parents are looking elsewhere for their kids, and there is a rising sense of panic amongst the school community. If only Southwark was listening...

[duchessofdulwich]

I know parents who have children in Goodrich primary. they have said they have not been impressed by the head teacher.

[Keef]

Write to Southwark? Dont know if it would do much good, but surely a letter signed by a significant amount of parents would at least raise some eyebrows. Perhaps the head needs some guidance, has she been a head before? Must admit though, it saddens me that society is so bothered about academic achievement at primary level!

[BeccaL]

I think this is an issue which is being addressed by the governors of Goodrich, which is where it should be discussed. Reren has hit the nail on the head - the head should be asked to discuss the issues and address them - "given a chance to defend herself".

[Keef]

Well quite. I was assuming that this avenue had already been explored, being as it's the obvious first step. Sorry, hope I dont come across as wanting someone to get in to trouble, just think this is interesting.

[LauraHW]

I know it's not East Dulwich but I'd be interested in hearing peoples' views on Ivydale Primary?

[James Barber]

Hi Havana,

I had these same issues raised and had heard other rumblings.

I've met the head of Goodrich School, then the head council officer in charge of improving schools and also the council Schools Improvement Partner for Goodrich (he is also an Ofsted inspector). I've then respoken with the Shirley Paterson the schools head again.

The data for Goodrich School is convincingly positive. Key Stage 1 last results were markedly improved which bodes REALLY well for the future. The Key Stage 2 last results have also been good for the last four years.

The November'10 reported to Southwark levels in kids reading, writing and maths are all looking really good for when they do their KS2 tests in May. In fact they look ahead of target to reach above 80% in Key Stage 2 in May. 80% places a school in the top quartile for the country.

The contextual value added - how much kids have progressed despite any poor backgrounds, etc - these stats are a sea of green.

Going back over time. The change in head to Shirley Paterson looks to have taken a just Satisfactory coasting school up a notch or two. The last Ofsted report called her inspirational.

The school governors have also employed an ex.HMI inspector. This report was equally glowing.

My hunch would be a few parents want a magic wand for this school to have an Outstanding Ofted report. I'm hopeful that this Autumn terms Ofsted visit will result in it being pronounced Good. Magic Ofsted Outstanding visits of schools don't happen. It takes a huge amonut of work by kids, parents, governors, teachers, support staff, council officers and most importantly the head and her senior management team. We all need to support this school to reach its full potential and the next 14 weeks is crucial to build on past years successes.

If anyone has any problems with the school please feel free to email me to see if I can help.

If anyone would like to go through the stats seperately let me know.

NB. the school is planning shortly after half term to hold an evening to go throguh the schools statistics with a council officer who is also an Ofsted inspector. I'm hopeful this will help start to dispel some myths that seem to be circulating around.

[Dorothy]

What a roundabout way of getting to your point op!

[James Barber]

Hi Dorothy,

I was hoping all this information would be helpful!

regards james.