Kingsdale

[prickle]

Dorothy Wrote:

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> Would be very interested if, in due course,

> someone could post the truth of the matter on this

> thread.

>

> Meanwhile, I am engaged on another forum with

> people from Wandsworth, who want to know how they

> can enhance their chances of getting their

> children in to Kingsdale.

>

> Maybe I am truly at odds with the majority of the

> population (I don't think so) in wanting and

> expecting my children to go to a co-ed state

> school in the neighbourhood where they actually

> live.

No, you are not at odds with the majority. What is happening to Kingsdale happens to any popular school that does not have a distance element to their selection criteria. Now that Kingsdale has turned itself round, it should perhaps consider introducing a geographic element to their selection criteria.

[Dorothy]

Yes, and I am ready to start lobbying for this prickle.

[skyblue]

Over the past couple of weeks I have looked at many of the local secondary schools admission criteria. All have distance as the main criteria. Haberdashers, Charter, Prendergast, Harris, (some then have banding as a subsection together with scholarships.) save the randomly allocated Kingsdale.

As such it is the children who live closest to Kingsdale who are most disadvantaged by its admission criteria - such as the kids in the South London Press a couple of weeks ago.

As I have said before Random Allocation is only fair for children if all schools do it. At the moment it is really unfair for the local Kingsdale kids that they have no better chance of accessing their local school than kids from Wandsworth whilst the other kids have a second bite of the cherry in putting down thier local school that the kids near Kingsdale have no hope of - now that is bonkers.

There is also an environmental impact on catching public transport to schools across London and safety.

[DenmotherSmith]

My sons primary school (Ivydale) usually has six to eight pupils yearly who get places at kingsdale, often with music scholarships, this year only one child with a music scholarship and one with a sibling place!! I would be curious to learn if this has been the same for other local schools.

I have a friend who lives practically next door to Dunraven but decided to put kingsdale first on their sons LCAF, with Dunraven second and were lucky enough to get a place with the random system. A very much win win situation if you have a great school on your door step but also like the look of Kingdale!!

Surely random allocation within a catchment area would be a fairer option for all schools.

( God I can see the estate agents crying now......)

[MGolden]

>>

> No, you are not at odds with the majority. What is

> happening to Kingsdale happens to any popular

> school that does not have a distance element to

> their selection criteria. Now that Kingsdale has

> turned itself round, it should perhaps consider

> introducing a geographic element to their

> selection criteria.

Oh I do hope not, we live on the edges of Croydon, Bromley, Southwark, Lambeth and Wandsworth. Norwood School in lambeth is our closest school and wouldn't have been the right school for our son but is only 250m away from where we live. Dunraven is 1.79miles away and he didn't get offered a place there. We can't afford to move near to a secondary school like Kingsdale or the Harris Academy in Crystal Palace so random selection is our only hope if we want a non-selective school. I just hope that the school admission policy on siblings doesn't change as I have a younger son who is hoping to join his brother there.

[Dunamis2011]

Hi I've had a week to calm down, step away and reflect on all of this. Thankfully been contacted by the school, which boosts my confidence. I am a person that gets involved with my children's education and not just leave them to the school, but allowing them to do their job.

I think deep down I know it is the correct choice and after hearing about independant education and reading 'To Miss with Love', am determined, with I hope other parents and teaching staff to make Kingsdale even more academically successful, but having emotionally competent all rounded men and women in whatever society that they choose to live and work in.

Their engineering specialism and that they will teach Latin, which my daughter has been learning from year 4 installs further confidence.

I will no longer be a novice when I go through this all again later this year!

Thank you

[Msgee]

fwiw, on the subject of inter-school rivalries/fear of violence and the like- my son is in Y9 at Kingsdale. We are about to move, and so will be on a different bus route to school.

My son is very, very reluctant to go past...Sydenham Girls

:))

[wilbur1970]

Cards on table time for Queenie methinks.

Looking at her post history she has posted 23 times since registering and 90%+ have been posts critical of Kingsdale.

What's her motive do you reckon?

[MGolden]

Dunamis2011 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi I've had a week to calm down, step away and

> reflect on all of this. Thankfully been contacted

> by the school, which boosts my confidence. I am a

> person that gets involved with my children's

> education and not just leave them to the school,

> but allowing them to do their job.

>

> I think deep down I know it is the correct choice

> and after hearing about independant education and

> reading 'To Miss with Love', am determined, with I

> hope other parents and teaching staff to make

> Kingsdale even more academically successful, but

> having emotionally competent all rounded men and

> women in whatever society that they choose to live

> and work in.

>

> Their engineering specialism and that they will

> teach Latin, which my daughter has been learning

> from year 4 installs further confidence.

>

> I will no longer be a novice when I go through

> this all again later this year!

>

> Thank you

Dumanis 2011 - I'm sure you and your daughter will be happy with your choice. As a previous poster wrote - something about the school must have struck a chord when you saw it. My (Y7) son loves it there - we had none of the anxiety about moving to secondary school that I expected (well not on his part anyway!). I look forward to meeting you at the monthly parents forum.

Michele

[Siren]

Don't believe the hype. The best way to handle Kingsdale ia to turn up unannounced and demand a tour there and then.

[Curmudgeon]

Siren Wrote:

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> Don't believe the hype. The best way to handle

> Kingsdale ia to turn up unannounced and demand a

> tour there and then.

handle ??? Handle a school ??? Demand? I think that's an unusual choice of words

Welcome to ed forum. I see this is your first ever post ... Unfortunately this thread is a year and a half old

[tiddles]

I'd like to see how Charter and Askes would respond to such a demand!!

[Siren]

Still highly relevant and it came up when I Googled Kingsdale's Key Stage 5 results. No reputable school should refuse a tour. It is important for perspective students and their parents / guardians to see the school for what it really is. Pre-booked tours allow for a lot of PR to take place.

[espelli]

Prebooked tours also allow for a lot of the school's normal business (teaching and learning) to take place uninterrupted, something I would imagine parents would value. If you don't trust what the school is saying to you before your child is a pupil there then don't put it down as one of your choices. That lack of trust as a starting point is not a good basis for building a positive relationship with a school.

If you were looking for your child to join the school outside of the normal entry points then you would be right to ask for a tour then, but to be honest demanding a tour when you decide to turn up smacks of arrogance and the attitude that senior members of staff at the school have no more pressing business than to sit around waiting for parents to show up and want a look round!

Just to be clear - I have no connection with Kingsdale at all.

[Debi]

This appears to be a non-issue since Kingsdale has always encouraged people to come in and see the school in action. The reason why it might be better to book in advance is so that a member of staff can be available to show prospective parents and children round.

[swannieboy]

For what it's worth, I have 2 boys at Kingsdale, one going into Yr11 and one going into Yr9, both on Music scholarships. Both are very happy there. With the eldest one we applied for Aske's - I'm SO glad he didn't go there. Didn't even consider any other options for the younger one. As a qualified secondary school (music) teacher, the creativity and technical skill of the pupils AND teachers in Kingsdale beats Askes's (and Prendergast, at which I have taught) by a mile. And it's not just in Music - they seem to be well balanced throughout the curriculum. Sometimes you don't get as much info as you would like, particularly about upcoming events (and particularly as a divorced father who doesn't live with their children), but I think the same can be said of lots of schools.

Just my two penn'orth...

Richard

[Siren]

Debi it is not a 'non-issue' the reason why they want you to book is so that they can put troubling students to one side and ensure that the whole school is on lock down. What's also very interesting is the fact that certain areas of the school are not toured around. I work in a school where tours do not necessarily have to be booked in. We have nothing to hide. Kingsdale's have.

[Debi]

Since all the parents with children at the school have said positive things on the forum about their children's experiences ... and since this is the first mention of 'troubling students' and 'lockdown' and areas not being included on the tour ... I can't help wondering where you're getting your information from, Siren. Sadly, this is exactly the kind of ridiculous and unfounded allegations that have had previous threads on Kingsdale closed down.

[gypsyking]

The Norwood School...Which has improved its GCSE results again is always accepting of parents requests to tour, visit or chat with the head teacher. My daughter who has had a fantastic year there loves it. Give it a go....