Secondary schools for boys SE26

[Agram]

Hi I?m looking for secondary school recommendations for boys in the Forest Hill/Sydenham area. Thanks!

[Townleygreen]

Forest Hill school in Dacres Road

[Agram]

Townleygreen Wrote:

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> Forest Hill school in Dacres Road

Thank you - I know this school has gone through a lot of change lately, so it?s good to hear it?s being recommended. I?d really appreciate any further feedback on this school. Thank you!

[tomskip]

I really do rate this school, warts and all. There's something unique about it, in a good way! It has gone through "a lot of change" because the previous headteacher and governors ignored Government budget cuts in a stick your fingers in your ears and go la-la-la kind of way and thus ran up a shocking amount of debt (approx ?800,000 I believe) in one school year. The head resigned just before the news of this broke and the then deputy took on the poisoned chalice of taking over. His name is Mike Sullivan and he has taught at the school for many years and sent his own son there. He is sorting out the budget deficit. All of the strikes you may have heard about a year or two ago were to do with national cuts to the education budget and the repaying of the deficit. From my contacts within the NUT I know that it was hoped that the strikes at Forest Hill would be a springboard for strike action across the country in opposition to general education cuts. That did not happen for one reason and another (one of them being the merging of the NUT with another teaching union to create a larger less militant union, the NEU). Meanwhile Mr Sullivan has quietly got on with the job in hand and I really don't think you could hope for a more committed headmaster. When you look at what has been achieved at Sydenham Girls in just a few years (which is after all the school where the sisters of Forest Hill boys are educated) you'll see just how positive it can be to go to a fully comprehensive, non-selective state school in SE London. The 6th form is very good too. My daughter went to 6th form there with a surprising number of pupils who left a far more widely regarded local school whose 6th form apparently isn't up to scratch.

[Agram]

Thank you for your reply - do you know how this school supports particularly academic boys? I appreciate all this feedback! I will of course also visit any open days in the autumn.