Haberdashers

[hillside]

Hi there. Going to see this school today and I'm interested in it's special needs provision for people with asperger's syndrome. Any thoughts on the place from parents would be greatly welcomed.I know it's the most over subscribed school in the northern hemisphere but hey!!

[hillside]

Help !

[sillywoman]

My friend withdrew her year 7 daughter in the summer term 07. Her daughter and two of her friends were bullied by another 'alpha girl' in their tutor group who wanted them to thieve for her. The schools response was to get all the girls (bully too) in a room together and ask them to work it out. A disaster. The bullied girls were so scared of what the 'alpha girl' (and her gang) would do to them or their families that they all just and backed away mumbling that there was no problem. the school said 'job done - no bullying happening in our school - no problem here' and the bullying just carried on unchecked. My friend tried and tried to help her daughter but the girl was petrified and in the end scared to leave her house. They withdrew her and moved away. Last I heard the bully was still there.

[Huggers]

Yes this anti-bully policy of getting bullies to be confronted by their victims seems to be implemented in a lot of schools and sounds really idiotic. Unfortunately all schools have incidents of bullying whatever they profess.

However my daughter loves Haberdashers - she is in year 7. She finds it stimulating, has made loads of friends and the music is fantastic - she didnt get in on music but gets free piano lessons. She says it is still a noisy school and is not as disruption free as you would imagine and that the idea it is an idyll of academic calm is illusory. But She seems to be working hard though and being given the space and encouragement to do so and is gaining social confidence all the time.

she doesnt have special needs, but I think the school's special needs unit is actually autism specialist.

[sillywoman]

I agree about the idiocy of this approach to Bullies. I'm glad to hear your daughter is thriving though Huggers, and very envious of the free piano lessons ;-)

[beef]

This very approach to bullying in schools was lampooned in the film 'Drillbit Taylor' (available from Dulwich Library, four stars out of five, made me laugh my milk out of my nose). I've been led to believe that Habs is very attainment orientated, as evinced by its standing in the league tables.

[hillside]

Thanks so much.Yes it seemed quite noisy and disruptive when I was there and I appreciate what was said about bullying. I suppose I'll have to go back and check it again.

[Huggers]

Can I also add that all my daughter's friends from primary seem to be having positive and happy experiences of their different and various secondary schools too, in and out of the borough. So much of the school thing is just hype for the parents and what really counts is how your child experiences a school.

[anapau]

It definitely has gone downhill over the past few years, my little sis is in year 9 now and she is amazed at the rudeness of some (not all, of course) of the younger students. I too have found that the way the school deals with bullying could be much better. The music department is still really fantastic and enthusiastic though.

[Huggers]

The school stopped being selective a few years ago so it now has the same mix of kids that other schools have- that doesnt mean it's going downhill-but it will be dealing with some challenging behaviour that would have been weeded out through the selection process in the past.How it does that and whether it will maintain its high teaching standards for all its pupils will be the measure of how successful it is.

[Chick]

I am very concerned that they take money as sponsorship from BAE,an arms manufacturer that sells arms to Israel amongst others, which are then used against children as happened in Gaza earlier this year.

[tallgirl]

I wonder what effect the merger with Monson and altered entry criteria will have on the mix of children and standards. I have heard that several members of staff left too. Remaining places after Monson, Siblings and Music are done on catchment area. Does anyone know how big that was this year and how much it varied between bands?

[Huggers]

The monson(temple grove) intake this year was 35. The school already took children from this school before as it is a local school.It is now part of Haberdashers and As a primary it will soon be oversubscribed. They took it on to make Askes more balanced- it was after all pretty biased towards middle class intake with telegraph hill and music scholarships making up the majority of places. The 'several members of staff leaving' is urban myth. The only people who arent getting in who were getting in before are the outer catchment which was done on lottery- east dulwich I'm afraid....some friends in Nunhead didnt get in but others did.

[anapau]

Several members of staff have left actually - last year the whole geography department left in one go.

[bonaome]

The only department that could read the map?

[Keef]

and very envious of the free piano lessons

The music teacher has always said that no child will miss out on the chance to play an instrument because their parents can't afford lessons. Good thing too, or else I would have been knackered!

[Curly]

My niece left Askes last July and she told me all the best teachers have gone becuase they don't like the way the school is changing. I suppose she should know what she is talking about she went there for seven years.

[Keef]

I bumped in to my old art teacher on the train last year (I left year 13 in 1996, so he's been there a good while), and he was saying a fair few people were jumping ship. Still, it was always very traditional, so no surprise some of the older teachers haven't been pleased with the changes.

[Curly]

Huggers Wrote:

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

> The school stopped being selective a few years ago

> so it now has the same mix of kids that other

> schools have- that doesnt mean it's going

> downhill-but it will be dealing with some

> challenging behaviour that would have been weeded

> out through the selection process in the past.

The question is are they going to be able to manage the challenging behaviour if they have not had to deal with it in the past? From various sources, including some comments in their Ofsted report, it doesn't sound too promising.

[Huggers]

so I wonder where all those teachers who are jumping ship have gone to? Who's the competition in the state sector in south east london? the harris academies? or have they taken the private shilling?

all these previously selective schools have had to adapt in the last three years- askes, Prendergast, Greycoats, - and no longer have the privelege of choosing their pupils like private schools do. Let's face it, the attraction was the standards of a private school but for free. Is that what you want?

So it's not a bastion of middle class privelege anymore. In my opinion that is a very good thing.The school believes in delivering to all sections of society, maybe because it has been forced to do so but

Standards, ofsted, sats and gcse's are still just about the best in the state sector...anywhere. Third I believe and that's with value added. ofsted said it was an outstanding school.

[Curly]

Huggers Wrote:

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

> so I wonder where all those teachers who are

> jumping ship have gone to?

My niece seems to think most have gone to Colfes.

> > Let's face it, the attraction was the standards of

> a private school but for free. Is that what you

> want?

Errm, yes actually. Three generations of my family went to poorly-performing schools in Lewisham and I'm not keen on history keep repeating itself.

As regards Askes not being 'a bastion of the middle class anymore' you make an interesting point. The 'Monson' primary school is in an owner-occupier area, not the middle of a council estate, so it won't be very long before the middle-classes will be buying up the houses around there anyway.

[jhl23]

Interesting...we have been offered a place at Templegrove / Monson for our 4 year old. We were about 10th on waiting list, living 1.2km or so from the school gates.

It seems like there is a lot of money going in to the school, it has new head....new building going up soon.

We are nervous about whether things will be sorted out whilst our child is there...I think it was a failing school beforehand

Would be interested to hear from anyone who knows if the Haberdasher's / Templegrove link is making any difference so far.

[Huggers]

I imagine it will be very popular from now onwards as it will directly feed into the big school.. my son has had his induction day at Askes Hatcham last week, 35 of the prospective new year sevens being Temple Grove and indistinguishable from anyone else.

[Curly]

35 of the prospective new year sevens being Temple Grove and indistinguishable from anyone else.

Why was you expecting them to have green heads or something? lol!

[Huggers]

No, Curly, I didnt expect them to ...but the way people have been banging on about it

and how its going to lead to the end of the world as we know it I expect other people had....