Primary school: Henry Cavendish Balham site or Telferscot Post Reply

[Sw12mum0688]

We are currently a couple spots away from being offered Henry Cavendish Balham site and Telferscot.

We love both schools but would be grateful to hear experience from current parents re: the below please:

- What are the big pros and cons in your opinion?
- How's the music, sports, arts, forest school provision?
- staff turnover
- we are worried about Telfescot latest KS2 results. What happened?
- communication with parents
- We were also wondering if they split the kids in groups within the class for deeper learning? (Overachievers, expected average, underachievers)
- does Cavendish still have a sports focus and Telferscot an arts one?
- are there lots of kids leaving in Y3 or Y5?

Thanks a million
Any feedback welcome

[Sw12mum0688]

Bump

[sconesplease]

Hi, I don't have any experience with the schools mentioned but you could post on the Balham Mum's Network FB group for some info.  In my experience, there tends to be allot of movement in year 3 - families moving out to Surrey etc for move space or moving their children to local private schools. Many of the local primary schools are not at capacity from year 3 onwards whereas reception, year one and year two are often full for both state and private.

[Telferscot Parent]

I have two children at Telferscot and we are extremely happy with the school. There's a great community feel to the school, with a very active PTA organising lots of events to bring everyone together whilst raising funds to benefit the children. We receive a very detailed weekly newsletter from the Head, which keeps everyone informed of what 's going on inside and outside of the classroom. Microsoft Teams is used for communication by the class teachers to the year group for general reminders, homework and spellings. WhatsApp groups for parents to communicate with each other.

Telferscot have been on a bit of a wining run with sports this year; the Year 6 netball and tag rugby teams won the Lambeth tournaments for both sports so have / will represent Lambeth at the London Youth Games and the football team is in a really strong position in the local league which will see them win it or finish second.

The school holds an annual Arts and Literature Festival where children's authors are invited into the school to inspire children with their creative writing, and children in Year 6 can do their Bronze Arts Award.

Weekly instrument lessons are offered in violin, cello and guitar and the junior choir sings at the O2 each year in the Young Voices concert.

Forest School is part of the curriculum for Early Years and Key Stage One; during weekly lessons they visit Tooting Common or make use of the Forest School area in the school.

Some of the teachers at the school have been there quite a few years, others seem to come and go quite quickly but often because they are wanting to further their teaching qualifications. Some children do leave in Year 4 and 5 to go to private schools, with a few girls moving to local school, Streatham & Clapham, probably to avoid the 11+. Others looking at private schools for secondary, stay and do the 11+ with additional tutoring. Even so, there are still two classes in each year, with class numbers only falling to around 25 by Year 6, which I don't think is the same for a number of other local schools.

Children needing extra support are identified and given extra help, but maybe those at the other end of the scale are not particularly stretched. They are not streamed at all for any subjects. I don't know what happened with SATS last year, and the reason behind the maths performance, but would probably explain why maths has been a big focus this year for the school.

Overall though we love the school and feel very fortunate that are children go there.

[Sw12mum0688]

@Telferscot parent, thank you so much for the detailed answer. It's very helpful. I hope a parent from Cavendish reads this and is able to provide some insights too. Fingers crossed.

[Schoolmum]

Hi there. We also have a child at Telferscot and are super happy with the school. The main thing for me is the community that surrounds it. It really feels like a warm and safe environment and we’ve made some excellent friends there. My child is only in early years but enjoys plenty of art, PE and after school provision is a good mix of arts and sports if you want to get them into clubs. The common is just at the end of the street so they spend a lot of time out there - either in forest school or just after school when kids tend to spill out and play on their way home. It’s such a lovely vibe when everyone piles down there and they can hang out with all their friends while you chat with parents.

There’s plenty of communication with the parents and opportunities to get involved with school trips etc. On a Friday morning, they open up the school house cafe from 8.20am for people to socialise, and then have ‘remarkable reading’ where parents are invited into classrooms to read their child a book between 8.40 and 9.00. Mine loves this part of the week and it’s nice to get an insight into the work they’ve been doing/chat to the teachers.

The PSA is very active and there are lots of events that bring everyone together. I can’t comment on later in the school but from the very detailed weekly newsletters, it’s great to see lots of amazing results from the sporting and music teams. I’m pleased with progress so far in reading and maths, and they pick up problems quickly if there are any.

Overall it’s a very family orientated school, a special place in the minds of many parents and we feel very lucky to have a spot there as joined after being on the waiting list. Having myself grown up in a village going to a small village school and feeling a bit daunted by big schools with big intakes for my own children, I have to say that Telferscot felt the closest to that experience out of all the schools I visited. Very nurturing and caring and close-knit.

Having said all that, I also know parents at HC and they think it’s excellent. Everyone I know who goes there is super happy with it and they have a nice family atmosphere too as far as I’m aware. They have also just had an Ofsted inspection so watch this space for final results - they haven’t been inspected for 10 years but by all accounts, it seemed to go very well.

I think we are very lucky to have them both in the area, you can’t really go wrong.

[Btwmum]

I can double down on all the good things on telferscot.
But as all schools there are some things to consider.
It is really hard to get into after school clubs. So full time working parents need an after school nanny. Other state schools in Balham cater way better. Parents and kids tend to meet up in the common after school, again kids of full time working parents miss out.
Tutoring is required to enter in any of the private schools (but I guess this is true of any state school) , bright kids are tutored from year 2 as the programme does not stretch them. Other state schools in Balham stream by level so top kids are pushed.
It might not apply to you and against all the positives these are minor points but worth mentioning in case they might be of relevance.

[Hyde Farm 123]

Part-time working mum here with three children who are at / were at Telferscot. Older two both now at private schools but they only did tutoring for an hour once a week from January of Year 5. That seemed to be the norm for both of their years. School does offer verbal / non verbal reasoning before school once a week from Jan of Year 5, but you will need to do more than just that at home for private school exams and Wandsworth Test if you’re targeting Graveney.

We’ve always found the childcare provision great for working parents, breakfast club from 7.30am and the after school club runs until 6pm. No nanny needed here. My middle child also did a drama club on a Wednesday after school, which has a walking bus from Telferscot to the church around the corner, and pickup from that is at 5.30pm which is brilliant.

Summer school fairs will be coming up soon, a great chance to checkout the community feel of the schools. The Telferscot one is on Saturday 6 July, 12-3pm.

Good luck with movement on the waiting lists and sure you’ll be happy with whichever of the two schools you get.

[HelenSWmum]

Hi. A Henry Cavendish parent here, just to give you a view of HC. My eldest left last year (after year 6); my youngest is still at HC. We have been very happy with the school. It isn’t perfect, but I don’t think any school is and I think the community feel and school ethos is spot on. They don’t “set/stream” kids (I’m not sure many state primaries do) but more challenging work is available for the most able and those needing additional help have time in smaller groups to help with maths, spelling etc. This approach is more inclusive and I feel more appropriate for primary school years. Lots of different activities, trips, clubs etc but the most popular after school clubs can be very difficult to sign up to. However breakfast club and after school care (until 6pm) is readily available.

As a previous poster has said, I think both schools are great (going on what friends with kids at Telferscot have said) and quite similar. I’d choose based on which one is closest, and if there isn’t much difference in distance for you, then the feel you got from visiting.