Emanuel School

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Bookymummy
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Emanuel School

Postby Bookymummy » Sat Jan 25, 2020 9:16 am

Any Emanuel parents feeling disillusioned and fed up with the school? Massive changes to the school over the last 2-3 years seem to have created a huge concern for the ‘wider community’ and pupils of other ‘local’ schools at the cost of a complete indifference to it’s own current pupils. Fee increases coupled with poor teaching; high turnover of inexperienced staff; massive amounts of homework (which teachers sometimes can’t be bothered to mark); anxiety from pupils that teaching is insufficient to support exam passes; very little interest in sport. Anyone any idea what’s going on there?
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livegreen
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Re: Emanuel School

Postby livegreen » Sat Jan 25, 2020 9:45 am

@bookmummy
Could you clarify what the “huge concern for the wider community and pupils of other local schools,” actually is?

Assume you have children at the school so best course of action is to talk to the school and if still unhappy move them.
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tooposhtopush
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Re: Emanuel School

Postby tooposhtopush » Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:21 am

"Assume you have children at the school so best course of action is to talk to the school and if still unhappy move them."

What they said!
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Goldhawk
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Re: Emanuel School

Postby Goldhawk » Sun Jan 26, 2020 11:23 am

I assume this is about the Battersea Rise Trust
I thought it was just a rebrand of their old trust with new aims for bursary / fee free places and community cooperation?

[font]https://www.emanuel.org.uk/support-us/b ... ise-trust/

How high have the fee increases been?[/font]
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ilovebooks
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Re: Emanuel School

Postby ilovebooks » Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:28 am

Hi bookmummy I have a son at Emanuel but feel he is a different school? I think that the school has gone from strength to strength whilst he has been there? Results get increasingly better (so I am not sure about the poor teaching) and there seems so much sport (they've just started football in the lower school) matches and tours etc.

I appreciate that a school experience is different for everyone and you obviously feel yours isn't great.

Bit concerned as a fellow parent to hear about homework overload and it not being marked. Could you expand? Agree with previous poster that you should speak to the school about your concerns.
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Bookymummy
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Re: Emanuel School

Postby Bookymummy » Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:30 pm

I am very interested to hear your positive experience of Emanuel. Might I ask, is your son in the Lower years of the School (Y6-Y8)?
There have been a significant number of changes to Emanuel in recent years, which to be honest, have not, IMHO, enhanced the experience for existing pupils.

Certainly, the homework has increased massively, taking up most of every evening in the middle school years. There seems to be vast quantities of work which pupils are expected to ‘teach themselves’ via online resources, which is fine if you have ‘pro-active’ kids but not so great if your child relies on classroom teaching. I also have personal experience of having to repeatedly email a teacher to get almost half a terms worth of unmarked assignments marked and returned to the pupil.

A significant amount of weekday sport has been curtailed in favour of academic work, disappointing for any child who chose Emanuel for the extra-curricula activities, rather than the ‘Hot-House’ mentality which can be found at many other institutions, particularly frustrating when teaching styles & results don’t necessarily correlate with the increased pupil & parent input required.

Discussion with the School about this is not entirely straightforward as parental concerns are managed by a ‘Senior Management’ team rather than through the traditional process of liaison with Teachers and Head Teachers, which almost has the feel of a ‘barrier’ presented to discourage discourse and feedback from parents.

It’s a difficult situation, if you have children already ensconced in a system, as whilst it’s easy to say ‘move them’ this is not really a viable option when GCSEs/A Levels are approaching. On the opposite side it becomes hard to keep disappointed children engaged with an environment they don’t necessarily feel is working for them.

I’m sure there are other varying views and experiences on this, it would interesting to hear what other parents think?
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Anotherswmum
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Re: Emanuel School

Postby Anotherswmum » Mon Feb 03, 2020 3:37 pm

I too have a child at Emanuel, and although it's not perfect all the time, I am struggling to see the problems you seem to have highlighted. 

No issues with the homework / not being marked / weak teaching (after the recent parents evening, I thought quite the opposite) / cancelling sport for academics. Sure, not as much sport is offered as there is at other schools, but it's still pretty good, especially if your child wants to participate and is talented. 

My child is almost doing too much with the co curricular plus D of E. 

You need a face-to-face meeting with the head of year who can then direct your concerns to the right person.

The outreach programme is brilliant - I am so glad Emanuel are doing so much with local schools, as is said on the promo video, these kids should be walking around Battersea knowing each other.

All that said, it's horses for courses, yes GCSEs are coming up, but there's lots of schools out there and if you honestly think your child would thrive more elsewhere, then move them. 
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dudette
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Re: Emanuel School

Postby dudette » Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:10 am

I don’t have a child at Emanuel but I have a child in year 11 at another school and the amount of homework ramped up a HUGE amount in year 10 when the GCSE courses start. I don’t think this is the fault of the school so much as the amount of work they have to get through. Also I don’t think the kids teaching themselves is a bad thing - this is what they will have to do at university so it’s good to get used to it now. Also many online resources are fantastic - way better than most classroom teachers can offer. Having said all that I heard Emanuel had 2000 applicants this year so they’re going to become increasingly selective and I wouldn’t be surprised if the new head was hired to increase the school’s standing in the league tables.
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Pud1
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Re: Emanuel School

Postby Pud1 » Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:33 am

seem to have created a huge concern for the ‘wider community’ and pupils of other ‘local’ schools at the cost of a complete indifference to it’s own current pupils.

What do you mean by this? 
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JessyJ
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Re: Emanuel School

Postby JessyJ » Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:36 pm

It's true? My husband and I are currently choosing a school for our daughter and we were thinking just about Emanuel school. Our daughter is only 6 years old and because of frequent illnesses, she didn't attend kindergarten. Therefore, we try to choose a good school. Another variant for us is lower school North Ridgeville. This is a private school where up to 7 children study in each class. There is a very pleasant and inviting atmosphere. They have an open day soon, which we will definitely go to and make a final decision. Hope everything goes well!
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