Hi

Has anyone had any personal experience of either JAGS and PHS (or perhaps even both!) and could recommend one over the other?

Difficult choice to make...thanks!

Our daughter was at Putney High and was happy and cared for in the Junior School, under the outstanding leadership of Mrs Page Roberts

Unfortunately, our daughters educational experience in the Senior school was very different and we blame ourselves, as parents, for being blinded by Putney High's social cachet and strong academic/sporting reputation, and for making the error of judgement, which led to us sending her there. The inexperience of the new Senior Head, coupled with her limited leadership qualities, contributed to us making the difficult and painful decision to remove our daughter due to serious safeguarding concerns.

Our daughter was subjected to a prolonged period of peer-on-peer abuse, with the leadership of the school exacerbating her suffering by failing to take appropriate measures to address the bullying. Seemingly robust anti-bullying and safeguarding policies, (albeit generic!), were in place BUT were not understood by staff and were not applied.

Our complaint went before a Panel Hearing and the School was instructed to: a) issue a written apology to our family; b) to review, as a matter of urgency, how familiar staff were with its policies relating to bullying and discipline and how closely the protocols were adhered to; c) provide greater clarity regarding requirements for conducting investigations and the recording and documentation of subsequent outcomes, and; d) to liaise with the Met Police following their involvement with Social Services and consequent intervention to keep our daughter safe at school.

Our daughter was hounded mercilessly by the same small group of girls and subjected to the most insidious and invidious forms of torment for months, causing a deleterious impact on her mental health. The decline was both profound and rapid and forced us to remove her from the only school she had ever known.

It might be worth remembering the very sad death of the Oxford University student who took his own life after being "cancelled" by his peers. Inaction or indifference, when witnessing persecution, simply enables the perpetrators of abuse and is not dissimilar to complicity!

Although Putney High School failed to protect our daughter, she survived and is thriving in her new school community outside of London. I would also like to add that the recent introduction of pouches, to carry mobile phones, was introduced after PHS was asked to review all its safeguarding polices. Happy that other girls are now being protected now but sadly my child was not.

My daughter got a place at both bt chose neither. Jags is very pressurised, and other aspects are typical of an all girls school. Easy bus ride from sw11 or school bus too. Putney girls are more from other direction so friends far. Gpdst tends to breed all round kids. I have several Pitney friends as an adult and like them. Best thing is to sit outside each school at end of day and watch the kids, parents etc, it's an eye opener

Having spent 5 years at Putney High I can say it was an awful place. I wasn't spoken to by 10 girls in my form for more than 2 years. I felt the blame of this on my back for many years, it was 2 nasty girls that school management couldn't break up. I wish my parents hadn't forced me to stay. I only liked the purple uniform. So glad those years are over.

Coming back to this thread over a year later- the change of head has been interesting. Suzie Longstaff was certainly a more popular choice anecdotally- but the new head, to give her credit, has got to know the girls and is making some positive changes- the phone rule and the new pouches I think are pretty sensible.

That said, we do still have a few niggles with the school- the teaching is not brilliant in one or two cases but I think that would be true anywhere. We have also had a few pastoral concerns but the school have been okay at dealing with these on the whole.

For me, I would say we are 80% happy. It’s not perfect and my son is certainly having a better experience at his large, all boys school, but he is also a very different child to my daughter.

All that said, we were considering moving her for sixth form and she now wants to stay, which is testament to the school I guess.

My daughter joined PHS in yr 7 from a state primary . She also had an offer for JAGS. We’ve seen it under both heads and it feels a good fit. The commute is v easy and flexible. (Bus and train options) The facilities are great and the new Athena building will appeal to drama/music and scientists. My daughter enjoyed sports in her first two years but is now happier with the creative silubjects/academics, there are so many clubs there is something for everyone. She plans to stay for sixth form.

I completely disagree with the bullying comment. My daughter had a hard time at primary but has found a really lovely group of friends. There are a wide array of interests and personalities, doing your best is applauded being the best is not required. It’s warm, supportive and aspirational but with a lot of giggles along the way.

Nightmare.

I am interested to know how Putney is with the new head.
@molly henders seems very bitter. Are you a mum or a student? Which type of changes in specific have been introduced that you deem not useful? It would be good to substantiate your answer. Taking the phone out of kids during school time is just positive, as many studies show especially for mental health. For sure no parent can not support it?!

i would say both aren’t good schools. my friends daughter has had bad experiences at jags with bullying, rude teachers ect and my daughter goes to putney and it’s honestly gotten so much worse since the new head joined, she has been making a lot of changes of the school to up their image but not much about the students well beings. the teachers are bad and the students are bully’s. the new head is also introducing yondr pouches which some parents think are good but i think are a complete invasion of privacy and comfort. there are many better schools out there

Thanks, both, that’s very helpful indeed, and thank you for taking the time to reply. Good to hear from SW families, also, as another Putney concern has been having friends located primarily in West Ldn. One more question, if I may: do we think JAGS & Putney are on a par in terms of academic pressure and, conversely, pastoral support?

I have a daughter at Putney and friends with kids at JAGS. The obvious difference is the space and facilities- JAGS certainly has more space, whereas Putney is more urban. For us living in SW11, Putney was a good choice commute wise and we just really liked the feel of it. My daughter is very happy there. Teaching is generally great, loads of extra curricular stuff on offer. A few minor annoying things with comms and inconsistencies in rules but nothing major. Headmistress Suzie Longstaff is amazing but sadly she’s leaving at the end of this term. So will be interesting to see how the school changes.

Putney has many girls who are not into sport at all and get involved in other things instead. The extra curricular offer is huge and sport is by no means the ‘be all and end all’. There are several orchestras and choirs, academics clubs, book club, drama club, engineering, medical society etc.

In year 7 they have teams A-G for netball as so many girls want to play it, and they all get some matches. As the years go by though many tend to drift away to other sports such as lacrosse, cricket & football and of course rowing. Girls can also join non competitive sports sessions.

My daughter says the expectations are quite high and you are ‘pushed to do your best’ which can be a bit stressful but is also rewarding.

I hope this helps

Putney has many girls who are not into sport at all and get involved in other things instead. The extra curricular offer is huge and sport is by no means the ‘be all and end all’. There are several orchestras and choirs, academics clubs, book club, drama club, engineering, medical society etc.

In year 7 they have teams A-G for netball as so many girls want to play it, and they all get some matches. As the years go by though many tend to drift away to other sports such as lacrosse, cricket & football and of course rowing. Girls can also join non competitive sports sessions.

My daughter says the expectations are quite high and you are ‘pushed to do your best’ which can be a bit stressful but is also rewarding.

I hope this helps

This is really helpful - thank you. What’s PHS like for girls who aren’t very good at sport? Are they still encouraged and given opportunities or is the elite athlete factor just a bit demoralising for C-team types?

Thank you very much Vista321, this is so very helpful.

Hi SW11 Resident

I too have a daughter at PHS, she has been there since the junior school, and we are very happy with it. It is indeed a lovely, happy 'can do' type of place with a huge amount of diverse opportunities, great teaching and a positive, confident culture.  Academically, they go at quite a pace but there are catch up clinics and support if needed. 
Music, sports, art etc are all of exceptional quality and are inclusive in the early years, before the girls tend to specialise in certain areas. There are extension activities such as PIE (Putney Ideas Exchange) plus loads of clubs like robotics, coding, debating, chess, dance, creative areas etc
Isabella2022 is right that a lot can depend on friendship groups and I know of cases where the school has intervened at parent's / girl's requests in terms of moving people across classes, changing who sits where etc and they manage it well and respectfully.

I also have a niece who was at JAGS several years ago and she was also very happy and did very well / really enjoyed school. It seemed on a par with Putney in many ways. She did say that it was quite high octane academically.

In terms of differences between the schools, PHS is part of the GDST, which is a great network but JAGS has links with the other Dulwich schools, including Dulwich College.
JAGS has a swimming pool and does waterpolo etc, PHS does rowing and lacrosse - no hockey. Also does football as a club. PHS is very supportive of elite athletes too, and they have a fair few there (one having moved from another school who did not accommodate them).

As Isabella2022 said, it is a good choice to have and both are excellent schools. Maybe factor in the travelling and location of future friends? Many PHS girls come from Wimbledon, Putney and Barnes - fewer from SW11/ SW12 areas (although we are in SW11 too.) 

Good luck with your choice

 

Thanks so much Isabella

No direct experience of JAGs but was in a similar position a few years ago and have a daughter at PH.

For us it was a great decision and she has been really happy and will definitely stay for 6th form. Lovely happy school with great sports and where girls are encouraged to try lots of new things (I have a child at another local secondary which is not quite as encouraging !!) commute from Clapham is so easy with lots of trains and the girls love having Putney on their doorstep. (Jags is slightly in the middle of nowhere) quite a lot of my daughters friends went to Jags and to be honest have had mixed experiences and a number have since left … but that could just be one of those things ! (Maybe a sightly unlucky year group?)

To give you a balanced view … the sporting facilities at Jags are definitely better with girls at PH having to get a bus to get to their main pitches (although this hasn’t stopped them from being national lacrosse champions) They play lacrosse not hockey and am not sure you can row at Jags ? Rowing is very popular at PH with the rowing house just a short walk from school.

Honestly it’s so difficult getting honest reviews here. People will tend to jump in and praise their own school choices and in my experience with kids at different secondaries it can so depend on year and friendship groups !

But for us so far it’s been a great choice and I think Jags would not have been as nurturing and encouraging for my quite shy daughter

Good luck - I would say you have two good options !!