Current Newstead Wood parents - advice needed

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samk
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:54 pm

Current Newstead Wood parents - advice needed

Post by samk »

Hi,

Are there any current Newstead parents that can provide insight?

My daughter has a place for this September however i have been hearing from a few people that the pastoral care is no good and bullying is quite common. I'm really worried now, she is coming from a small private school with strong pastoral care and hope we are not making the wrong decision. Also, are the girls from a wide area or generally local? She will be commuting from Croydon and I dont want her to missing out on friendship groups due to distance. positives and negatives appreciated!
candy floss
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:51 am

Re: CURRENT NEWSTEAD WOOD PARENTS - ADVICE NEEDED

Post by candy floss »

My daughter is in year 9 at Newstead and loves it there. She has many friends and is very happy. Her friends travel from various places to get to school but the journeys are very sociable as there will always be girls on the same bus, train or coach with droves of girls walking up or down Newstead Avenue. Poor pastoral care is not an issue I personally have come across and neither is bullying. My daughter is friends with many other girls, and bullying is never something that she has mentioned to me. Not saying it does not happen, as I am sure that it does, but am also sure that there will be instances of bullying in all schools to some level. You have nothing to worry about with Newstead. It is a great school and all I can say is that my daughter loves it. I have no regrets in the slightest about her going there.
TIDDLYMUM
Posts: 881
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 10:19 pm

Re: CURRENT NEWSTEAD WOOD PARENTS - ADVICE NEEDED

Post by TIDDLYMUM »

Samk

Funnily enough, people said the same when my son passed out of area for a very sought after school and was the only one going from his school (no grammars in our borough). In addition they said ' he won't know anyone/aren't you worried about sending him so far away/I've heard of boys leaving because of the pressure'. It was jealousy pure and simple. It made me sad because we were boastful about it, in fact we kept the whole thing very low key. Some people just weren't the same with me once the results came out, but I could live with it. :roll:
samk
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:54 pm

Re: CURRENT NEWSTEAD WOOD PARENTS - ADVICE NEEDED

Post by samk »

Thank you so much for putting my mind at rest! Looking forward to her starting now :)

Thanks again :D
layla22
Posts: 116
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2010 7:48 pm

Re: CURRENT NEWSTEAD WOOD PARENTS - ADVICE NEEDED

Post by layla22 »

My DD left NW a couple of years ago now and it seems the poor pastoral care has worsen.
This is her personal experience as I have handed the keyboard over to her:

"I experienced a lot of bullying but it was particularly bad in year 10. My mum and I had several meetings with senior staff. We were always led to be believe it was going to be dealt with but it just worsened and I remained unhappy during my crucial GCSE period. I decided to move to St Olave's for sixth form, along with several NW girls in my year. I later learnt that some of them had moved for similar reasons. With the change in leadership at NW and recent events I can only imagine how much worse the pastoral care has become. I honestly can't say what makes some girls there enjoy their time and others miserable".
When the bullying started I wish I had been more forceful with the school. That is my one regret. I don't mean to scare you, but I thought you should get a different perspective.

Good luck

Layla22
PettswoodFiona
Posts: 2134
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:24 pm
Location: Petts Wood, Bromley, Kent

Re: CURRENT NEWSTEAD WOOD PARENTS - ADVICE NEEDED

Post by PettswoodFiona »

Thanks Layla, sorry your DD had a bad time at Newstead and it is good of her to take the time to send her message. I too would have been worried if the previous Head (she was universally disliked I gather) had been there but I've heard about marvellous things about Nick Webb and the pastoral care team has been a focus of his. I think that Newstead may have sat on its laurels at one point but has now been addressing things and I know girls who are very happy there. I do believe it is a school that has learnt its lessons to the extent that the recruitment of a new Head didn't settle on a second best but they've continued with the excellent Nick Webb rather than repeat the disaster that was his predecessor. I know a good number of parents who have girls at the school and had heard some negative things too but I have heard so much more positive things than negative and apparently the mood at the school is so much better under Mr Webb. I have also heard of boys moving from St Olaves to Newstead for similar reasons as they too feel unhappy so I do think some years do get a hard deal of things and each pupil's experience will be different. My daughter starts in September and I wouldn't be letting her if I didn't think she would thrive there and be happy too.
Snoop67
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 2:47 pm

Re: Current Newstead Wood parents - advice needed

Post by Snoop67 »

My daughter is in Year 8 and loves it. She has lots of friends from all over including Croydon. Haven't heard of any bullying problems. I wouldn't listen to anyone who is no longer there!
samk
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:54 pm

Re: Current Newstead Wood parents - advice needed

Post by samk »

Thank you all so much for your responses...its a worry to hear about the bullying first hand but also reassuring that current parents and girls are happy there. I will address the pastoral care at the meeting next week and hopefully will feel better once i have spoken to some members of staff......

Thank you once again for taking your time out to answer
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