11 Plus Exams Forum

I have always found the Hill House children, well behaved and with their lovely uniforms, an uplifting sight in London. A friend is now thinking of sending her daughter there. Does anyone have any first hand experience of the school?

Tell her to get a copy of the latest ofsted report and maybe check recent senior appointments

Golly, thanks for that Floreat. Quite an eye opener!
The question is, given the school and given the inspectorate, is this a reflection on the school or is it a reflection on Ofsted? (I remember some years ago reading an inspection report on Westminster Cathedral Choir School which was judged to be "outstanding" in all areas but two, viz music and religious education ).

I don't know the answer, but thanks for raising the issue.

It is a unique school ,for the right child (and parents) it can be fantastic,but it would not be right for every child,see how diplomatic I can be....

Loopyloulou wrote:Golly, thanks for that Floreat. Quite an eye opener!
The question is, given the school and given the inspectorate, is this a reflection on the school or is it a reflection on Ofsted?

Ofsted may well get it wrong some of the time, particularly on subjective matters, so I suppose the answer to that depends on whether parents are cavalier enough to disregard - as the school seems to have, based on the published report of the follow up visit - the importance of increasing a child's chances of surviving a fire to the threshold of the minimum legal requirements, the peace of mind that comes with knowing that safeguarding and staff vetting procedures exist and are adequate, that performance management processes are in operation, that academic standards are acceptable, etc.

I know nothing about the school other than what has been published, but on that basis I can also see how the school might have a distinctive appeal to parents who may wish their well-behaved children in lovely uniforms to see nepotism as an acceptable world view. At least the Ofsted report documents an extraordinary amount of nepotism at management level: http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection ... ELS/100518" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Parents with children already at the school may have experienced some positives that Ofsted didn't notice, but in my humble opinion it's hard to see how those who have no skin in the game would volunteer at the moment.

Someone I know sends her son there. The ofsted was a real shock. Many parents withdrew their children. She is working hard to get her son into another school too. There have been lots of changes since the ofsted and she feels it is better, but clearly not enough. From what she describes the children seem to do a lot of work and it is run a bit like a senior school with different teachers for different subjects. My children attend state schools so in my mind this is a bit odd and it doesn't seem much if a nuturing school.

Inspection dates 6 May 2014
Context of the inspection
The inspection was conducted without notice to the school, at the request of the
Department for Education, registration authority for independent schools, to assess
potential issues arising from a ‘point-in time’ pupil survey in September 2013.

Having had a brief look at the most recent report ('The teaching staff still have no idea what they are meant to be doing', or words to that effect), one can only envisage that the result of the pupil survey was a stack of notes saying 'Help!' in a variety of languages . I don't think I've ever seen that given as a reason for an inspection before, emergency or otherwise.

Wow. What an odd place.

My dd spent 7 happy years at Hill House. The school is quirky but the education was rigorous during the time she was there. Dd now attends a selective London day school and achieved 10 A* at GCSE and 4 As at AS. Her achievements are firmly rooted in Hill House and we will be forever grateful.

How lovely. I'm glad you had such a happy experience.