St Benedict's Catholic, Ealing

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

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Irene+
Posts: 81
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:19 pm
Location: London, Ealing

St Benedict's Catholic, Ealing

Post by Irene+ »

Has anyone considered co-ed Catholic St Benedict's?

I have attended the open evening twice, it seems to be a good school, but...there are awful reviews on schoolsnet site. I've also heard some negative comments from parents.

It would be great to hear your views on this school.
marigold
Posts: 656
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:14 pm
Location: essex

Post by marigold »

I don't know the school despite having lived for many years in Ealing.

I have however just spent the weekend with a friend who is an old boy of the school and who was delighted to report that one of his old teachers has recently been sent to prison for the usual monk/priest reasons.

Whilst I am sure ( and would hope) things are very different now, this does rather colour my view of the school.
Milla
Posts: 2556
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Post by Milla »

oh dear, Marigold, yours shouldn't have made me laugh, but it did!
mad?
Posts: 5621
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 6:27 pm
Location: london

Post by mad? »

marigold wrote: I have however just spent the weekend with a friend who is an old boy of the school and who was delighted to report that one of his old teachers has recently been sent to prison for the usual monk/priest reasons.
Indeed, rather alarmingly this actually only happened a couple of weeks ago, although it is alleged that the Abbey were aware of the 'issue' for several years beforehand....

Moving swiftly on, despite this I know lots of parents who adore the school, consider it pastorally very strong (!), great at rugby etc and populated by lots of local boys. Next year will be the third co-ed year there (the 6th form has been co-ed for a while), despite this it seems that girls are still in the significant minority (1:3 in Y7) and so I think describing itself as co-ed at this stage is a bit of a stretch.
mad?
ealingmum
Posts: 156
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:27 pm

Post by ealingmum »

Irene - what have you heard from parents that is negative.

I was told by member of staff that 30 per cent in Year 7 are girls.

The GCSE results seem rather pedestrian but in 6th they got 10 pupils to Oxbridge.What's happening here?
mad?
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 6:27 pm
Location: london

Post by mad? »

ealingmum wrote: I was told by member of staff that 30 per cent in Year 7 are girls.

The GCSE results seem rather pedestrian but in 6th they got 10 pupils to Oxbridge.What's happening here?
I was told by a member of staff 25 out of 96 Y7 are girls - that's effectively 1:3. I suspect the A levels may be a result of girls moving there for the 6th form, remember the next 3 GCSE years are boys only.
mad?
ealingmum
Posts: 156
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:27 pm

Post by ealingmum »

I hear a lot of very good things about the school - sport for girls, drama, music, trips, etc. My only doubt is why the relatively poor GCSE resuls compared to nearby comprehensive schools.
Irene+
Posts: 81
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:19 pm
Location: London, Ealing

Post by Irene+ »

ealingmum wrote:Irene - what have you heard from parents that is negative.
I've spoken with parent whose son was bullied because he didn't like rugby. It was completely ignored by staff.
This obsession with rugby really worries me.
mad?
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 6:27 pm
Location: london

Post by mad? »

Irene+ wrote:
ealingmum wrote:Irene - what have you heard from parents that is negative.
I've spoken with parent whose son was bullied because he didn't like rugby. It was completely ignored by staff.
This obsession with rugby really worries me.
I think it is really hard not to judge a school by hearsay and one parent's comments, but that is what one must try to do, as everyone has a different experience of school. For most schools I'm sure you could find someone who was really happy, and someone who felt they had been bullied, (or indeed had been bullied...). I have heard lots of positive things from parents about the pastoral care there, and these were not necessarily rugby parents, but indeed they may just have been lucky. It is clearly a school which is very rugby orientated but now there are girls there as well over time this may change a little?
mad?
T.i.p.s.y

Post by T.i.p.s.y »

Irene,

I have been thinking about your thread and if you don't have to send your child to this school then you have nothing to lose by going to the Head and discussing these matters. Tell him you have been impressed by what you have seen but these comments have been causing you concern. Of course he will try and reassure you but to have been brought to his attention by a prospective parent instead of a disgruntled current parent may make him realise he needs to get on top of these issues. You can pretty much guarantee that he will work hard to make sure this does not happen when your child is there because you are alert to these incidents happening.

When DS went for his interview at one of the schools we were looking at we had a very frank discussion about things we had heard on the grapevine. This was a prestigious school and over-subscribed so we were taking a risk by annoying them but I had to understand what was going on. He got in so it didn't do us any harm.
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