Charter School East Dulwich - your view

[123abc123abc]

If you have a child at Charter ED, please would you share you impressions on how you think the school is doing in terms of organisation, supporting children to succeed, calmness of school environment, extra-curricular activities, preparation for exams. I'm thinking about secondary school applications. I know this year has been unusual but would you recommend the school to others? Thank you!

[northernmonkey]

Would also be interested to get recent thoughts now the school has been on its perm site a while (albeit over a few strange years)

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Radio silence 😆

[bodsier]

well...its Charter.....the two sites whether complete or been running for a while, both operate the same.....you either love it....or you hate it.....depends on what you want from a school.....its an academy......what's to say.....

[123abc123abc]

Thanks @bodsier Honestly it is difficult to get a sense of the place when you can't go in and view it. I don't have enough information to form an opinion.

[loveED86]

So here is my view...

My daughter has just finished year 11 and been there since year 7.

A few issues to begin re bullying and I was not happy with how school dealt with it but once a particular girl left the school, changed the dynamic of my daughters friendship group and shes been happy there ever since!

Happy daughter=Happy mum!

My daughter often says how much she enjoys school!

During covid normal timetable done online with teacher and would get a phonecall most weeks.

Of course GSCE's were different this year but the school have tried their hardest to support pupils and parents during this time. Smaller intervention classes are provided for students that may need a bit of help or to ensure they get the grades they are working towards.

My daughter is staying on at sixth form and would be happy to send my 2 other children to charter ed when that time comes for them.

The head and some other staff are sadly leaving so not sure what affect that will have but I'm sure will remain a good school!

Happy to answer any specific questions via PM.

[Coach Beth]

yes, my boy has just finished year 11... it's generally been positive for him. One thing I think that worked well is the number of younger male teachers who my son found very encouraging and relateable. He has decided to stay on for 6th form as well despite having another conditional offer of another more well established sixth form. I do think that his experience was really shaped by being one of the founding cohort... it felt like those students developed strong relationships with the staff and they really know those kids. I'm not sure how it is for those in more recent years but I think the ethos is similar. Lots of good extra curricular provision - sport, art, music, language clubs, games and coding clubs and the music department it great btw.

[northernmonkey]

Interested in the music department info Coach Beth. From the website it doesnt' look like Charter East has much music provision- essentially just steel pans as an extra curricular option, whereas Charter North seems to have an orchestra / ensembles. Is this not the case? I know that the music rooms are being built now, but would be interested to understand experience. We are considering Kingsdale for their music provision, so would be interested to hear about Charter ED.

[Coach Beth]

Yes, they have jazz ensemble, wind band, choirs, songwriting, keyboard club .... plus individual music lessons ... it?s pretty good ... they have had lots of space for music and music classrooms .... Ms Withers built up music programme from the beginning .... my partner is a pro musician and son did play drum kit up to grade 4 level till year 9. Anyway more on music programme here - https://www.chartereastdulwich.org.uk/page/?title=Music&pid=49

I know a few kids went into the Brit school from charter Ed too...

[northernmonkey]

Thank you - really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

I had seen that section of the website but it indicated that the ensembles might have been limited to strings / keyboard club and steel pans with more 'planned' which didn't sound very definite! Its good to hear there is more.

I think that one of the things that the school does need to do more generally (and probably not just Charter) is make sure its website is as up to date as possible given that we have been in a position where parents can't visit potential schools with children for so long, it means the reliance placed on the website is greater than it was previously!

[RoundTable]

The Charters are so oversubscribed they could put only videos of cute puppies and kittens across the whole website on all the pages, they would still get people applying. There?s no incentive for them to maintain the website.

[RoundTable]

That goes too for all other oversubscribed schools in the area; the Harris page is the best kept out of the lot I think.

[SJK]

Hi there, now it's Sep, can I ask any parents with children at East Dulwich Charter school how it is going?

I am looking at senior schools for next year.

I know that the North Charter has it's outstanding ofsted - not that it's all about that - but is Charter East Dulwich the same standard?

And more importantly, are the new year sevens enjoying it?

Thank you

[Cora]

My son has just started East Dulwich Charter and is very happy with it so far. Feels much smaller than the others which I think is a big plus.

[gebbjane]

My daughter had just started in year 7 as well, she is really enjoying it so far. I like that she can walk easily to school, communications from the school seem good, homework not excessive.

[SJK]

thanks for the replies. that is good to hear.

academically is it on par with the North Dulwich site, or is it too early to tell?

[tomskip]

I'm not in the market for looking at schools any longer (time flies!) but I find it amazing that the most recent Ofsted inspection at Charter N Dulwich was 2009. The exemption for outstanding schools is peculiar, although I think maybe coming to an end.

[Trish123]

I don't have a child at Charter East nor at Charter North; however by talking to other parents I don't think is on par with Charter North; academically and in terms of dealing with issues Charter North is quite efficient; I believe it is not the same at Charter East; however I believe things will improve with the new Head Teacher.

[Houseoflego]

I would recommend Charter East Dulwich, especially having seen their friends go off to different schools and being able to compare experiences. One thing to note though, wherever they go, if they go with a few of their friends they tend to be happy whatever!

[edbloke]

A personal experience here of East, but with only one kid at secondary, no insight into other schools with which to honestly compare first hand knowledge.

We have had a kid at Charter East since September 2020, so with Covid, their experience has not been normal, irrespective of the school they attend.

Charter East and its teachers have done an amazing job though at maintaining a decent education throughout, in our experience, given the unique circumstances.

My biggest grumble is discipline, or lack of, which is a lifetime away from the Primary experience. I understand this issue has been exacerbated by lockdown for many kids, so is unlikely to be isolated to this school. So the teachers are having to clamp down in an extremely ruthless approach to try to instill a collective understanding in the pupils of what is right and wrong, how to behave in class, how to respect others adults and each other etc

Sad it?s needed and this causes stress to our kid, who we understand is well behaved, but many other pupils are struggling and can be quite disruptive.

As noted above, the Head of Chsrter North is now head of both schools. Many of the teachers at East came from North but with this change in leadership, I would expect to see more alignment in their approaches to all disciplines of teaching and school environment.

The teachers are very approachable. This was a key concern for us in the transition from primary - how remote everything suddenly could become versus primary. But we can, and are encouraged, to make direct contact with teachers, especially their tutor, and routinely get very quick, considered, appreciative replies.

It?s a brand new school building so it doesn?t suffer from years of underfunded maintenance issues or lack of equipment. The facilities really are brilliant and only getting better, as the remaining structures are built and sports areas complete.

What would our kid?s experience have been like at Charter North or anywhere else? We really don?t know and never will. So many elements affect a kid?s happiness, especially as they go the through puberty!

Reality is, we are blessed in East Dulwich to often deludedly think we have a choice of school for our kid. They are all decent schools. But in truth, there is little choice, unless you live in the absurd sweet spot overlap between Charter North and Charter East?s catchment.

Best advice I can give - you should sssume you kid is going to the closest school. Accept that and embrace it, cause it?s the choice with the most likely outcome of the process. This also means their friends will be local too, which helps with forming friendships at this key age in life. They can walk to school together, come home together from the first weeks.

Second advice - despite what I?ve just said, make sure you fill those 6 choices on the form, which ironically will likely involve putting schools far from home, otherwise the choice may be taken out of your hands.

All in all, Charter East is not perfect but I don?t expect anywhere is - It?s a South London comprehensive. So despite a few grumbles, it?s bloody good and if you live close to it, I?d recommend you stop overthinking it, cause it was meant to be.

[Trish123]

The building and facilities are amazing and I am sure discipline will improve with the new Management/ Head Teacher as she will be managed by the Executive Head who has implemented strong discipline in Charter North.