St Georges junior school Weybridge - opinions?

[njb28]

Hello all

My son is 2 yrs old and we are in the process of looking at private junior schools. We live and work in Weybridge and are very interested in St Georges Junior school Weybridge, but we have had such mix opinions regarding this school. I am interested to hear about any postive or negative experiences others have had with this school.

[Mumtogremlins]

Bump - also interested in any info

[DisAstrophe]

Pre-testing for two year olds???!! I have now heard it all. Sorry not helpful to OP's question but I just had to post in shock!

[njb28]

Thank you for a really detailed personal experience. We attended an open day and I must admit my expectations were not met. 20 children per class which seems like a lots considering it is an independent school.

[difficultpickle]

Not only do they do pre-testing at a ridiculously young age but they also have culls at set ages so there is no guarantee of staying at the school through to 18. Great faciliities but less good teaching.

If the school is good I wouldn't be put off by 20 in a class. Ds moved from a school with 14 to his current one with 22. It has only had a positive impact on his education (small class means it takes less to disrupt the whole class).

[valbee]

I am sorry to hear so many negative comments about St Georges. I have two children at the school, year 1 and year 4, both of whom are thriving. They both started in Nursery, one in lower and one in upper nursery, both had an assessment which was basically just a look around and the children interacting with the head of nursery, this is not formal testing - no big deal. The nursery is fantastic and more than prepared them for the start of Reception year. I find it hard to believe that parents have campaigned to have the head of nursery removed!! My children and their friends loved their time at nursery. I presume that the assessment sessions are held in the afternoon because the nursery is full of children in the mornings! Less children attend in the afternoon. The number of 20 per class is a maximum - several classes have less than that.
The school does not "cull" children. There is an exam which they take in year 2 which if passed, gives them an automatic place into the college (obviously grades and behevior have to be consistent). If the child does not pass the exam in year 2, they can have another attempt, each year until year 6. Some parents choose to remove their child as they find the school is not right for them - the school is very academic - which is the main reason we and many other parents chose it. My children love St George's - they are doing fantastically well academically, my elder daughter especially is very involved in sports at school and the opportunties open to them are fantastic. The facilities and teaching at St George's are second to none, and I would have no hesitation in recommending the school to prospective parents (indeed I have done!)

[difficultpickle]

At least by testing at age 3 parents know what they are letting themselves in for. All I can say is the rigour of testing should be producing better results in the senior school than it does currently.

Maybe cull is the wrong word, maybe weeding out is better as that is certainly what happens. I wonder how many children fail in year 2 and are still there failing the exam in year 6?

The do have fantastic facilities including the fact that teachers have live in accommodation despite it not being a boarding school.

[njb28]

Thank you for your comments. I appreciate that people will have different points of view and this was the reason for the post. During an open day a school can show off everything which 'shines' but it?s only through people honest opinions that the true essence of a school can be felt.

[jensun]

I was told by staff that the exam they take in year 2 that gives them an ''automatic'' place into the college is not the case. They test them to see what level they are at, it does not give them an automatic place. In my DDs year there were a lot of students who got into the college that were at the bottom of the class in year 6. Something you may want to query is the unsually high number of teachers at the junior school that are not qualified to teach maths english and science. If you query this the teachers will always deflect from answering the question.

The college has great facilities but only if your child is into sports. On the academic side if your child is one of the top 2 or 3 in the entire year then they are selected for the gifted programme which consists of outings. My DD is a grade A student in all of her subjects but she is not one of these 'gifted' ones, so for her there is nothing there to nurture or encourage her.

Class sizes are big typically 22 although in one subject my DD is in a class of 24! The GCSE results of the college are excellent but the A Level results are awful, they are below Heathside School which is not even a private school. I have been keeping a close eye on their A Level results over the years and there have been no signs of change. My dd will be doing her A Levels next year so we have decided to move to Reeds for sixth form.

It has not been all bad, it was the nearest co-ed school for us and we felt that was important but but in hindsight we should have gone somewhere else.