Malvern St James

[wheredidtimego]

Have heard lots of good things about this school, very caring, inspiring and confidence giving, and very good results but would still love to hear about anybodies experiences out there with the senior school....

[kerrygrey]

I have no experience with the school but DO have experience with the woman who is now Head. Some people liked her - nuff said.

[teacherwith2kids]

Kerry,

It's probably not quite enough said to be helpful to the OP - there are many reasons why one might not like a headteacher, and not all of those would have any bearing on that individual's ability to lead a school (one might dislike somebody on a personal basis, for example, but they might still be an excellent headteacher). Some of them may have no influence at all on what a schoool she leads is like at the moment, which is what the OP was asking... excellent heads in one school can transfer to another and it be a disaster, and vice versa.

Could you spell out the details a little more, perhaps, to be helpful to the OP?

I do not have direct experience of the current MSJ. I do know teachers there, who say that it is emerging well from a very rocky period around its foundation, when it took two institutions with falling rolls and gradually declining standards and fused them together. It also fused what had been at one point a very academic school [the old MGC was in its heyday a very academic place] with one which had a different ethos. However, some years on from the merger, my understanding is that it is doing well. Not top-notch academically (so not on a par with e.g. cheltenham Ladies) but definitely holding its own and growing in numbers. Good ISI report, too.

[chantek]

I cannot speak highly enough of both MSJ and the present Head. Our daughter has been there for a year now having moved from a large, mixed public school nearby. She loves the School and the all-girl environment is suiting her well. She is very sporty and the School supports this and also her training outside.

The old Malvern Girls College was highly academic (on a par with CLC) but even though MSJ appears not to be very selective (there are girls with Special Needs) it does very well in the League Tables (79th this year at A-Levels with 60.58% Graded A*/A). Also, it seems to get a large proportion of the girls into the better Universities.

There is also great flexibility with boarding - our daughter boards one or two nights a week and thoroughly enjoys it.

Obviously, no school is ideal and every child is different. However, MSJ has lots of good points and is certainly worth looking at.

[wissymo]

My daughter has just started at MSJ and I couldn't be happier.She has settled in really well and is very happy there.The headteacher is also lovely from my experience and so are the boarding staff.
If your interested I would recommend you go and have a visit as after looking at lots of schools my daughter chose MSJ herself!

[wheredidtimego]

I just wanted to add that after nearly 5 years we are so pleased we chose MSJ for our daughter, it has given her a very good all round education and she has really loved it and thrived there.

[Tweennightmare]

Thank you for your feedback we are just considering MSJ for our daughter for sixth form in 2018 did your daughter attend sixth form and were you happy?

[SouthPole]

Hi OP,

i am considering MSJ for our little one. She is nearly 7 and we wouldn't consider until year 4 i think.

Can you let me know what you think of it now?

Also, I understand that there may be some lee-way when it comes to fees as the school are very keen to get English students in to attract the families from overseas.

Our girl is very English orientated, writes stories etc etc Not sporty at all.

What is the entrance assessment like?

Any thoughts you have i should be grateful to hear them!