Oxford High vs St. Helen's vs Headington - Oxford

[MuminBerkshire]

Does anyone have any thoughts on these schools and how they compare to each other? Any feedback on them - academic, how pressurised they are, teaching, how happy girls are etc. would be really useful.

[Hedgehead]

I went to OHS and did not enjoy it. One of the problems with these GDST schools (and they have admitted this is a problem) is that they have an unspoken culture of "no-failure allowed." That means if something difficult happened to your DD during her school years, like the loss of someone close to her, a relationship break up, parental divorce, they do not take this into account when judging the grades of the child. They are ruthless.

That same culture goes for development in subjects. There was an over-riding expectation that you should be naturally good at subjects or not bother with them at all. There was not an incremental attitude to learning, eg "you didn't do so well this time, but with a little work you could get better next time." Or "you did X really well, but Y not quite so well. Let's work on the building blocks for Y, so you can get better."

The attitude instead was: "You failed. You let us down. One more strike and you're out." The teachers are not used to teaching subjects to pupils who find the subject hard.

I had friends who went to Headington who experienced this but at a lower volume. Girls were given many chances to correct their grades (I'm not sure whether they were given the guidance and building blocks to do so,) but the pressure was a little less "on" all the time.

St Helen's I have no experience of.

[MuminBerkshire]

Hi HedgeHead,

Thank you for your feedback. I have found it to be truly useful in gaining deeper understanding about these Oxford schools. I imagined OHS to be as you described but after having been to the open day a couple of times, I started believing the hype of how unpressurised, happy and supportive the school is. I was therefore wondering whether I should still consider it as an option for DD.

I have been a little more biased towards Headington now though. It seems to be a good all around school that achieves well academically whilst remaining pastorally very caring. I hope I have got this right and have not fallen for the spin again! It is very difficult getting to know these schools as an outsider to the area.

I am looking for a place where DD will thrive. She has just started to come out of her shell and is naturally quite shy. She is good at Maths and Science and around average at everything else. I would like to find a school which is caring, friendly and still academically good. I don't think OHS is going to be right for DD. I wonder if Headington is the one??

[BensonBunny]

Hi

My DD is at SHSK and we are very happy with the school. The girls are happy, well supported and very well prepared for exams. It will be interesting to see what changes the new head brings (though DD only has another 2 years there) but the ethos of the school is so well established that I doubt there will be major changes.

I wouldn't send a girl who would struggle academically to St Helen's (and I think Headington is a good option for girls who would find SHSK challenging) but otherwise I would highly recommend the school.

Personally I didn't like OHS, to pressurised and not supportive was my impression.

[Schmedz]

Sorry Hedgehead that you didn't enjoy OHS but I think it is a huge generalisation you've made about GDST schools. Certainly the 'no failure allowed' culture has not been mine or my DDs' experience in their GDST school. A number of their peers have had family issues/bereavement/health problems and have nothing but praise for the support they have received from the Head and staff alike. Over the past year or so, the head of Wimbledon High has also been receiving huge media coverage on her 'teach girls to fail' campaign - recognising the perfectionist tendencies of a lot of bright girls and the pressure they put on themselves, and trying to encourage resilience and problem solving rather than just relying on the fact that they are 'clever'.

That said, I don't know OHS at all, so what you say about your experience may well still be the case.

OP, if you didn't get a great gut feeling from your visit to OHS then it is probably not the school for your DD, but it is unreasonable to believe a sweeping generalisation about all 26 (?) GDST schools/academies based on someone's personal experience at one of them.

Good luck with your decision - sounds like your DD is very academically able to have received offers and be in the fortunate position to choose at all!

[jumpingjellybeans]

My daughter is at OHS, and I have friends with daughters at Headington.

They are both good schools, and I believe St.Helens is too although I have less experience of that.

Re. OHS, it has had a reputation for being pressurised in the past, but it has been very supportive of my dd and her peers (all who joined the school in 2011 after the new head started - I've heard mixed reports of the previous head). Compared to friends with children in the state sector it seems remarkably unpresurised. So far (dd is in yr 9 now), there has been no homework in the holidays and they are encouraged to relax and take time to recover from term times. They also attempt to tackle perfectionism, as Schmetz has described. My bookish, quiet dd (with a tendency for perfectionism) has flourished there, and become far more confident. She has being encouraged to be herself and to take a few risks. The music in particular has been wonderful for encouraging her out of her shell. I am sure that you would find something similar in all three schools you mention.

My advice would be to visit all the schools (not just on the open days, but arrange to visit them on a normal school day), and get a feel for which one suits your particular dd's temperament and interests best. We visited Headington and OHS, and felt more at home in OHS, but it is a personal choice and depends on you and your dd's individual preference.

Good Luck!

[oxcat1]

I was at Headington - although this was some time ago! - and I loved it. During that time, my mum died, and the school really couldn't have been more helpful to me, my dad and my much younger brother.

My parents were both Oxford academics but were concerned about the perceived 'no failure allowed' attitude of OHS. Certainly during my time at school I did know of several girls asked to leave OHS after failing at examinations, but none at Headington, not that that necessarily means anything now.

I think you can only really go by what you see now, but I would have no qualms about recommending the Headington I knew and have stayed in touch with.

[tunasandwiches]

learning to fail

[LocalEditorOxford]

Hi all - this is really interesting to read.

OP - have you tried posting this on the local boards in case anyone there might be helpful? Mumsnet Oxford

[Hedgehead]

I think the "teaching girls to fail" initiative was developed at GDST as a prescription to the diagnosed issue around it. I think it's very significant that at the time OHS did not want to get involved with this, but other schools, like Wimbledon High, did. I think it depends a lot on the headteacher.