Watford Grammar or Chelmsford county-which one for dd?

[SanTinUK]

Hi, I have read many interesting posts on this but could not see a recent one. Can anyone please suggest for girls- Watford Grammar or Chelmsford county-which one is good and has a rounded approach ?DD is more oriented towards STEM subjects.. Any information much appreciated.

[Ontopofthesunset]

They are a very long way apart. Surely you can't live somewhere that would make both schools a possibility?

[Wigeon]

Yes, where do you live?! What year is your DD? Also, very few people will be familiar with both schools.

And are you dead set on single sex? There are other very good schools in the Watford area.

[SanTinUK]

Hey thanks !Yes I know cant make it to both ...right now have to decide where to move.Both are close to my heart/mind.So feel stuck.I'm in Newham so have to move out anyways. DD is Y4 now plan is to move by summer.Not particular about single sex-What other options do we have in Watford? Thanks to both of you

[Notquiterichenough]

If you move to Watford, your DD still has to score highly on the Consortium Test, unless you move right next door (which I wouldn't because it's a busy bit of town). Place not guaranteed, so you will need a Plan B.

[Notquiterichenough]

Watford - you have Queens, Rickmansworth, Parmiters, St Clement Danes.....

[SanTinUK]

oK; Have not read much about the rest -Queens, Rickmansworth, Parmiters, St Clement Danes .Do these schools specialize in any subjects or all are pretty much the same?
Thanks

[Wigeon]

All those schools are pretty huge and offer a broad range of all subjects as well as masses of extra curricular stuff. Secondary schools no longer specialise in particular subjects. Parmiters gets better results than the Girls’ Grammar although both are very good schools. Clement Danes is also excellent. Queens is very good too altho slightly below these three in terms of results. What kind of school are you looking for?

Do you know about the 11+ test your daughter would have to do to get into the better schools in the Watford area? Full details here: www.swhertsschools.org.uk Maths and verbal reasoning, pretty competitive. Some people use a tutor to prepare for the tests (although not everyone does). Unless you move to very very close to the school if your choice (within a few hundred meters), and get in on distance. You can find all the statistical info re previous years admissions statistics on each school’s website.

[MarchingFrogs]

Chelmsford County High School is a fully selective girls' grammar school. Places are only accessible via the school's entrance test. (The Watford 'Grammar' schools are partially-selective comprehensive schools, so not all the places there are allocated on the results of the entrance test).
The majority of places at CCHS are allocated to tbose living within the 12.5 mile priority admissions area. Re moving into the priority area for CCHS, you can check on the Essex CC website both whether an address you are interested in is within the priority area and what your priority non-selective school would be, should your DD not be successful in the CCHS entrance test. There are also parts of Rayleigh (SS6 postcode), I believe, where you would still be on the priority area for CCHS but would also be in the priority area for the Sourhend and Westcliff grammar schools (SSHG and WHSG). This would involve your DD sitting a separate exam, however, set by the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (www.csse.org.uk) as well as the one for CCHS.

Wherever you are considering moving to, it would be advisable to speak to the relevant local authority's school admissions team re the availability of primary school places in your DD's year group.

[SanTinUK]

Wigeon and MarchingFrogs -thanks so much both very helpful information. Read a lot about 11+ but didn't know about the rest of the stuff you mentioned. Yes I think -sounds sensible to also check primary places. Thanks.Will have a read and post if needed.

Thanks - Merry Christmas

[SanTinUK]

Oh one question when checking norma state schools (secondary -NOT grammar) is the school league tables published on gov.uk the right place to compare schools?

[Wigeon]

The school league tables include all state schools, semi selective (like the Watford ones), fully selective and non selective.

Also, although the Watford ones are only partially selective, the other ways you get in are roughly (with slight differences in the admission rules for each school):

Child in care
Child with special needs that can only be met by that school
Have a sibling at the school already
Live extremely close to the school
Be the child of a member of staff

So unless any of those apply to you, your DD will have to do the 11+ to get into the better schools. However, the pass marks for each school vary from year to year, and vary significantly by each school (Parmiters has the highest pass mark, then the Girls’ Grammar, then Queens etc). Some schools on the area aren’t selective at all so you wouldn’t have to do the 11+, but they are less strong academically.

[Wigeon]

You should be able to compare them all here: www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables

[SanTinUK]

Thanks Wigeon. Much appreciated