John Deane college Cheshire

Everyone I know who went there has loved it. It's a fantastic college. Everywhere will have mean girls though. I'm 37 and still come across them.

My DS has just finished here and is off to uni in a couple of weeks. I agree with pp that it’s an exam factory - she started making revision material in her first lesson. It’s very academic and they push their pupils to achieve. Dd got A+AB and felt a bit disappointed that she didn’t do better 🙄 as many of her friends got all A+s. Her ambition for uni was to go somewhere where people are “normal” and not all obsessed with being academically the best!! That said, I can’t fault the teaching and they worked her hard. She has to really study to get good grades and was easily doing 25hrs per week homework/studying. Pastorally they seem good and have progress mentors allocated who are staff they can go to if they struggle with anything. DD’s friendships have been great and the sheer size of the place makes it easier for them to find their crowd rather than getting sucked into mean girl groups. Good luck!

Yes loads of sporting activities and clubs

Ooh I went to SJD but many many many years ago. I loved it. Made a great group of friends, learned a lot and as PP says it was more like uni than school. Fantastic memories.

Totally agree with the previous poster. Eldest DS went here while my other children chose to stay in sixth form . Both were great but John Deane is definitely more like college and kind of ‘halfway to uni’ in that there’s a lot more independent learning and also less parental contact. As PP said it depends on the type of student. And bear in mind if they will be travelling on the college transport then this runs on a limited timetable, so until/if they learn to drive and have access to a car, then they will be restricted to this timetable as opposed to walking home from a local school if they only have half a day classes say.

Northwich not Nantwich. Fantastic results but it is an exam factory. Kids will make lots of friends there as students come from all over who will find themselves meeting new people.
There are student support mentors and a pastoral team.
It suits some students and not others. A typical student needs to be A*/A/B standard and they are expected to work independently quite a lot. It's more like a college than a sixth form attached to school.
I know pupils who have loved it and some who haven't and have returned to school sixth forms.
Overall it's brilliant for the right sort of pupil (taught in the area for over 20 years and many ex pupils go)