Best Schools in London (girls)

I went to SPGS and am perfectly normal. I would also have been very happy at any of the other schools listed, I imagine. I don't often mention where I went to school to other adults as it would be weird, since I am now over forty.

Jags
Alleyns
Newstead
Dartford Girls' Grammar

I think you sound like a bit of a fool tbh happymum77.

FIW the happiest children I know are the ones who are the "middle of the pack" and experience has taught that they are the ones who go the distance without the weight of perfectionism on their shoulders.

I think you have misjusged the "feel" of London independent schools. The term "snobby" is outdated and irrelevant. Schools chose good candidates for their school, who will add to it, who will benefit them.

I suspect the term "perfect fo the right girl" refers to the intake at 11 being less competitive, but still competitive, than some of the more academic schools. However, it is still a "great catch" and I would be thrilled if my daughter chose to attend as it produces sound results and friendly girls without too much drama. (Some drama though, these are teenage girls!)

Can't reiterate strongly enough that education is much broader than exam results, and the right school so much more than the one with highest results. And that the girls at these schools view themselves as far more than SPGS rejects and it is unbelievably shallow of you, OP, to characterise them in such a denigrating way. And children will realise their potential in almost any of the schools and if your heart is set on Oxbridge (and you know what, it shouldn't be as this is your DDs' choice, not yours) it might b better to be the brightest child in a less selective school, rather than one of 80 applicants at SPGS.

But do want to write in defence of SPGS as the OPs singular focus has not surprisingly put up everyone's backs! Like any school it has its faults but it does have some extraordinary teachers and the quality of many of my DDs lessons is amazing and she is inspired on a daily basis by her education there. She loves it, is thriving and happy, and has the nicest, politest bunch of friends there - very multicultural, very mixed socially and very broad previous school education. She is unashamedly academic but I hope continues to be polite and would step off the pavement to let a baby or toddler pass!

The trouble is the sort of people who make a big deal as adults of the school they got into at 10 will make any school look bad. Most adults don't talk about their schools as that isn't their crowning achievement.

There might be lots of low key Paulinas but if they don't tell you there's no way of knowing.

Lots of girls go from G&L to Westminster as they want a change. Hardly Spgs rejects.

FHS Sloane Square is the perfect school for the right girl.....

Agree with Sundae. Would add that the air of superiority and arrogance extends into adult life, if the Paulinas I worked with are anything to go by!

Happymum77 - you are overthinking this!!! Your DD is 9 and you are worried about how boys will interact with her when she goes to Westminster for 6th form!!. If you want to get rid of the "alien issue", go coed all the way through - it mirrors normal life!

Add Latymer Upper to your list.

Boarding schools are very different to day schools - you need to visit to be able to compare them to a day school. And most importantly your DD has to want to go. It's a big step for a 11yr old. I wouldn't necessarily consider some of the boarding schools you've listed as back up to the day schools. My guess is competition to even the most academic ones will be less but that is driven by the £££ - £30,000 per annum plus extras.

I guess one thing to bear in mind is how will your dd perform in a group of top-performing girls (whether in grammar or independent)? If she is in state school now, then she will be used to being top of a class with a very wide range of abilities. How will she feel being in the middle, or even near the bottom of a class of very bright girls. Is she resilient enough to withstand this? Everyone comes across it as some point, and in one sense it can be a bigger shock to arrive in Oxbridge and realise than everyone else in the room is more intelligent than you. But it is quite a transition for an 11 year old, especially if this is a first dip into independent schooling..

Not every child finds this transition easy, and it is this pressure that people are referring to. It isn't simply a matter of how the child will perform (someone performing at the level to get as far as interview would probably easily come away with a load of A/A*s at GCSE), but it is also where they feel they are in the pecking order of their peers.

Do you know many Paulinas locally?

Onebanana - you forgot eating disorders in your list

Happymum your post is extraordinary. On one side you say you don't want a school full of SPGS rejects, you want them only with the very brightest, on the other you are not sure if your DDs will get in ie they will be rejects. That sort of logic won't get your DDs through the Science comprehension. Plus you seriously underestimate the intelligence of all the parents and girls who reject SPGS for perfectly rational reasons, as one banana has outlined, and positively choose elsewhere as being better for their DCs. And if you have to use rational criteria in terms of results then al these schools get strings of A*s for bright girls and place at Oxbridge in medicine, mostly without the crash and burn and confidence issues some experience at SPGS.

I am really pleased my DD rejected her SPGS place, I am absolutely sure it wasn't the right school for her (and she has 4 A*s in Science and Maths, since that will clearly be all you measure her by, but by the by she is funny, quirky, a passionate Scientist, all qualities nurtured at a school full of bright girls that may or may not have had a few SPGS rejects, noone cared, or ever asked or wanted to know)

In fact if you want a child that carries a chip on her shoulder for life you will make SPGS the only measure of success, a tiny gap in which to succeed and a huge chasm for them to fall into feeling they have failed you. I will concede a girl at one of these schools who did feel she had failed her parents by not getting to SPGS and ended up in the Priory at 14 . That would be the hospital not the school.

How unbelievably short sighted.

SPGS is not the holy grail of good schools. It is a school with exceptional academic results but it is not the only good school with exceptional results in London. I would never send my DD there as it is not good enough for her. I don't like the end product and my child deserves better. Sorry to generalise and I know that many girls are lovely, however, there is a distinct general air of arrogance and superiority that they exude as they take over the pavement, when I am trying to walk along (pushed in the road) with little ones.

I suspect that nearer the time you may realise that other schools are far from "reject" and your daughter may be very lucky to get a place at any of them.

Is this your first experience of independent education? It seems that you think it is about results alone. Some people think that if you pay, then you also pay for the results.

I wonder how your daughter is going to feel with this incredible amount of pressure and expectation placed on her so young? Yes it is good to have aspirations and goals but what if your daughter can't achieve them (for you)? I have seen countless girls crash and burn in the same system for these reasons. Keep it real. They are all good schools. Find one which suits her and not you. You may not have a choice anyway.

Happymum77 - do you not realise that all the schools on your list manage to get girls into Oxbridge, despite them being "rejects" in your eyes?! So no, I don't know what you mean! I don't want my DD to go to SPGS (seen too many casualties) so I won't be applying. As others have said, a lot of people actively reject SPGS!! It's not one way traffic.

FWIW, negative comments about SPGS - friendship issues (bitchiness), constant pressure, lots of tutoring...

Boarding schools - Wycombe Abbey, CLC, Downe House, St Marys Calne, Benenden, Brighton College, Sevenoaks, Wellington

Boys schools taking girls in 6th form - Westminster, Kings Wimbledon, Charterhouse

You need to work out what is right for your child. At the end of the day the school will pick your child. They'll all take your money!!

I wonder how many girls sit for both SPGS and Nonsuch? They are rather different propositions I would have thought.

OP, SPGS have some sample papers on their website which may be worth looking at. I would also draw your attention to the fact that they do ask for details of tutoring on the examination form. It may be worth asking the school how many of their entrants come from "maintained schools" as they are referred to by SPGS!

If the main measure is Oxbridge then there are cheaper and dare I say easier options open. You should also be aware that Oxbridge isn't just full of Paulinas. There may also be some SPGS rejects there.

I wouldn't send a DC to Westminster, that's for sure.

But, Happymum, even if the girls were rejected by SPGS they are often still extremely bright. My dd now goes to one of the GDST schools listed and I'm sure there are plenty of SPGS rejects in her cohort, but the school still sends plenty of girls to Oxbridge and nearly all GCSE grades are A* or A.

The boys at Westminster were not boys I really wanted to hang out with and I avoided them like the plague at Oxford. I wasn't intimidated at all by them, but rather pitied them mostly, with their "let's score the girls out of 10 on their appearance and shout it out across Yard" games

All I base my opinion of JAGs on is that dd didn't get onto WHS, was reserve for PHS but got into JAGs on the first round. We loved JAGs as did DD and thought it the best all rounder but we are SW London and the journey was horrendous. We thought about moving but that would have caused unsettlement for DS who would then have had a difficult journey. We went for the wrong compromise and moved dd at the end of Y8 - a difficult journey but not as difficult as JAGS. To a school so right for DD but full of rejects I'm afraid OP. But a nuirturing environment that has allowed DD to apply to Westminster and KCS for 6th form so don't be too dismissive OP.

I know plenty of ex-SPGS in my generation. It certainly produced a lot of very earnest blue stockings - women who are still ultra earnest in their mid-40s.

Sorry, forgot to say that SPGS exam for 11+ contains science, which most state school children will not have studied to an appropriate enough level at that point.

oh and you don't need to have been at a co-ed to have an advantage of getting into Westminster. You just need to be bright and do well in the interviews.

OP, are you considering tutoring? A state school, no matter how good, will not prepare your dds for grammars or selective private schools.