Headmistress attacks parents in national press

summerends - there you go again: "surrogate career", implying that snowplough parenting is the preserve of SAHMs.

Not only has CF not once been reported to have made that suggestion, but the plentiful research into UMC adolescent mental health disorders clearly identifies dual-career families as the major driver.

MN nobody could deny that a school like SPGS or Westminster will always attract high quality teachers who care about their subjects and the eclectic interests of their pupils. However a lot of the girls will drive themselves hard and that may be compounded by the alpha tendencies of the parents who make their DCs their surrogate career.

I'm a great believer in listening to parents of pupils but, by definition, they like what the school offers. There may be very good reasons for a school not meeting other prospective parents' expectations and those views are also interesting.

So glad that there are posters on this thread that have real experience at SPGS, as a parent or as a student. Their posts seem balanced but consistently positive about the school. They paint a picture that others just don't seem to want to believe or accept - perhaps envy or cognitive dissonance.

It just reinforces my belief in only listening to a student, parent, alumni or teacher when assessing a school. Everything else is prejudiced, envious, politically motivated or straightforward cognitive dissonance.

needling. non stop. low level competition, comparison, needling.
Am loving the fact that he now has teachers she never had and she's too tired to care what his homework is

Why was it a problem for your two at the same school BTW?

talkin if DD gets her grades at GCSE, then yes, both at Westminster!!!!

She has passed her entrance exams, and been interviewed. But you know, anything could happen next Summer.

I shall be very happy to have them both under one roof. So much easier. And so convenient to our flat in London.

And I'll be frank, it is one of those 5 schools Bonsoir* mentions that will mean we have an easy run during sixth form, in terms of accessing stuff. So that's great.

But if she doesn't get in, then she'll stay where she is, and though it will be less convenient and she'll be pissed off, it's hardly a tragedy.

I'm becoming very aware that soon, they shall both be off to university...

Maybe the SGPS head is trying to get the place more back to what opo had by sweeping the snowploughs aside

Well, that sounds like a good thing. Maybe the OP will be pleasantly surprised.

What kind of meaningful job could you get with 3 MFLs at A-level?

Any graduate job, really, once you'd gone and done a degree in one or more of your MFLs. Probably one with an emphasis on communication. Publishing, PR, Marketing, HR, I don't know. I can't see it's that dreadful. MFLs are challenging and require a lot of work. Anyone who has done three to A Level is surely quite a committed person with a good brain and a good work ethic. I can't see how anyone wouldn't want someone like that working for them.

Wordfactory
Which actually brings us full circle.
The NLCS website is trying to "sell" themselves to a certain type of parents
who have expectations of them that may or may not accord with the absolute blast that people like opopanax talk about having at school.
Maybe the SGPS head is trying to get the place more back to what opo had by sweeping the snowploughs aside

Are your two going to be at Westminster at the same time?
My two will never be at the same school at the same time again. Bliss.

talkin NLC is not what you think.

I'd imagined some grey exam factory TBH ( given it's reputation and relatively low fees- these things being relative).

I fact I was impressed.

DD however, has her eyes on Westminster.

@opopanax - you describe it perfectly. FWIW we havent encountered anything but really enthusiastic teachers who have the time to be creative with their teaching. The emphasis on enjoying learning with encouragement to follow your passion, with very little emphasis on grades permeates through all subjects.
Its a great school ...so far , however it does stretch my bank account as much as my daughters mind.

What kind of meaningful job could you get with 3 MFLs at A-level? Even if you carried on with MFL to university your analytical skills would be very undeveloped versus someone with 2 MFL and an A-level in English/History/RS/Maths.

I can't see that this is a problem, TalkinPeace. AT GCSE level, it's surely important not to cut your later options down. I would consider nearly all that list to be essential (don't think humanities are essential unless you happen to be interested). I'd want my daughter to do three sciences, two Englishes, Maths and a MFL as a bare minimum. That's 7. Which of those could you sensibly leave out? That still leaves three options for a humanity, Latin, a creative subject. Or two humanities and a creative subject. Or two creative things and another language. Or Latin and a MFL and a humanity or whatever floats someone's boat. Having a limit on the GCSEs you can do doesn't mean you can't also have fun and do interesting things.

I didn't do Music as an option at O Level but still had access to massively high quality music teaching, was a member of the really extremely good orchestra (honestly, we were playing wonderful things, far more challenging than most school orchestras, and playing them well), was a member of the choir which was just amazing and our music director was a real professional conductor so even just being in the choir meant you had access to someone who could give you something really special. We didn't even have drama as an option in my day but I was able to run drama workshops for younger girls, put on my own play (my friend adapted it from a book), take part in other productions, learn how to deal with the lighting board etc. I didn't do art at A Level but the art studios were still open to me to go up and make something or draw something or take part in life drawing workshops or whatever. A friend of mine who was really talented at art produced a whole series of satirical graphic stories about the school and printed and distributed them to the school with the school's blessing. They were really funny and cheeky and brilliant and clever. We obviously had the school newspaper but a girl in my year also started up her own periodical in a kind of Private Eye style with tons of very funny stuff in it. The thing is, if people give you the opportunity to do stuff, you can do what you like. I was mainly writing bad fantasy and science fiction novels. But hey, I enjoyed it. They were rubbish but having people take me seriously gave me the confidence to take my life with both hands and really live it. I don't know if I'd have had the same experiences if I hadn't been to SPGS but I suspect not.

Sorry, referring to TalkingPeace's comment on NLCS. Science is double award. DD1 did 3 FLs (Latin, Greek and French), history and art. Plenty of time for clubs, societies and BOYS!

Bonsoir
Because it would be a very incomplete education at so early a stage. Languages are great but do not suffice.
Surely that depends on the child and their ambitions?

Wordfactory
Nah, I'm a sahf lunnun gel
never darkened the door of NLCS
and not been to SGPS since the 70's
just going by what they said about themselves on their websites

All languages at A level would mean a very limited future for that student.

I'm surprised the school are cool with that!

talkin both music and drama are thriving at NLC.

Dd considered it for sixth form and we visited both departments ( I can't speak for art but given their history, I'd be surprised if art didn't feature ).

Have you been recently?

Because it would be a very incomplete education at so early a stage. Languages are great but do not suffice.

horsemad
Girls do 9 or 10 GCSEs. Maths, 3 sciences, English (Lang and AS Lit) and an MFL. They choose between History and Geography or do both and can do more languages. Very few opt not to do art, music or drama at GCSE.

Your numbers do not add up
English Lang ~ English Lit ~ Maths ~ MFL ~ Phys ~ Chem ~ Bio
7 gone
two to go
Hist ~ Geog
Art ~ Music
that's 10
so where do the extras fit in?
like Latin?

I can't afford it either, Toomanyhouseguests! I wish I could afford it for my daughter. There were certainly downsides, but that kind of attention is pure gold.

@upset west
dd also at Spgs and I admit I did feel indignant when I read the article, moreso because it just does not accurately reflect my experience with the school. Parents I have encountered have a seemingly healthy attitude and commitment towards school life/ community. There is always going to be the pushy/ angst ridden/ child must be top parent in any school.
We did receive a letter explaining the incident with an open invitation to direct questions to her so in fairness if you need her to expand you could always ask her directly.
Horsemadmum - no grades are given for homework/ assignments, only teachers comments/observations so that the focus is on individual improvement.
Probably needs a new PR team now!

TalkingPeace- It's about the least 'gels' school of the lot. Very multi-cultural and a VERY high proportion of 'first time buyers'. Girls do 9 or 10 GCSEs. Maths, 3 sciences, English (Lang and AS Lit) and an MFL. They choose between History and Geography or do both and can do more languages. Very few opt not to do art, music or drama at GCSE. They all do lots of extra curricular activities and my DD was never short of social life and time on FB, watching trashy TV and snapchat.
I can see what CF was talking about. I've noticed a real change between DD1 and DD2's cohort. DD1's yr, the parents were very laid back and hands off. They trusted the school to do its job. DD2's year has some of the most hideous helicoptering parents. Just horrifying!

Sorry - just reread your post and saw it was another school that disallowed all MFL.

I was very definitely allowed to be an individual. I can't say what it's like now but being an individual was very definitely what my particular parents were paying for and what I appreciated. Re choices and options, I suppose it can be harder to cater for an unusual set of choices in a small school. SPGS had difficulty in catering for me when I wanted to do Maths, Physics, Chemistry and French. The timetable was very tricky with only 100 girls to sort out - so it was hard to let me do French when obviously most people doing French weren't doing science subjects. They solved it by giving me individual sessions with a French teacher. I didn't get to go to most of the regular French classes but I definitely got the teaching I needed to do the A Level. Our O Levels were certainly fairly prescribed. We had to do Maths, two Englishes, French, Physics, Chemistry and Latin but we got a reasonable choice for the other three or four. I did 12 in the end including AO Levels in a couple of subjects, so ten subjects and 12 qualifications.

My mum was a teacher, and a good one. She taught at state schools all her working life and also at a borstal at one point. She would never have sent me to a school that wanted to give me three hours homework a night and turn me out the other end with a load of stellar grades. She wanted me to love learning and learn stuff I was interested in, and she chose a school that allowed me to do that and more. I don't know. Perhaps things have changed since my day. In my day we were given a lot of autonomy to be independent and avid learners. TBH, the girls I know who are at SPGS now don't seem to be having a radically different experience, though I haven't talked to them about it in any great depth. Maybe I should!