peter symonds winchester views?

Yes. When I told someone who used to live here which primary school the dcs went to - which now has a waiting list as long as a gibbon's arm - they were somewhat sniffy and asked, "Isn't it for the kids from X estate?"

It was built for those children - in 1967! That estate is now largely populated by pensioners.

Likewise Thornden gets some curled lips from older people who remember it as an anagram of North End, an Eastleigh school on the fire station site.

dh went to Bay House - pre-stone age. When he went it was a swing-your-pants comp in the true style of the just converted. But it did retain a great many of the grammar school teachers in spite of the cohort. Dh says that 99% of the -ahem - middle-class pupils went from primary school to the Portsmouth private schools and others. Dh was actually badly bullied for being "posh" and a swot. He even remembers one particular young teacher joining in mimicking his accent to try to curry favour with the disruptive kids in the class.

In recent times, however, Bay House has acquired a new-found kudos and in Gosport it's all about "Bay House catchment".

DH worked there for a while back in the Stone age.

but the mention of Bay House has raised a certain amount of amusement in this house for historic reasons.

Why so?

Nah

but the mention of Bay House has raised a certain amount of amusement in this house for historic reasons.

thing is that DH sees so many schools, it makes us aware of how decent the options we have been able to use are

True, TP. They are certainly very different environments.

True, but Bay House is a school - admittedly now a very big one - but 1/8 the size of Symonds and it does not offer Vocational courses as PSC does.

No, but there tends to be an assumpton that PS is the best performing state sixth form in Hants. Which it isn't.

Not much gap between Bay House and PSC though
www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/group.pl?qtype=LA&superview=p16&view=aat&set=1&tab=151&no=850&sort=ks5_14.ptgradeaab2_alev&ord=desc

There are some selective 6th form colleges, where minimum entry grades are higher, and interviews count - but none in Hants.

Bay House, which is the highest performing state sixth form in Hampshire, although attached to a school so technically not a college I suppose, requires a minimum of of B at GCSE.

Entry requirements for AS/A2 courses are not some arbitrary letter plucked from the sky, but are based on what staff learn over the years about how low you can go at GCSE before a student is unlikely to pass the AS. In MFL the B grade GCSE students have an extra lesson per week. A student with a C would be very, very unlikely to pass AS.

There are some selective 6th form colleges, where minimum entry grades are higher, and interviews count - but none in Hants.

Also, in general you need to show capability at GCSE level in the subject you wish to do at A level. (In particular I can't see how someone scraping a B in science or maths would cope with A level.)

By 'not selective' people are meaning they aren't picking the kids with the straight As at GCSE over and above those with say 5Bs and 5Cs.

With a DD in y11 (who probably won't go to PS but has an offer from there), I concur with Lemonsole. Neither English nor MFL require an A at GCSE.

Lemonsole
I certainly can : your knowledge is as up to date as it gets.

Brenda
The Peter Symonds 'Catchment' is huge - much bigger than just Winchester.
DD has friends from Fareham, Southampton, all the villages in between, right up to Alton and across to Andover.
The bus map alone makes that clear.

But yes, there are some incredibly well heeled and well educated people there.
In part because its the science / academic college for the area. Non academic kids have a fabulous range of colleges to choose from with a huge range of specialisations.

I can clarify a couple of points here.
EP has been offered at PSC for quite a while now - at least for the past five years.
This year's A2 cohort will be the last doing GS.
There are facilitating subjects at PSC that don't require an A at GCSE - MFL, English (I think), History. Some are even fine with a C. The college does differentiation really well.

Talkinpeace can vouch for me as a reliable source.

I agree, Draylon. All I know is a bit about ds's classes at PS.

But I do think PS do let you do an A Level with a B in quite a few cases, even facilitating ones.

As for being selective, I think it's selective as far as most people in the Winchester area are fairly, erm, well-heeled. Ds says that there are some vair posh kids in his classes. And, if the OP is still hanging around, they come from Winchester comps.

'gap year kids get lumped in with the successive year groups usually' =. for example, those taking gap years having taken A2s in 2013 are counted in with the 2014 leavers, not the 2013 leavers. So totally sensible and not dishonest in any way at all - in what way is that dishonest TP?

Gently
It's not as close, the destinations aren't so good - but he's more likely to be comfortable there, which is the main thing. Isn't it?
Yes - Utterly.
Kids who are not happy cannot thrive.
Happy kids with supportive parents can achieve more than expected.

The thing with destinations is that it ignores the fact that lots of our kids will end up in jobs that have not been invented yet.

TP - my DS will have to make up his mind next year and (assuming he actually has a choice) I suspect his choice will be influenced less by the glittering list of destinations from our just round the corner 6th form/FE college, which is state of the art and has a glowing reputation, and more by the sheer size of the place and the amount of personal responsibility that is necessarily placed on the students. Unless he changes markedly in the next 12 months, he thinks that a less glittering, less reputed, smaller and better geared for SEN issues 6th form will suit him better. It's not as close, the destinations aren't so good - but he's more likely to be comfortable there, which is the main thing. Isn't it?

Destinations do seem to be a big thing for a lot of people now though, and it is really interesting, in one sense, if you have a child in or about to enter that process, or if you are involved in recruitment or associated with a university - but I do wonder how much this really tells us about anything given that the biggest factor in where someone goes is their own preference.

My current excuse is that I'd rather be sitting about on the internet wondering about this than funeral planning or doing probate related admin. I don't actually expect to be vouchsafed some hitherto unsuspected nugget of information that will banish my worries and concerns about my kids' future educational aspirations.