Schooling for an academically middle of the cohort sort of girl

Agree with many others that independent does the most for the middle of the road kids.

Although it is about the best school for your daughter I'd also say it's about the money. There's no obvious reason why you'd send her to the comp and I'd be worried that it would have a massive affect on sibling relationships.

I'd also go for the independent. We moved our quiet & 'was never going to get any attention in a class of 30' DD from an 'outstanding' comprehensive which unfortunately wasn't outstanding for DD. She moved to an average girls independent school, but this went bankrupt after 18 months. The thing is DD loved that school & the girls school it merged with & looking back, she's grateful for the move from the comprehensive. I would also be quite nervous about paying for your boys to go privately & not your daughter. Of course her heart is set on the comprehensive then you could give it a try & see how it goes?

the OP has said many times it's not about the money!

it's about which school is best. paying does not always mean best. Especially if it doesn't have a good reputation academically locally and the bright girls go to the outstanding comp.

I'm probably not In a good place to comment here, having had a raging row with my husband when , admittedly in a temper so I don't think he really meant it, he said that if ds2 wasn't academically up to following his brother to a highly selective, he didn't want to spend money on him.

I realise your point is about fit, but if you think the girls' school is right to support her academically at her level of attainment and will allow her to pursue her wise interests with likeminded children, and you were planning on paying fees for her if she could have / should have gone to the more academic school, why wouldn't you?

I'd go for the independent.

Also... your average dd may blossom and demonstrate greater ability than you expect. Dd has always been a quiet plodder at primary age. Doing well but not incredibly well when compared with her two male cousins who constantly asked questions, had amazing general knowledge, real thirst for learning etc etc. However, now year 8 she is showing real mathematical ability and can write a killer essay! I can see she has just taken longer to gain confidence and interest and I feel terrible that I didn't recognise what she's capable of before now

School is about so much more than academics. My DDs loved the comeradierie of a mid sized independent school and enjoyed much higher standards of music, art, drama and sport. There was no comparison with the local schools. They also found that there was a far great opportunity to be chosen to take part in something. In a big school children get balloted out of trips, don't make the orchestra, never get a chance to take part in the school play (even if there is one) or be given responsible positions. Their education was very broad and served them well for the future. It also gave them confidence.

Spending your saved money on extra curricular out of school is great in theory but unless you live in a city, you will be running around like mad trying to do that too. It becomes increasingly difficult at secondary age when homework kicks in. Having good activities at school is such a bonus. I would go for the independent school. If you feel it is too sheltered, change for 6th form.

If she wants the Comp then I'd go for that. With money spent on the extra curricula. Maybe drama or music classes?

You will know from your sons' schooling that friends will come from far and wide making social life a bit more difficult /tying you to taxi driving. A local school means local friends for your daughter, which may be more valuable to her as she moves into her teens. And then there's the boys (assuming comp is co-ed). There's pros and cons of course- my personal experience as mum to DD in a froo froo school as you describe is that all girls keeps them "young" for longer which I see as a benefit. But she will go elsewhere for 6th form for a bit of a taste of real life!

there is data like this on ofsted where you can see the general intake of the school and how it compares to similar schools.

i'd have a look at the feeder primaries and see what results they get - if mostly level 5 SATS for example then the kids coming in are all high attainers.

re streaming/setting you have to ask the school or maybe the strategy is on their website?

re tutoring you'll just have to ask around. it can be hard to know.

i think you've got a consensus here, but re my comment on the outstanding school's results, averages hide so much. I'd be getting the data on low, middle, high achievers - see how they do. Does the school do well because it has a bright middle class cohort? Do they stream/set/how fluid is this? see if you can get some local knowledge on levels of outside tutoring (rampant at our local outstanding comp).

I was that person .I transferred my middle of the road DD from our local comp - supposedly good ( with lots of bells and whistles on open day) but in actuality pretty rubbish.She moved to a independent school and is now on course for A/A* at A level.She got in with a very bright crowd and works extremely hard and achieved 11 high grade GCSE's.
If I'd judged her at junior school though.i would never have predicted this.

I'd go to the independent school. Sounds like there'll be more opportunities for her to explore her interests. I've worked in an independent school (not UK though, and fairly academic) and remember discussing children who were middle of the road academically with the head; he felt they were the children who got the most from the school and for whom it could make the most difference in their future opportunities (not just academic; the school had an amazing music and drama program). His view was the super bright students generally would have done pretty well at most schools but the average kids could really find their talents and interests and have the opportunity to excel in the school.

Definitely the independent given you can mange it - my sister was the lost average girl at the comp and I'm sure she'd have done better at a school with more time to spend per pupil.

Definitely the independent. It sounds lovely and if her brothers are being privately educated I'm sure you would not want her to think she wasn't worth it because she isn't as academic as they are.

Definitely go for the independent. Middle ability nice girls get lost in big comps. She'll have teachers who barely know her name by easter - one of 30 in a class, not standing out by being brilliant/ rubbish/ naughty, teacher has 8 classes, she'll get lost. (I've been that teacher)

Froo froo vote here.

I could have typed your post. 2DS at very selective Independent. DC3 our only DD now 9 doing fine,very popular and joins in everything but not very academic. Local comp very good but not outstanding. At the moment we are veering to less academic Independents so that she can continue to have a similar experience and ideally be pushed and supported as much as possible. She's very aware we 'pay' for the boys so I think this would be an issue - she's already at a prep school so she also 'expects' to move to an independent.

I would pay the fees.... I still get so much out of the music background I was given at school.... And didn't even do GCSE it was all extra curricular. I don't think you can replace the depth of added activities as you always want to join in with things where you are. I'm sending my two to 2 different senior (fee paying) schools as we have picked the one that we think suits each of them... My youngest is about to start at a not academically selective option in September. We didn't even sit her for eldest' school as it wasn't right for her (I'm pretty sure she would have got in.... And then struggled).... She would have sunk without trace in local comp as is massive so maybe different to your choice