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Original poster

aiming Hurtwood : advice on schools before sixt form!

36 replies

shs69 · 07/03/2018 11:41

Hi,
Thank you all for your advice in a previous post. I read a lot.
We aim now to join Hurtwood for sixt form for our daughter, currently y 8; she is

  • top set academics
-scholarship dance, drama, art -she likes to create fashion and textiles, we aim to study languages for native speakers as she is tri lingual.
  • she is a fencer and a swimmer, she likes karate.
  • all rounded exceptional education needed but environment, avoiding schools with reputation for bullying, patronizing, hard pushing.
  • she is enjoying learning "for his own sake" and she does it because it is in her nature and we want a school that cares for her with exceptional pastoral and can support her in her strong talents, no matter how many they are. We don't want a school that only focus on computer and photocopies, we want a school where 12 year old learn to love books and use books to learn (revise on nice history, geography etc books not only photocopies or internet pages!!) and gradually learn to introduce computers.
No computers or ipads under her eyes all day.

question: before Hurtwood will be better for her Bedes, Millfield, CLC, Brighton College or WA?
Please can I hope in some advice before the 20th of March?
We are visiting the schols in the next 3 weeks.
Many many thanks!

OP posts:
goodluck26 · 07/03/2018 17:07

MrsSnitch is right. You can't possibly expect one school to do all that for one child. If she is in year 8, I assume in a prep school if you are considering all those boarding schools, then surely she's well on the way to knowing where she's going on to for year 9. No doubt on loads of scholarships if she's that talented??
Also, you are hitting your head against a brick wall if you want no IT in year 8 and above. My DD's in years 10 and 11 have learnt to use textbooks online and some hardcopy. Par for the course these days.

MrsSnitch · 07/03/2018 16:52

Most children will follow dance/drama to a high standard outside of school unless they go to a specialist school like Tring Park or Sylvia Young where the academic standard may not be up to scratch. Most of the top private schools will have good drama and art but dance is usually pursued elsewhere.

WRT Hurtwood, it is great but always good to have a backup in case a)they don’t want her b) her interests change in the intervening years or c) you find it impossible to pay for the most expensive school in the country

AlexanderHamilton · 07/03/2018 14:54

Tring Park

Original poster
shs69 · 07/03/2018 14:49

by the way, the question was: my daughter is talented in many fields, I mean she prepares grades, Lamda etc and her art is amazing; she was selected by a former Ballet etoile so I am looking for a very high academics, dance, theater, Art because she doesn't want to drop anything before A levels/IB.
She saw Hurtwood and she said it will be the perfect school for her, but where is the right place to be to nurture all her talents plus her 3 languages before joining Hurtwood?

OP posts:
LIZS · 07/03/2018 14:46

Ime text books are simply designed around the exam board, not for giving a breadth beyond the curriculum. A lot of additional resources are now online.

Original poster
shs69 · 07/03/2018 14:43

of course they have to learn to use Ipads but I want text books to be taken home, they are great help and inspiration if you want to revise or go further, I am thinking about history books, science, geography... In her prep we only see ipads and photocopies, never a text book come home.
And at that age they need to write more on paper not only on computer, they need to learn how to write with a pen before using and concentrating only on computer. Huge difference in written skills between my eldest, abroad with no computers at school till the age of 10 and the young one "polluted" by the use of computers in class and for tests since y3.....
wild use of the computer can come later on, not necessary on early years....

OP posts:
goodluck26 · 07/03/2018 12:18

please post if you find one (especially all the high fee ones you mention) that doesn't use i pads or the like. Not much point resisting that one- its the way of the world and the kids need to learn to prioritise and live in it....

Zodlebud · 07/03/2018 12:05

Have a look at Queenswood. Covers everything you have listed and is a truly lovely school.

MrsSnitch · 07/03/2018 12:05

And I think you are being unrealistic if you expect a school not to use computers - many schools have their textbooks, Prep etc on iPads.

MrsSnitch · 07/03/2018 12:03

Choose the right school for her now, not with an eye on potential 6th form. A lot can change between now and then.

Original poster
shs69 · 07/03/2018 11:44

I forgot to add Kings Canterbury

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