Queen Ethelburga's - opinions please

What about Gateways in Harewood, that must be pretty close?

Except.....I knew someone who sent his DD there and they put both the faculty and the college kids into the same class. Their marketing is interesting. We used to get inundated with their unique style of league table brochures.

We also got a letter saying that if we sent our kids there then what ever happened, for three years after they left school, no questions asked, the school would provide the kids with legal representation.

Just a brief warning to say you probably won't find honest reviews of Queen Ethelburga's here (or probably elsewhere) because they are very keen to threaten legal action at the drop of a hat.
This.

The tales I have heard are not positive.

They have 2 legally separate secondary schools on site. One is college and the other is faculty. It would seem they make their statistics look better by bumping and non high fliers into the faculty school.

The Mount school in York is a truly wonderful and nurturing school and offers everything from day to full boarding and everything in-between. You can easily walk from the train station if she wants to move from a boarding to day pupil.

I live at the other end of the country from Queen Ethelburgas so know nothing directly about it as a school.
I'd never heard of it till I read about it on MN
I jokingly posted that they were thin skinned about comments online
...... and they threatened me with legal action.

However I can genuinely say that kids moving from even the most prestigious of fee paying schools into state 6th forms cope just fine with it
BECAUSE
By that age there is much more emphasis on what you plan to achieve than what your accent is.

My kids went to the state 6th in Winchester (Peter Symonds) and there were kids there who had been at St Swithuns, Winchester, Eton, Downe, KES, PGS, Godolphin, you name it.
There were also some mind bogglingly rich / posh kids who had been at comps all the way through.

If your DD is really unhappy, then move her
but there are MUCH better schools in Yorkshire - both state and private - than QE

Does she have much idea what she wants to do after 6th form yet? I would have thought that 6th forms vary quite a lot and some may be more focussed than others in preparing children to be young adults heading off to university.

Local to us, www.doverbroecks.com/sixth-form/ has a much more independent ethos in 6th form as I understand it. Too far away from you I'd say, but perhaps gives a taste of something that might be relevant to your daughter. If you were to find somewhere similar but closer to home, it might provide a positive reason towards boarding. I agree that "I want to move schools and this seems to be the only way to do it" isn't likely to work well.

Good luck broadening the options to consider and I hope you find something useful. (coi have just sent youngest to boarding school age 13; but we were also a "of course our children won't board" family until the eldest went for a specific opportunity age 10)

I had a student move there at the start of year 11. I offered to send the student revision materials as I produced etc. Her teacher rang wanting me to send me all my teaching materials for year 11. I said it was not possible but I would happily dicuss the students strengths, weaknesses etc (yr 10 reports go out half way through the year) but she was not interested.

Key questions to ask of any of the boarding schools mentioned here.

How many new pupils at sixth form?
How many are EAL?
How many are termly boarders?
Who are house parents?
What qualifications and experience do they have?
Ask a pupil what pastoral care is really like....

You will find a very wide variety of answers....

I live local to Queen Margaret's and it has an excellent reputation. Seems to produce very well rounded happy pupils. Friends daughter moved there for 6th form after another private school and then messing about for a year at the local college. She loved it and thrived achieving excellent results.

Ditto Asheville which is also a very good school.

Kids go to Bootham on the train from Leeds. She doesn't need to board.

Meh, they are going to drag me from another country?

Careful ivy they have taken legal action against people on here before

mostlysinging, I was going to say the same about Queen Margaret's grounds - we visit relatives in the village and walk our dog to the temple, past the horse fields and cricket club and it's idyllic. My own 14 year old daughter says she's love to be a boarder there. My cousin's daughter was a boarder from 11 to 18 and loved it - she's at Durham Uni now.

I worked there.
I wouldn't send my dying dog there.
I have ex colleagues who say that nothing has changed.
You know it is bad when the owner throws a pot noodle at a year four student and causes a black eye and you are made to delete the photo you took.

If you are between Leeds and Harrogate, Ashville would work as commutable and could to Woodhouse but would be further. Harrogate Ladies College is an option too - think smaller than Ashville (?) but saw they have got some fab new facilities recently all focused around wellbeing and pastoral care. I know various people who have gone Queen Margaret's and loved it there - the place is amazing and stunning grounds. And as others have said there is the sixth form at Harrogate Grammar, St Aiden's or John Fisher (the last two share some facilities for sixth form) and I know that some years there can be quite a few that move from GSAL there.

Lonicera Agree that Greenhead is excellent. Dd is at Private School currently but wants to go there for 6th form.

If she goes to a good 6th Form college the students there will come from a wide range of background. Its very common for young people from private schools to transfer to state 6th Form. Often they get more choice of subjects for one thing.

Does she realise that he doesn't have any choice in the matter for 6th Form? Unless she needs him to pay fees somewhere, she is or will be 16. She applies for schools and colleges, not him (or you). It's not like applying for secondary school where parents choose and sign the form.

she basically said she feels QE is her only option as her dad won't consider state

she basically said she feels QE is her only option as her dad won't consider state

errorofjudgement I second that. DD struggled her way through Y11 and it's associated stresses. She's loving the change of school and is enjoying being more independent at sixth form.

To add another perspective, my academic DD hated Y11. The pressure from the school, and that she put on herself to get the best grades was intense. To the point she was having panic attacks. However 6th form has been totally different, only studying 3 subjects (that she loves) rather than 11 has made a huge difference.

Some pupils commute from Leeds to Harrogate - is that possible? Because state sixth form there could be a good option (bragging rights for both St Aidan's and Harrogate Grammar are IME ahead of QE, John Fisher perfectly good too). Plus there's the Ladies College if your XH really cannot be ignored, and Ashville College too (very good pastorally a few years ago with a boy I knew who had been moved from pillar to post, for reasons beyond the family's control)