Head of St Pauls Girl’s School

I think state pupils would know little about chemistry! That’s a bit off beam!

However, if parents are going to enter this scattergun approach of high status schools it says what they want. The best. They then, it appears, push and push and push! Some of what she says is unbelievable! Obviously most parents are not like this but parents are not honest about what they are prepared to do to ensure their DDs get a place! This unhealthy activity starts very early.

Do they tell you the scores? And cut off points?

Bubbles The entrance process is set out on their website, but in summary:

1. Online CAT test taken at the school (adaptive, not purely VR and NVR)
2. A day of exams - maths (three short papers, third designed to be unfinishable), English and what they call a comprehension paper but is really sort of creative thinking (this year based on linguistics, previous year was a mixture of chemistry and history).
3. Interview (no exam style questions, more of an intellectual chat)

What we were told about the process is that it’s about finding girls who will thrive there - and certainly the experience on the (very long) SW London 11+ threads was that some very clever girls who got many other offers and scholarships did not get an SPGS offer. Similarly, some girls who were offered SPGS weren’t offered other schools that are viewed as ‘easier’. Which could be SPGS looking for something different, or just that children perform differently on different days.

I think the High Mistress is not the only one setting the Agenda for this school. It has almost set its own agenda over many decades and no doubt it’s Governors want the success to continue.

I don’t know what evidence people have about the exact selection procedures. Is it solely on exam marks or are other factors taken into account at interview? You will never ever stop coaching and tutoring so parents are highly invested in their DDs from a very young age. They are not going to stop at age 11.

No parent at St Paul’s has gone there thinking their DDs will coast and often parents are high achievers and driven themselves. There are a number of schools like this but parents don’t have to choose them! Most independent schools are results driven because this is what parents expect. How do you separate parents out that want a different attitude? Interview the parents? Tell the obnoxious ones to go to The Harrodian?

I knew CF at her former school. She wanted strong academics but didn’t have to deal with the type of London parent she dealt with at St Paul’s. We knew our DDs were not gifted! Most of didn’t tutor and let the school get on with it. London is mad and the school is a product of that pressure. Perhaps the new Head will ratchet down the expectations?

There are significantly less pressurised schools outside London but they are not considered because some are weekly boarding. They might be a better bet and CF should know! That’s where she came from!

Times link for those who don't want to click on the Hate Mail.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7074359/Ex-headmistress-25-000-year-girls-school-tells-pushy-parents-off.html

Michaelahpurple, I was just having this conversation with a friend. Sadly, this is only getting worse.

Do you have a link to the article, please?

The problem with the "begging not to tutor" is that schools have become very lazy or perhaps deluded about this topic. For instance, there is a longstanding structural problem with the classics department and its curiculum at our prep school, but if one tries to talk to the school about it, they cite the good exit exam results. But that is because parents either teach latin themselves or get tutors - it seems one has to have a few years of stepping back and letting whole years fail to expose the point.
This is woven right through the London school system.

I've been happy to read more and more recently heads asking, almost begging, parents to not tutor and realise the amount of stress their children are under. Hopefully there will be real changes.

I think these schools realise the tide has turned and there is a wane in appetite for results at the cost of mental health and wellbeing. It is a turn off for many wealthy parents who pay full fees.

It is a very delicate act to have both high results and strong pastoral care and wellbeing. It read to me that Ms Farr was acknowledging that tightrope.

@Jeanne16, I agree with you. One of my dds left SPGS last year and under Clarissa Farr the school was very, very competitive. The school is all about achieving the best exam results in the U.K. and nothing less will do.

I read the article and I think that the level of pushiness she describes is definitely OTT. Unfortunately, I know parents like this very well - too well. My son is at a similar school, but boys only and at a recent coffee morning, one mother was aghast at how poor the school's GCSE results are currently (96.1% A and A or equivalent with 78.5% A) and thought it was shocking that the school wasn't actively addressing this. Parents like her email teachers when they receive their children's reports asking why their child didn't get the top grade insubjects as inconsequential as Music (the child has no aspirations to become a musician or do anything in music). It is too much.

In terms of focusing on getting the top academic results, I read her concern as discomfort that schools who have high multiples per spot and who can broaden the qualities they look for in successful candidates to their schools are missing out by continuing to have the principle aim to allow the children who score the highest on entrance exams and not relaxing them to allow for other great attributes. TBH, I think this is a greater problem at girls schools as I think that boys schools are slightly more flexible in their intake criteria. This extreme selection is only getting worse and thus more problematic which is what she is also probably concerned about.