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Original poster

6th form-Brighton/Epsom/Wellington

31 replies

Nextstep123 · 18/01/2020 11:15

Any experiences of 6th form entry selection for boy to Brighton College, Epsom or Wellington College. County cricketer,A band academically but not got great reports for effort as leaves everything to the last minute ! Very strong maths, weaker English. Wants to study A level Maths, Economics or Business + 1 tbc (maybe geography). Will board.

OP posts:
TwoflewovertheCuckoo · 19/01/2020 17:39

Apologies @CherryPavolva my comment should have been addressed to @Nextstep123.

CherryPavlova · 19/01/2020 17:22

TwoflewovertheCuckoo I don’t need schools now. Mine are all into adulthood. My eldest lives in Winchester and is friends with a couple of staff. The boys we’ve met seem very nice but our preference would never have been single sex.
NextStep123 Our experience is having come from a comprehensive to Welly. Definitely more academic focus than the comp but definitely more focus on sports too. It’s definitely selective, but then all on your list are. I think it was a two day exam, assessment process but that in scholarship assessment so we could accept the very generous bursary.
What impressed us most was the sense of fun and wide interest range that was supported. Sport was huge but so were music and performing arts. Our daughter had a dance scholarship to enable her to continue training alongside academic study. There was a choice of IB or A levels or a combination of both.
We were advised to not go into sixth form house but join an all age house as this gave a wider network in the early days. It worked for ours. I think we had about a fortnight of calls where they were a bit ‘rabbit in head lights’ but everyone was very kind and within a fortnight they spoke the same language and were off to friends houses at weekends.
They earned a little street card from having been in a comprehensive as the perception was that state schools were completely wild and dangerous places. I suspect there were a few works of fiction told.

TwoflewovertheCuckoo · 19/01/2020 16:22

@CherryPavlova have you considered Winchester College. It's a fantastic school where academics are taken very seriously. Maths teaching is excellent and expectations are very high. Pastoral care is second to none .

Original poster
Nextstep123 · 19/01/2020 16:04

Thanks CherryPavlova. In your time did you find it was cool to work and be clever or is it still about the cool kids and sport ? We are looking to move from a non selective independent school where it is not cool to be clever ! Very annoying and my son now not nearly the high performer he used to be or could be. I need him to get a push to meet his potential !

OP posts:
CherryPavlova · 18/01/2020 17:26

I can only say ours transferred from state and loved Wellington but it was about five years ago now. Very welcoming, great fun, good ethos. The current master James Dahl was head of admission at the time and lovely.

JoJoSM2 · 18/01/2020 17:22

I don’t know the schools in enough detail to comment but Epsom 6th form has a fantastic value added.

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