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Original poster

Indie girls school, no oxbridge 2019

57 replies

LilyTheMink · 25/04/2021 07:28

We are looking at senior options for our dd. She is bright, not top of her class in everything, but all round scholarship level according to her head.
There is a very local girls school which went through a good patch a few years ago. I've just had a look at their 2019 leavers destinations- 46 to universities and not 1 to Oxford of Cambs.
I KNOW it's not the be all and end all, but it is used as an indicator of academic success.
The other schools we are looking at ger 15% Oxbridge, but are further away from us - think 45 mins on mini bus.
What are your thoughts on paying (admittedly less than the 15% place) for a school with 0 Oxbrige for a bright child......is it lacking ambition/opportunities for her?

OP posts:
Aboutnow · 25/04/2021 09:14

@JohnnyEnglish Our local comp got three children in to Oxbridge last year and is obviously not selective so not sure that is the case. It doesn't get contextual offers either as is in a wealthy middle class area and is rated outstanding. I suspect there are some unofficial quotas that happen at Oxbridge besides the actual contextuals.

JohnnyEnglish · 25/04/2021 09:09

I expect there is a correlation between how selective they are and how many Oxbridge places they get. We were looking at this recently and the schools with high numbers of Oxbridge and US university places were the schools who cream off the most academic pupils from entrance exams. The schools with lower numbers took a wider spectrum of academic ability.

salviohexia · 25/04/2021 09:05

No expert on this, but how about asking the school? Not in a pushy, 'why the hell haven't you got any girls into Oxbridge?' way, but just in a general 'what are your university destinations and how do you support HE applicants?' kind of way. Hopefully their answer will tell you a bit more about the school, and you could probe the Oxbridge question as part of the conversation to see what they say.

Aboutnow · 25/04/2021 09:03

Oxford is taking less and less children from fee paying schools so that might be the blip...the other universities are good destinations though so sounds like the academics are on track.

Original poster
LilyTheMink · 25/04/2021 07:40

Lots to Exeter, Bath, university of arts in London.
I recall in previous years there has been 1 or 2, but not in 2018 iirc.....

OP posts:
tilder · 25/04/2021 07:30

So where did they go? Plus is it a case of never or just not that year