Why on earth would anyone reject SPGS??

@SouthKenTuition it's considered really poor form on mumsnet to resurrect old threads, and you have done it at least 5 times just in the last few hours. You are annoying people every time you do it. It's only acceptable if you are the original poster coming back months/years later to give an update. Otherwise it's simply rude and disrupts the genuine conversations happening here by reopening questions that were resolved ages ago.

If you really want to have a genuine conversation about these schools rather than using it as an unsubtle way of promoting your tutoring services (which would also be disapproved of) then start a new thread rather than resurrectting all these zombies.

@SouthKenTuition , I don't think you are doing yourself any favours going through all the G&L threads on MN and making comments. These threads are dominated by parents and they don't need feedback from ex school staff or tutors looking for new pupils.

Because the environment of G&L is better? SPGS may perform marginally better on league tables but my guess would be this is to do with who they accept rather than teaching quality. My daughter goes to SPGS and says the teachers are not all as good as you’d expect. I have heard better things about the teaching quality from G&L.

Not only that but SPGS has a much worse pastoral environment! Don’t be a parent who values academics over everything else. Your child’s wellbeing comes first!

What an utterly ridiculous question!
It is your belief that SPGS is better than Godolphin and Latymer. I am not just talking on academic terms. Success & happiness in life depends on so much more than where you go to school.

Have no ideas of the schools but this made me smile

It's like getting a place at Oxford and choosing Durham
**
because that is what my sister did (though it was Cambridge) She had put Cambridge as her 1st choice and then did a happy dance on results day as she hadn't got the necessary grades (not a good look at her very achieving independent school) She only applied to Cambridge as one of her teachers told her she would never be offered a place.

Absolutely, each student is unique in terms of what's best for them. Totally agree with you.

Each year, SPGS receives approximately 12 declined offers (you can calculate this from the disclosure from schools that regularly send students to SPGS). Of the 12 declined offers, some will be due to families moving away from London and some will be due to financial and logistical reasons.

Haven't read all the responses, but this is a bit of a weird question and I'm confused by the almost defensive tone!🤔Schools and the best fit for a child depends on multiple factors - what you think to be the 'best' school, even if they appear quite similar on many levels, is simply your opinion. Why are you so flummoxed that other people don't share your viewpoint?

It's going back many years, but a number of girls at my primary school had offers from both G&L and SPGS and chose G&L. I was one of them! Why? Because, in my (and my parents') opinion, it was a better fit more me. Stronger on the arts, less pressured reputation, more liberal-seeming overall. Again, a matter of opinion, different to the opinion of those who chose SPGS. Different strokes for different folks...

Regarding the 8 week term, some of the most academically inclined students actually prefer to take their time and read intensively around each topic. No way is there time to do that in a 8 week term. It means 8x3 = just 24 weeks of teaching and 28 weeks of holidays a year. Most students do stay 9 weeks per term at least but the intensity of it is just not everyone’s cup of tea. It is geared towards the professors so they have more time to write their own papers and the colleges can rent out more rooms in the holidays if they need to. However, it essentially feeds into the intense banks and corporate law firm culture of very intense high paced work with no sleep followed by down periods. I don’t particularly like it for students. Some of the top boarding schools in UK are the same - very intense short terms and far too long holidays. Very up and down.

What a strange list from Bristol. It certainly wasn’t checked thoroughly….

What's the downside to an 8-week term?
Fast paced.
No 'reading week' mid term to catch up if you start to get behind / lost.

What's the downside to an 8-week term? I'm not an expert on neuroscience, but do Oxford and Cambridge have weak neuroscience programs?

I have a gifted DD who was Grade 8 on 3 instruments and very academic in late primary. No way would I have chosen SPGS for her. Always co-ed over “all very bright girls together” for her. She would have constantly pushed herself way too hard and probably burnt out by GCSE level. She would have been too perfectionist and want to stay at the top.
However, I would have not applied to SPGS for her for that reason. Ironically, the type of girl that fits the school is going to thrive in any other school anyway and probably more so.
Also, not sure she will be applying to Oxbridge. She wants to be a neuroscientist. She will want to do a PhD. She can go there later. There is a real downside to an 8 week term and the intensity of that.

Leafy or not, the class sizes in expensive private schools would still make it harder for a person at comp - in a level maybe it is 12 vs 20? so contextual offers wouldn’t be that unreasonable.

but not all state schools should be treated same (eg superselecfive vs comp poor overall grades). Not all private schools should be treated same - expensive, selective, league-table topper vs non-academic, small, private school with average grades.

Looking at Bristol's list, the colleges listed local to me are all ones that do mainly BTECs rather than A levels.

@bjmin
it doesn’t work that way!

At Oxford all applicants regardless of background have to meet the minimum grades for a conditional offer for the courses which is typically a minimum AAA though often much higher.

If you are from a disadvantaged background you will be prioritised for interview amongst the thousands of other applicants that get AAA.
The criteria for this is not just where you went to school though. That wouldn’t be enough to get the priority interview short list. Also interview doesn’t guarantee a place. See the link below:

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/decisions/contextual-data

The only exception to the AAA minimum requirement is for a couple new foundation courses which require BBB as a minimum.
However, those are only open to children with significant disadvantage - live in a poor area, have attended a poor school (and never having attended fee paying school) AND having been in care/ homeless/ missed lots of schools due to medical illness, being a refugee, getting pregnant in secondary school etc.

There isn’t anyway for middle class parents to game their way onto a foundation course.

Well the student's referee would have to collaborate with the lie for starters.

Secondly I don't think that one thing would make or break an application. It's the whole package.

Non-grad parents, Dad owns a succesful car mechanic business and mum works as succseful estate agent, own their own large home and are comfortable. Parents never went to university, but overall would hardly qualify as overcoming adversity.

Some of the wealthies people I know are Uni drop outs, so I don't think it has as much impact as your parents occupation and schooling on UCAS forms.

I had no idea Oxbridge was just about the relative performance, I always thought they wanted the smartest students.

They use the context of a student's performance to find the smartest students. Finding the smart ones is the whole point of contextualisation. They are trying to catch the super talented people that they used to miss out on.

Must have been a different uni but I remember the list posted on Mumsnet and it definitely included Fortismere and I think DAO and Camden Girls. I even commented on it. It was a thread posted last year I believe

Bristol Uni aspiring state school list:

www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/study/documents/Aspiring%20State%20Schools%20and%20Colleges%20for%202022%20cycle%20England%20and%20Wales.pdf

I am absolutely for contextual offers! A child who manages to get 3 A's or even AAB in a failing comp in a rough area of course deserves their Oxbridge place over someone who has been privately educated since birth.

However, I think I saw a list of schools that Bristol give contextual offers to and it included schools like Fortismere and DAO in North London. Those schools are some of the leafiest most desirable schools in London with very wealthy or upper middle class parents.

Just out of genuine curiosity, but how does Oxbridge actually verify some of this stuff? For example, you mention parents who never went to university. How does Oxbridge confirm the true academic history of parents?

Oxbridge contextual offers take into account your whole background,

Its not being the best of your peers in a failing school, its producing 3 A's in a underperforming school with parents who never went to University and a family where you qualify for free school meals...have the child been in the care system, Exactly how it should be, and I say this as a parent with a DC at private school.

Wealthy parents who moan about discrimination against private schools from universities need a fair amount of education themselves ....

Contextual offers are based on where you did your GCSEs not A-levels. Private school students get in proportionally to Oxbridge based on their share of top grades. There isn't any obvious bias. There are just more state school students applying via outreach with good enough grades to get in. That statistics make this clear.