Blackheath High Vs Colfe's

@GreenwichMNer My sisters daughter goes to Blackheath High. She loves her school, she has lovely group of friends.. I met some of them they are all kind and confident girls.

Well the senior school ( 11-18)report I looked at appears to be excellent in all categories and I thought OP was looking for a place for Yr. 7.

@LadyLapsang I am also sure that, Colfes junior is judged Good by ISI at the last inspection.

Colfes is a nurturing school, judged excellent by ISI at the last inspection. I really disagree with@Joannanne comment on girly girls getting more attention from boys. One of the benefits of co-ed is that the pupils are learning together all the time, just as men and women work together, and in my experience pupils make friends based on shared interests and personality. Remember, some pupils will have been in school with each other since they were aged 3 or 7. I would also look at the school leaders. Richard Russell has been at Colfes a considerable time and knows what works for the pupils. Finally, a great strength of Colfes is the wide pupil cohort supported by generous bursaries funded by The Leathersellers Company.

@SE3parent

My daughter is in Blackheath High. She is bright, academic focused girl which had an offer from Jags and Alleyn’s but as a family we prefer single sex school for the secondary. We live near Maze Hill - so close to the Blackheath. My daughter wanted to stay local, it was her choice to go for Blackheath. She also has older brother who goes to Dulwich College. So first I felt so happy when she had offer from JAGS. At least they will be in the same area. But my daughter knows from her older brother that she needs to travel about one hour to get in to the Dulwich in the morning with school bus and she told me that she doesn’t want to do that for next 7 years. We are a protective family and to be honest because of the distance we didn’t let our son to do play dates or meet with school mates during the weekend - this is because we are working even on Saturdays and I don’t let them travel on their own with public bus. So unfortunately all my sons friends lives so far away from us and they only meet maybe once in 3 months when I was free to drive him on Sundays… none of them can meet whenever they want anyway.
And personally its not something I really like to do on Sundays because we work so hard during the weekend and we prefer to have relax Sunday and avoid driving.. My daughter is super happy at the moment as almost her all friends are local and they meet weekends or after school they stay in the school until 6pm in study club. She only have few friends from E14 postcode and rest are local. I also met with her friends and their familys which really makes me feel more comfortable. GDST schools are slightly cheaper than other indies and also my daughter received scholarship from Blackheath as well so it was
much cheaper than JAGS for us + 0 travel fee. As a parent it was fine for us to pay for more for JAGS but now she prefers to spend that money for school trips and we save for her the rest. Academically she doing amazing and I believe her that she will get top grades in the end. Meanwhile my son is not so sportive - he just like art. And in the end the facilities are important if your child would like to use it and get benefit of them. My daughter also not sportive but she wanted to join swimming team with friends and her teacher said she’ll try for a year and they will see how she does - which made her so happy.
Facilities, sport, art or drama is important but mental health also has vital role in being successful. My son is in one of the best (academic) schools in SE but I would say my daughter is more independent, confident and motivated to go to school as it is local, also has strong friendships. So best academics doesn’t always means best choice- btw we are happy with Dulwich School because we didn’t have any single sex choice closer anyway but what I try to mean consider school distance and commute. Bright, confident and motivated kids do well in all of these schools.

Thank you, @JessandKate and others. Good to hear. Now that I've totally hijacked this thread (apologies OP but hope is helpful!) can anyone offer any insight into the heads at both schools? I believe the acting headship at BH has now been formalised and not heard any news yet of changes to Colfe's leadership?

@SE3parent yes she is so happy. BH is great place to be for girl's.. so nurturing and confidence building. Teachers and teaching also excellent. BH results are also amazing! We need to consider that BH’s first entry point is +3 which is Nursery and junior students moves to senior school without taking 11+ exam. We all know it is not very possible to assess 3 years olds. However Colfes junior students needs to pass 11+ to be able to move to senior side. Eltham College starts at 7+ so its much easier for them to pick more doable kids - Because of all these reasons their GCSE grades of-course needs to be higher!! But this doesn’t proof us that those schools are better schools than BH.
Meanwhile I am not saying Colfes or Eltham are bad school. For me they are all similar when you consider their strategies thannnn their results!

@JessandKate thanks, and is your daughter happy with BH? Mine isn't sporty really so not too worried about that!

There is no right or wrong choice here OP, you need to decide between coed or single sex school? Then you have the answer! My daughter moved to BH Senior from Colfes Juniors. She was also happy in Colfes Juniors but we just preferred single sex school for her for Seniors. She is not sporty so she didn’t really care about the Saturday sport etc.. When my DD was in Colfes Saturday sport was only for senior students only between 8am - 10 am. And Colfes Juniors ISI report was Good maybe recent report is Excellent now, dont know! We preferred coed primary because I was thinking to have another baby:) but never happened:):) so its depends on family which one is the better option

DD also has offers from BH and Colfe's - she currently at Colfe's Junior and I have DS in Y9 there. We're very happy with the school and DD will continue with Colfe's. For us, it comes down to the sports facilities, both DC are very sporty and the lack of pool and having to walk to the BH sports ground (which is very small in comparison to Colfe's) was the deciding factor. BH also don't routinely have Saturday sports fixtures which DS really enjoys. I think if you have a sporty child, Colfe's is better geared up for that.

interesting posts on here...

Colfes is a bigger school with better facilities. Lovely campus with fields and leisure centre a its heart. Strong sports and music departments. Decent size sixth form with huge array of A level options on offer.

Its academic value add is exceptional.

I'd choose Colfes every time.

Blackheath High is a truly good school. My daughter joined in year 7. She eventually made great friends. The classes are small (19-20 people max), the children and parents are very friendly. The school has always provided a caring and nurturing environment for our daughters. My daughter is continuously challenged academically and her grades are getting better every year. The school offers support lessons to GCSE students who are not on track and this has helpful. Overall, it’s a well balanced school.

If you have a younger son go for Colfes, if not choose Blackheath High. I live so close to the Blackheath High and I like the behaviours of all girls. Majority of them travel / walk together to the school means they live local which is good for friendship.
One of my friends son spends one hour on the bus to go to secondary school in city and their school fee is about £22 a year + school bus fee. I always tell her that its non-sense to do that. Even if you can afford it easily you could save that money for your child future expenses.
In the end she is now complaning that her son doesnt use the facilities of the school and he never wants to attend any after school club because he feels so tired if he does.
I don’t know about these schools fees but I would also consider that, in long term its a lot of money.

@dSELondonmum good luck to your daughter! I think we've more or less decided on BH now, unless something convinces is otherwise at the other welcome events. I'm excited about this next step

I mean they don’t care about other GCSE subjects or grades*

@SE3parent yes also they can always move after GCSEs! My DD1 had an offer from South Hampstead High GDST Sixth Form which was in top 20 in legaue tables in 2022 GCSE/ALevel but she prefered to stay in BH.
She would like to study Dentistry in Kings College London and she shocked when she noticed that they only ask for grade 6 GCSEs in Maths and English :) (it is even same requirements for the Medicine programme). So basically there is no need to make life harder x

@dSELondonmum thank you for much, this is really helpful. Big fish in small pond is a good place to be, I agree (it was my experience at school and I thrived in that environment). I like the idea of my daughter being able to meet friends in the Standard safely and carry on all her extra activities (she does a couple of clubs at Mycenae so would definitely be a bonus!) I see the BH girls on the school run and they look like a happy and kind bunch

@SE3parent I cannot comment on Eltham-its recently became coed so we never considered. But JAGS is more academic than EC and BH- my DD2 also had offer from JAGS for year 7 entry but we didn't go for it because of the long journey also I wanted her to be a big fish in the small
pond - I didnt want her to feel mediocre… Because basically more academic school means more doable/academic students and in young age I also believe for their mental health they need to have fun, enjoy while they are learning.
My older daughter is in year 12 now and she had her all grades was 9s and 2 of them was 8s - maybe if she were in more academic school she was going to get all 9s, I dont know! But we didnt worry about that because she is still studying the ALevels that she wanted!
She did lots of clubs after school, she met with friends and I feel so relax and safe when they are in local. I also attend all events in BH like Christmas concert, dance & fashion shows, parents evening, coffee shop, parents drink nights and I usually go and watch their matches. My DD2 went to Italy trip this half term and I had to bring her to school at 2 am in the morning:):) So closer is easier..
I must add I know lots of students who travels 1 hour to get to school - if you believe your daughter can manage that happily you can go for JAGS! - its a so academic school! But my daughter is so active during the day so I didnt feel that she will be able to get school bus around 7:05 in the morning from Blackheath. Now they leave home at 8:10 and they are at school before 8:25. Easier, safer and also cheaper for us:)
Good luck and well done to your DD! She did amazing and I believe she will do great in all of these options x

We are also choosing between these schools, along with Eltham and JAGS. We live nearest to BH so seems to make the most sense, but want to give the others due consideration. Good to hear such positive views of BH. Any thoughts on the others? (Sorry to hijack!)

Blackheath High is great school, very kind and inclusive with lots of focus on student wellbeing. My daughters are there since juniors and they love it! My niece also moved from Colfes Junior to Blackheath High 2 years ago and she is also doing great academically and socially. Blackheath High ISI 2022 report is Excellent in all areas but I remember Colfes was Good (not sure about senior).
My younger daughter loves sport and she was super academic so we considered other schools like JAGS and City of London Girls for her when she was 10 but in the end we decide that her mental health is more important than anything, otherwise she had to travel about 1 hour twice in a day. I am so happy that we prefered our local girls only school for her. Now she can do whatever clubs she wants to do - I think she does 8 or 9 clubs in a week. Also she is in netbal, hockey team also in swimming club! So, easy commute is so important.
Blackheath has their own small school bus which is so helpful - you can book it termly, yearly or daily-(which we use it in dark and/or rainy days - its cost only £2 daily!)
You know your daughter the best, OP and I believe you will choose right place for her. Good luck x

@GreenwichMNer if your daughter is not girl girly type I would go for girls only school, OP!

She will have plenty of girls around her and I do believe she will have no issue with friendship.

In primary it is different but in coed seconday schools, girl girly type girls gets more attractions from boys and they look more popular. In this case, that environment MIGHT make other girls unhappy or unmotivated - This is the reason that reports/articles state that girls do better in single sex schools. Because, they just focus on their studies.

For example, in all girls environment nobody cares if you do make up or not or if you have boyfriend etc…Ofcourse every child and school is different but I do have patients that bullied just because of she doesnt want to have boyfriend or she doenst like to wear make up etc…

I just heard that Balckheath High is GDST school and I know there are so many GDST schools in London - One of my friend moved her daughter one to another GDST school so easly when she started 6th form.
As I dont know Blackheath High and never heard about Colfes - I can not say that is better than other one but I just wanted to share my opinon because I studied psysocology MA and I dont want you to feel that your daughter can not do well in all girls environment.

I advice you to go and see the schools and look at student, especially girls - your daughter will be one of them next year. I wish her the best 🌟

Best of luck 🌸

Best of luck OP.

Your daughter has done brilliantly, I'd be overjoyed with either option for mine!

I think for secondary definetely Blackheath High - You can always move to coed in Post 16. But girls do better in single sex environment, especially in secondary! I love the architecture of the Blackheath High, its new and so modern. When you get in into reception there is piano, other instruments, textiles and some art works of girls. School organise really good trips and competitons for girls - Fashion days etc… All girls looks they are having fun while learning. Did you visit both schools @GreenwichMNer? What do you think?