Wallington County grammar school v/s Royal Grammar School(RGS) Guildford

"Our study adds to a growing body of evidence that many of the alleged benefits boasted by private schools are actually a product of their selective intake of students rather than the value that the schools add."

In general the same finding in state selective schools, i.e the grammar school in your mind.

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/why-grammar-schools-are-no-quick-fix-for-englands-social-mobility-problems/
" Parents and policymakers alike tend to be attracted to grammar schools because of their unquestionably high results. However, when you look more closely beyond the raw scores, this becomes significantly less clear. A variety of studies have shown that much of the advantage of grammar schools is explainable by the fact they admit pupils who are high achieving in the first place."

For general view on private schools vs grammar, why not put your thoughts on a separate new thread rather than in this thread specific for these two schools?

Why aren’t you looking at Wilson/Sutton grammar/Tiffin or has your son already done the 11+ and only passed the first stage wallington

"Our study adds to a growing body of evidence that many of the alleged benefits boasted by private schools are actually a product of their selective intake of students rather than the value that the schools add.
“Parents naturally want the best for their children, but for those who would struggle with the astronomical fees, our message is not to feel guilty – private school is not a necessity.”

This is a broad brush and not specifically to RGS. I'm sure it is a good school. But all from my experience this quote above hits the nail on the head. All have separate experiences tailored to their needs. And thank God for choices. But before projecting any assumptions about 'freebie' schools its always great to have a balanced perspective. Have a great Saturday. 👍🏻

More conceited assumptions 😅

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2020/research/private-school-development/#:~:text=and%20emotional%20development-,Private%20school%20education%20may%20damage%20students,and%20emotional%20development%2C%20study%20suggests&text=Privately%20educated%20students%20are%20more,a%20new%20study%20has%20found.

It is a good education indeed to tell how other people think.

I believe you need the education. If not an education. A proper balanced one. Please spare me the snotty remarks. Have a good day 😊

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_school
Just give urself some education on what it means

" This all-boys school for 11 to 18-year-olds combines a traditional, rigorous grammar school ethos "

The quote above from the RGS marketing team is also nonsense I take it. The school clearly promotes the grammar school ethic because of its associations. Your understanding is simply flawed.

"If the name 'grammar had connotations not associated with academic excellence a fee paying school business would not keep it."

That is nonsense, a lot of top private schools also doesn't have "grammar" in its name, and they don't change their name either.

OK if it your own experience then it is fine. Because there is some private school that are easier to get in compared to WCGS. But you also specific saying including RGS in your previous post...

Please spare me the history lesson in respect to names of schools in this country. You're 'clearly' making assumptions. If the name 'grammar had connotations not associated with academic excellence a fee paying school business would not keep it. Unless you are limited in your understanding of business.

"The relevance is you make a claim saying the kids in WCGS are more academic inclined compared to RGS."

I was talking about at the point of entry from my experiences with private schools.

Obviously you don't know, not for these two schools we are talking about here.

'In this country'. There you go. It was just a matter of time. How dare the grammar schools be better academically than the fee paying schools....we all know the rest.

Percentage here means every 100 entries the number of A+ grades achieves. It is a fair and reletive comparison. Classes and size of intake is less relevant esp both schools number of intake is big enough to be statistical significant.

It is just your limited understanding about the grammar school system in this country. RGS has been using the "grammar" name for more than 500 years (same as a lot of other private school with "grammar" name with long history).

A lot of these schools are converted to private schools voluntary when the government abolish a lot of grammar school status from 50 years ago. Nowadays, when people talk about grammar school in general - they more refer to academic selective state secondary school.

Why would you want the schools change a name it has using for hundreds of years?

There you go with your much smaller classes again.

"My experience- they find it amusing and irrelevant."

The relevance is you make a claim saying the kids in WCGS are more academic inclined compared to RGS.

"And hey...these results you've mentioned about 'clearly' 'ahead' than WCGS..searched but still haven't seen it. Going according to RGS website by the way.."

GCSE 2022 7-9%
RGS 93% WGCS 75%

GCSE 2019 A+%
RGS 90% WGCS 71%

GCSE 2018 A+%
RGS 94% WGCS 64%

GCSE 2017 A+%
RGS 92% WGCS 67%

'Nobody saying any fee paying schoolis automatically better. In this thread people are talking about these two schools specifically. It is your conceited assumptionthat grammar school kids are more academically inclined. There is no data or evidence to suggest that when comparing to these two schools.'

You can have the grammar school name but RGS is not a grammar school. As someone who has been to public school and trained kids in both grammar and private, always strikes me as funny why a school would linger on to these names if not as a marketing ploy that it is academic- and you will get your moneys worth with academic achievement . Thats clearly what it is. Otherwise that name 'grammar' would be dropped like a hot potatoe. That's no conceited assumption surely 🤔

-"and the freebee will feel like a disappointment in comparison."😆

"With due respect WCGS is a good grammar school, but not a superselective top grammar in terms it intake difficulty.

If one really want to compare the WCGS vs RGS in terms of academic aspect in general , as a suggested earlier, best way is to look at the public exam results these school achieved. Clearly on average RGS is ahead of WCGS consistently in the past years."

With further due respect, I'm sure the pupils at these schools achieving incredible academic results care less for our type of 'idle' comparisons. My experience- they find it amusing and irrelevant. "Helicoptering around when we're just getting on with it" - that's a smart kid...right there.

And hey...these results you've mentioned about 'clearly' 'ahead' than WCGS..searched but still haven't seen it. Going according to RGS website by the way...

“conceited assumptions that because one is a fee paying school it is automatically better and that as a 'free' school Wallington Boys should be left for the poor kids who couldn't afford a private school”

Nobody saying any fee paying school is automatically better. In this thread people are talking about these two schools specifically. It is your conceited assumption that grammar school kids are more academically inclined. There is no data or evidence to suggest that when comparing to these two schools.

So our experience was very, very different with 3 children. I would also argue that the 11 plus is 'easier to train for' to be very opaque at best. All the prep schools are surely geared towards training children for common entrance exams as presumably these are the feeder schools for fee paying schools. I don't imagine many parents would choose the local comprehensive after forking out for a primary education. Mind set just wouldn't tally there. Unless of course they've fallen on hard times financially. Wallington boys being a 'back up' and its not 'even the top grammar school in Sutton' really is trite nonsense. These schools oscillate periodically and all have their seperate strengths. If your school at that particular year or couple of years was down in the league tables - Wallington Boys was very high up 3 or 4 years although I see that it has dipped but no doubt will bob up again dependent on the cohort of that year. You got in the 0.5% in the 11 plus but you chose GHS in the end but you didnt mention if you were offered a place....So the league tables neurosis for me is a 'haven't got into my school yet' phase which is best left as the potentially neurotic pastime that it can become. My coming on this thread was simply because I saw scathing, conceited assumptions that because one is a fee paying school it is automatically better and that as a 'free' school Wallington Boys should be left for the poor kids who couldn't afford a private school. Wow...