Lady manners school vs Hope Valley College, Derbyshire

As a student at Highfields School in Matlock. I've been to LMS for a PE related thing when I was in year 9. And personally if I lived in Bakewell I would send my children to HVC. Snooty, arrogant and no freedom at LMS.

Yes. All students at Lady Manners are made to do RS GCSE which for some students can stand in the way of qualifications they would like to achieve.
At HVC we still partake in RS lessons, however it is not forced upon us to sit the exam because that leaves us the opportunity to make our own decisions about our future.

Someone told me this that most/all pupils at LMS do RE at GCSE.

Is this true?

I wish schools would publish their exam results.

Hvc has a similar trip a bit like Ethiopia. We go to Kenya and raise the money ourselves and then when we're there we help build our partner school there. At school we have dress up days that raises money for there school, and so far, we have raised enough money to provide some electricity, paint, build and improve the school.
I don't really have a problem with Lms, my best friend goes there and says it's good but boring, and boring is definitely a word I wouldn't use to describe HVC.

I have attended Lady Manners since year seven. Though I aggree that Hope valley has a very good working environment, ( this is from reports from several friends who go there) I would also like to add that my time at Lady Manners is the best I think I will ever have. It is unfair to say that we are all "snooty" and "rich". I have a very mixed friendship group, and although a few friends,including myself, have less money than others noone is treated differently because of it, we all just concentrate on doing well in our studies, whilst having a laugh and going to parties on the side. The uniform regulations have been changed, therefore it is impossible to tell who has more money than who because we all wear exactly the same now. Also a school trip to Ethiopia, and this year to Malawi, was organised were students had to raise the money themselves to avoid only students with rich parents getting in. Just people who work extrememly hard had a chance. Charity projects are done on the trips where the students are almost completely independent and build schools, water facilities and teach english and games to children. The relationships between the students and teachers are all quite healthy, and we have a "behaviour" card. If you misbehave three times you get a detention. Everyone wants a decent lunch time so the majority of us follow the rules! There are so many activities for you to get involved with too. I'm not ussually one to get into an online debate and preach how amazing going to school is, believe me I don't jump out of bed in the morning.But when I opened this link by accident I just had to comment. I can't talk about hopevalley, my friends there all enjoy it. Its just biased to say that all Lady Manners students are snobs. I doubt you know every single one. It made me laugh, because me and my friends get so annoyed if people act better than others because of where they come from and what they wear in life. I think many of the users who have commented are bordering on hypocritical if they judge Lady Manners students badly...because they feel that a few Lady Manners students judged others badly. I hope that your child is enjoying whichever school you chose, it is a beautiful area.

hello, i don't know how old this is, but hay!

i am in y10 at hvc, and i have to say the atmospheres friendly, we know all the teacher first name, don't call them by that as the school is agains it, the teachers are all friendly (bar the few!)
there has been lots of discussion on uniform, its more stricter than people say but yes is very comfy, primary school-ish, but dent feel young, it allows you your own style, the uniform is any shoes (as far as i know) black trousers, smartish trackys or blue jeans with only a small logo ( no stripes) as for summer we are aloud knee length shorts and skirts, on top tshirt and a sweatshirt, and if u want to look daft, a hvc fleece, anything else, NO and they are strong against it, and u can be sent home.

as smoking, which is the big issue (there was a knife incident but that was out of school, but students knew about it) is terrible, i get off at the local shops and buy some stuff, a drink or some sweets or something and on the way up u get a strong smell, look right and theres ten to 30 students sharing 2-5 cigs, all saying comments about you and blah blah blah, they do it at break and all sorts.

i suffer from asthma so am quite tight on the subject as the smell can set me off, and half the time i aint got my inhaler!

there was once a really bad case, i was sat back right of a class room and a sk (smoking kid) was front left, and he smelt out th whole room, we were all pulling faces at each other over the smell, i asked miss if i could open a couple of windows, she said i could, after that the sk complained about being cold, but our miss said, "be cold, we aint the ones that always stinks" but in the 5 min break we get between our english lessons, he shut the window moaning about my weight (i aint the leanest person, shall we say??) i then opend the window and was of cause threatened that he would "get me" so i opened it and of course it never happened, so anyway, thats my little rant about hvc over!

as for lm, or lady spanners as is the new term for them (theres another but i do not wish to repeat it!!) in primary we would go to bake well pool, then to spanners, were we would use there gym and listen to one of those( as we called it) pervy pete cd's ( a exercise cd nattered by pete somebody that had one of those stereotypical voices that went hello kids! ime pete somebody! are u ready to have some fun doing exercise! we would go no, the cd would then say GReat!) and w would sighn in at the office thingy then we would follow our teacher down these maze of corridors, when i got the harry potter series, any bit about them walking the corridors of hogwarts i imagined spanners, the corridors had steps up to the class rooms, the wall facing the corridor made of glass, like waterloo road but to more of a extent, due to the class rome being higher up the hips of the people in class that were sat down were at a y6 in the corridors head hight, they were also seated on single old tables(looked like those ones you can lift up and put stuff inside)

also, the spanners uniform i find really funny! especially when u see people getting off the bus with there tie loose and there blazers open, although i feel sorry for you in summer!

theres my 2... wait i can't really say its my 2 cents, er.....

theres my $1.50

Not sure if the following is helpful, but HVC has an outstanding reputation locally (but have no direct experience) if your dcs have SN.

LMS gets a lot of young people into top universities, as I recall - obviously no comparison possible with HVC as it doesn't go up that far. Am fascinated by the LMS science results..

I think HVC benefits from being one of the original community colleges, far and few between outside E Anglia.

We have just had to decide between Lady Manners School and Hope Valley College for our oldest child. Along the way we picked up impressions and plenty of anecdotes (from this thread too).
One of the places I looked for information was the government?s website which holds limited data on school performance. The last year for which there is data for LMS and HVC is 2010. The headline figures of five or more GCSEs, including maths and English (down to grade C ? same throughout this post) favours LMS and is the one used to compile league tables. So, LMs appears above HVC in published league tables .
Five or more GCSEs, including maths and English
LMS 70% HVC 64%
Five or more GCSEs, any subjects
LMS 78% HVC 78%
Two or more science GCSEs
LMS 54% HVC 75%
Special Educational Needs, Statements etc
LMS 6% HVC 16%
The science figures sparked my interest. Why would the supposedly better school do so badly in comparison with HVC, with its 16% SEN etc.?
Whilst investigating this I have found out that half of the pupils at HVC did triple science GCSEs and zero (yes, zero) LMS pupils did. The first batch of pupils at LMS to take triple science will sit their GCSEs in 2012. And this batch is only about 10% of the year cohort of 235.

At A level in 2011, only 21 pupils did A level physics at LMS. Bearing in mind that this number includes some pupils from HVC, that is a very low continuation rate. Now, of these 21 there were four unclassified papers. This is a very high rate. For comparison, at Tapton, a non-selective secondary school in Sheffield, last year a total of 735 A levels were sat. Of these, there were three unclassified papers. LMS got more unclassified papers from 21 physics students alone. There were also four unclassified papers in chemistry.
Given the low uptake of A levels and poor performance in them, it is obvious that something is amiss with science at LMS.

There isn't that much more to say apart from the fact Hope Valley College and Lady Manners are both very good schools but Hope Valley College has the edge because of the family atmosphere.

Everyone knows everyone and the opportuinities are amazing considering it's a small school.

ValleyGirls - the best friend living miles away isn't a problem for the friends but it is sometimes a problem for the parents who have to arrange lifts!
But that's a feature of the area and I think parents in the Peak just deal with it whatever the school.

Mumzy - if you house-hunt Tideswell then you can choose either HVC or LMS with buses to either laid on. Your DCs aren't at secondary stage yet so you can put off the decision until you know more about the schools. Also Tideswell kids can go to Buxton CS if they want.

Snobbery is relative! St Anselms pupils speaking to LMS pupils:- "Don't your parents care enough about you to send you to a decent school?" .

Hope Valley College is all about pushing you to do more. We're encouraged to do more all the time. You're not forced too, but there is so much stuff to get involved in.

@unitarian, i aggree with the music thing - both schools are excellent... I don't think it's a problem you're best friend lives miles away - you can go explore new places, I think it's a good thing.

The uniforms are so different t's almost hard to compare, but I think that Hope Valley College uniform is comfortable and not stiff or strict. Although you they don't let you get away with stepping over the uniform barrier........

Our experience at HVC was good for first two kids but for last one we felt things had deteriorated. Management emphasis is on improving the behaviour of disruptive kids and I understand this but I want a school that is interested in helping my child reach their potential. But he'll get the 5 a-c grades anyway so the school has no incentive to encourage him to do more.

My DC was happy at LMS and did very well there but we've always lived in the catchment so never had to make a decision about it.

There's a wide mix of pupils and it's a big enough school for pupils to find friends of like mind. It's not particularly snobby - you get that in all schools round here, I think. It's that sort of area but your DCs are likely to meet people from a wide range of backgrounds.

The drawback - and this is true of HVC as well - is that the catchment area is huge so you can bet your life that your DC will become best friends with someone who lives miles and miles away.

The musical activities are excellent, though I think the same can be said of HVC.

Buxton Community School and Highfields are also good so I say find your house and go with the flow as far as schools are concerned.

I liked the uniform policy at LMS, even in the sixth form. No arguments in the mornings!

I knnow that Hope Valley College have some problematic children, and it is an issue. But it isn't 'rubbish' or full of 'horrid people' what so ever. In fact, the majority of people are very nice people, who not only get good grades but learn important life skills.

Although there are some naughty people that smoke and drink or whatever, but that doesnt mean all of us do that. And if Lady Manners wont take people that do those things, who's going to help them? HVC does have people that are cheeky and naughty, but they do everything in their power to help them. We have special groups set up to help people and everyone mixes with one another.

It's unfair to say it's full of 'horrid people' because I go there and I know for a fact that it isn't.

well I live in Bamford and have 4 kids, 2 of them go to LMS and 2 are in primary - my two enjoy manners and wouldn't even think of changing to hvc, they have fiend that have changed and deeply regret it they say it is rubbish and is full of horrid people, fags ect and have friend that changes to manners and are glad they did!

HVC increasingly vocational. eg Students choosing Art or Business Studies having been assured these were GCSE courses were told 3 weeks in, that the BTEC course had been selected instead.

Inclusivity of HVC can be problematic for the well behaved children as at times the pervading additude of supporting students means that lessons are disrupted by bad behaviour.

I think theres a lot of bias on this thread- while there is some good discussion as to experiences from schools your children have been sent to you cannot rely on rumours and hearsay.
I went to HVC, and I had friends who went to lms. I would stress the importance of the relaxed atmosphere I was educated in, as said before it definitely builds social confidence, and means you can communicate easily with the teacher on work, but i also felt motivated whilst working there, and I'm sure this is the same with LMS, as they get better grades than HVC.
There is a lot of freedom within each subject at HVC, the art course for example is unendorsed, meaning you can study who and what interests you. My friends went back to studying classic painters such as van Gogh. I'm not saying I favour either way, its just two different ways of getting to the same result, although it definitely moulds your outlook and maybe even future.
When it came to moving to sixth form, most of my friends went to LMS, and enjoyed the social life, the students completely gelled, and found no difficulty in transport. However in the second year my friends were annoyed a few teachers, and often complained. This didn't affect their grades and they achieved highly, although they told me the added stress was a hindrance.

If you haven't visited either school, go and have a look at both and decide.

To add to that big message above :S ^

I'm sure it's a good school, but I go there every Friday for band, and I find it extremely imposing, and I can't imagine what it'd be like for year sevens! But I walk around that school with my HVC sweater on with pride, even if we are Valley Scum :) UP THE VALLEY SCUM :D

(sorry that I am not a mum by the way just thought I would express my veiws)

HVC vs LMS... Well, I think LMS is a good school, but HVC, to be frank, is better
:D

HVC is a magnificent school.

I have attended HVC and there is a huge family atmosphere and a sense of family and friendship all around.

Not having a sixth form is a good thing in my view, as it encourages other schools in Sheffield as well as LMS.

On the subject of the uniform, I think it is extremely comfortable and the fact that you can where trainers and jeans means you can show a little bit of personality and something individual to yourself, which doesn't happen in LMS which has a stiff, unnecessary blazer and tie.

HVC has a special something that in my opinion LMS doesn't. HVC isn't all about the grades (although we do have excellent grades) it's about opening doors and making you believe in yourself.

Further up the page it has been said that people think LMS people slightly look down on HVC students, from my experience some of them do because they think we are rough and that all of us are naughty, when that is blatantly untrue.

At HVC everyone is themselves and there aren't little groups : The rich group, the popular group, the nerds. It's a happy, fun, exciting, educational brilliant place to be!

Woop Woop!

Two very different schools, but HVC comes out on top!

HOPE VALLEY COLLEGE MASSIFFE!!!!!!!!

I currently go to Manners and i wish i'd gone to HVC, it seems that people learn and have fun whereas it's the opposite at Manners. My parents also believe i should have gone to HVC and that LMS are living on an old reputation.

Also, i do not believe the HVC kids who threw stones at our bus were entirely supporting of the schools supposed acceptive ethos!

I am currently a pupil at lady manners school, although it is not my local school, and find that it is a fantastic school. In response to rosiemole, the drama department is fantastic now, with dedicated teachers, who are putting on three shows this year, one of which is not a musical. Can I just point out that LMS pupils are not snobby, but simply and rightly proud of the school we attend, and its history. Although the teacher pupil relationship is traditional, this encourages mutual respect, and a positive environment. Behaviour is strictly monitored,and bad behaviour punished. Yes, it is old fashioned, but why spoil something that has worked well so far, on our parents, and grandparents. Sorry, i know i'm not a mum, but i felt the need to defend my school!

My eldest started HVC this year. We looked at both and found LM too big and too rigid. My son (well, both of them actually) has autism and LM was very much 'this is how we do it, it's always been this way' whereas HVC was more flexible and more about assessing the needs of each child and meeting them. I didn't see the same arrogance in HVC. LM Senco was very much We Are Lady Manners, Bow Down Before Us, whereas HVC Senco was much more interested in ds1 as an individual and how they could meet his needs.

Also I know people who work at LM and one of them said that it was "living on past glory". The other who works there was very scathing of the Head's outlook and approach and was looking at moving their own child to another school! I think that says it all

Our boys went to a LM feeder school and so impressed were we with HVC that we made the hard decision to put ds1 there, even though he knew nobody and to move ds2 to a HVC feeder school so that he at least would not go to HVC in the same position as ds1.

'...upper class rugby playing snobs' at LMS?

Clearly, lolo23, who contributed that opinion, has a completely misguided view here, a view that I can only presume is derived from an inverted form of snobbery all of her very own.
My personal experience of LMS came from having my 4 sons at school there from around 1984 through to 1998-ish.

Things may have changed there since then, I don't know. (I now live in Brussels - and no, I am not 'a Eurocrat' - and thus open to being dismissed as being 'a snob' myself?)
Throughout those 14 happy years at LMS all 4 of my sons played school rugby, each of them eventually making it into the 1st XV and onto the school's first-ever foreign rugby tours (to France then, but much wider afield since).
All of this development and achievement - only a few years ago LMS was considered to be the top state school for rugby in the UK, 23rd overall - has been overseen over the past 20+ years by the now head of the P.E. dept, Mr Chris Weeks, and I cannot imagine therefore that the egalitarian ethos towards the pursuit of excellence on the rugby field that he encourages would have changed at all. I can personally vouch that 'snobbery' had no place there during the 14 years when my sons were playing rugby at LMS, and I very much doubt it exists now.
It is true that in any large community of schoolchildren there will be some who might adopt a superior attitude outside the gates of 'their' school towards others, but in my experience such individuals are very much the exception at LMS.
All 4 of my sons had a happy, supportive, sound educational (and social!) experience during their years at LMS and they all look back on their school years in Bakewell with much fondness.
I couldn't possibly comment on the merits or otherwise of HVC as I've never had any experience of the place (beyond the few 6th formers I'd met from the Valley who'd made it into the LMS rugby 1st XV, and they seemed happy enough to be where they were!)

I have had personal experience of LMS, yes. I really wouldn't recommend sending a child there!