Stowe School for a girl who gets stuck in, is a little sensitive..

[Bobo12345]

Howdie

Thinking of Stowe for my daughter -currently in Year 6..and Swanbourne or Winchester House before this.

She is willing to get stuck in and works hard but is also sensitive and not super sporty. Would be AMAZING to get some honest opinions about the school currently. Are the kids happy, kind?
Thank you so much!
;)

I have children at one of the preps and a whole bunch of children move onto Stowe from there, extrovert, introvert, academic, average, etc. There is no ‘type’ as more and more day children move on there en masse from the feeder peeps. As far as I know, and I see the children regularly and know lots of parents with children at Stowe, they are loving school. The children do get pushed despite a legacy reputation that this is not the case, and the value add academically is very good.

When your DC applies for Uni and the best Unis are all looking for 3 As no one is saying look at the value added. No one cares. You don’t put Value added on a CV my IQ is low but look I got 3 Cs it’s a statistic to sell a school if their results aren’t good.
Stowe has a rep for being a big party school. Sensitive and not so sporty does not sound as if she will fit in. Look at staff turn over & look at the work of the pupils in their actual books.

Dont agree. value add means that if you’re capable of getting 3a’s you are likely to achieve them there. Not everyone going to Stowe is capable of getting straight A’s at A level, I agree, but the top quarter will do very well. You speak of reputation only. I can see and hear that today’s kids are being made to work as well as have fun. It’s not a nose to the grind kind of place like some alternative boarding schools though. If you can afford to send to boarding and you have a bright child you may look else where as you have plenty to choose from. It doesn’t mean that the place is stuffed full of ‘low IQ’ kids to quote you. As I say plenty of bright day kids attending, I think about a quarter now. Plenty choose it instead of grammar school.

She sounds more suited to Oundle. Few Leagues above Stowe in it's ethos and teaching quality/academics, bigger so suits all profiles and on sport front so big and diverse if sport not your thing you can just chill. Recommend.

Not sure if Stowe has the repute of a big party school. It’s out in the middle of the countryside and they’re pretty controlled so I’m not sure how much partying there can be.
as for looking at the academic work - looking at my son’s work is very good / excellent.
many of the teachers have been there a long time, so I’m not sure there’s such a huge turnover. However the staff all seem enthusiastic and competent so I’m told by my son.