Christ's Hospital, Horsham

[RnB]

Anyone have any experience of this school?

[Idratherbemuckingout]

Brilliant school, good luck for Feb.

[yoyo2014]

I have posted in Secondary Education, but will also add my question here. My DC has been offered a fee-paying place with bursary assistance for September. DC VERY keen to go. However the alternative is the free, excellent, local comp. My worry is that financial contributions escalate unreasonably over 7 years, even if personal circumstances are unchanged. Anyone have first-hand insight on this? Thanks.

[derektheladyhamster]

yes, the fees themselves have gone up over the last few years by about £500. Obviously you'll only have to pay a proportion of this depending on your % bursery hth.

Pop over to the unofficial Christ's hospital forum, they're very friendly :D

And well done to your DC, my ds2 didn't get in but I have a ds currently in yr 9

[Hia3]

My daughter has a day place with Scholarship for a place Sept 2014- not sure we can afford fees.

She also got offered 50% off a local independant school.

She is not academic, but very Arty and Sporty )we were initially not sure she would get through the academic assessments).

I am a bit worried she might feel left out being in the minority/ day student.

Also worried that there will be too much academic pressure!

We are just an average family( not sure there is a norm) and we think it's a positive that the children from C.H come from all different back grounds!

[BroadbridgeMumsy]

Good luck to everyone still waiting for bursarial support. Our son was offered a full fee day place, but needed a scholarship (and bursary top-up) in order for us to accept. Fortunately, he did well at the scholarship assessment last week, but now we are a day away from the acceptance deadline and no decision has yet been made with regards to our bursarial application. Anyone out there in the same/a similar boat?

[McHug]

I am an Old Blue, or alumnus/former pupil of Christ's Hospital. I passed an entrance exam in 1989 when the school first started taking girls. I am not from a troubled background, neither did I become a drug addict from mixing with children from unconventional homes. In fact I was given first-class opportunities that I would never have had anywhere else, fee paying or otherwise. I could expound for hours on the merits of this school but the best advice I could give anyone is to attend an open day and see for yourself. Basing opinions on hearsay and preconceptions is ignorant.

[BroadbridgeMumsy]

Great advice McHug! I'm happy to say that my ds will start at CH this September, as a day pupil. I like to think that my husband and I have raised him to be a decent, well-rounded 10 yr old and we're NOT at all worried that other children (whatever their background) will be a negative influence on him. His piano teacher's brother went to the school. He's now a teacher and has made a good life for himself, despite having rubbed shoulders with children from all sorts of backgrounds! I think that the cultural diversity will be a good thing for my boy. Horsham is a wonderful place to live and bring up your children, but it's a far cry from being cosmopolitan. The World is diverse, so this school seems ideal to me!

[AustereAnthea]

Hmmmm...There are some very interesting replies to this thread.

I, too, am considering CH for my son who is currently in yr7 of a local state school in Essex. His current school has no provision in place for more able students leaving him bored and frustrated. I have had a number of discussions with his Head of House and the school Headmaster but feel totally unsupported. Last month, after completing an official supervised Mensa IQ test at Birkbeck University in London, my son achieved the highest possible score on the Cattell III B paper, recording his IQ as 162. He was invited to become a Mensan.

CH was recommended to me by one of my son's former school teachers whose son currently teaches there. First impressions, on reading press releases and visiting the school website, are positive but I am concerned about how my son will cope without me if he were offered a place at CH. I am a lone parent and for the last 3yrs, while my daughter completed her degree at University of Leicester, my son and I have formed an incredibly strong bond. While excited at the prospect of attending a school such as CH, he really is not keen on living apart from me.

I was wondering if anyone else has a child at CH who also experienced this uncertainty but perhaps, after visiting the school, came to like the idea of boarding and coming home on weekends?

Also, would I be better off sending him somewhere else all together considering his academic ability? He is currently studying the GCSE syllabus for French, Maths, Geography and History and my take his maths and French GCSE next year.

I actually like the idea of the pupils at this school coming from such a diverse range of backgrounds. I am considering a number of other private/independent schools but am aware that the majority of pupils will come from much more privileged backgrounds than my son which may lead to him being singled out and bullied or unable to take part in the same out of school activities as the friends he might make. I will be applying for a bursary.

I know this is an old thread but any additional help and advice will be greatly appreciated.

Advanced thanks.

[derektheladyhamster]

Firstly, he won't be allowed home at weekends, apart from the exeats and holidays which come around every 3 weeks. We only live half an hours drive away so we do visit every other Sunday to take our son out for lunch.

Secondly, If he's not really up for boarding, I wouldn't do it (especially if you are also not 100% sure) .

CH is a fab school, but not the only school which has bursery support. You might want to look at a nearer day school, I imagine that they'd be very happy to have a child of your son's calibre

[justicewomen]

Austere Anthea
Whilst not wishing to derail the Christ Hospital thread, depending where you live in Essex, Colchester Royal Grammar School take 4 students into year 9. As one of the top academic schools with no fees,this might be a good alternative. I am unsure when the entrance exam is but could be early year 8.

[AustereAnthea]

derektheladyhamster & justicewomen, thank you for your observations and advice.

[Westside123456789]

I am highly disgusted by this. First if all , children from CH are no different from any other child. Everyone has their own issues to deal with some worst than others. Ever school has it's flaw but CH's is definitely NOT the children. Children in CH treat eachother the same no matter what age and is a nice small community. If you want your child to grow in a place where they are bullied for being different or not having the latest clothes etc then choose any other school apart from CH. I went to to CH and everyone there accepts who you are and never tries to change you. Your scared for your child because they will be with people who have less things than them or have gone through a rough phase because if that is your reason then you disgust me because no matter where you go there will always be people below you and who have gone through a lot and trust me those are the loyal people who will always be there for you and understand. So please stop blaming innocent children as we get a really good education and are taught to ignore ignorant people like you (:

[GraysAnalogy]

Well I now know what area to come to to find out who the the bigoted, pretentious snobs are.

[hoodiemum]

Gosh, as a mum of a year 7 kid at CH, I'm a bit bemused by the comments about 'troubled' kids at the school. One of the reasons for sending our DS there was that the kids we met seemed so nice, and that opinion hasn't changed since he went there. There are the occasional issues with other kids, as with any school, but all seem to be handled very well by the staff. Our DS is extremely happy there - would love to board if we would let him, but instead has to be a day boy that spends most of his weekends at school. We see the diversity of the school intake as a big advantage - the educational opportunities without the snobbery nonsense that was a huge part of my own upbringing at a different public school. The school has a lot of applicants per place and reads primary school reports etc as part of the selection process, so on the whole, the problem kids just don't get in. Wonderful kids with problem parents may do, and that's to the credit of both the school and the kids themselves.

[louisevperry]

I have a daughter who just started her 2nd year at CH. She loves it and I am thrilled with the school. Her first year had some bumpy times as she struggled to find her place within her house group. Having been the brightest girl in her class, and an only child, it was a shock being middle of the pack in classes because everybody there is bright! Also learning how to negotiate complex relationships 24 hours a day was difficult at first. The school were great at helping me and her work through these issues. She is developing into a very nice teenager – polite, helpful, responsible. If I had any criticisms about the school it would be the food, which she hates, and she is missing some external activities that she loved like dancing. But I would not move her or wish she was anywhere else. I think the young adults that emerge at the end of the school process are delightful!

Going through the application process was stressful but we did EXACTLY as we were told and I trusted that if she was bright enough and right for the school she would be accepted.

I would not want to send a child there who had to work really really hard to get entrance. They would be unable to keep up which would have a detrimental effect to their self-esteem.

[PrincessLeaHansSolo]

Hi any new updates about Christ Hospital? My son took the initial assessment and luckily has been invited for the residential assessment in January. He is an only child and has never been away from us.

[DadsNet3]

CH (as it is called) does not stick to its original charitable brief these days. It now takes in 24% full fee payers in order to balance the books. It's now merely engaged in a chase to keep up with Eton and Harrow.

[menotastic]

If you met the kids, you'd notice they're a very different demographic from Eton and Harrow! Yes, a proportion are full fee payers, but in my experience the school is absolutely not trying to be like Eton. (Although perhaps my impressions of Eton are out of date - I know they have a lot more bursary students now than they did. Perhaps they're trying to be more like CH?)

[Huff61]

Hi, is there anyone on here who has applied to Christ's Hospital for September 2022 entry? Any idea on how many applied this year?

[Alwayscheerful]

Anyone recently applied?