Babington House or Bromley High

[HayzE75]

Hello, We are lucky enough to have a place at both Bromley High or Babington House. Does anyone have experience of these schools for secondary - or even having switched their girls?
Any help appreciated as we are new to the area and not sure what to do for our daughter. She is a bit shy so i think the smaller school would appeal (babington) but I wonder if it will challenge her enough academically.

Thanks ladies

Not sure how old your daughter is but I think babington doesn't have a 6th form.

I am not too worried about the sixth form as it might be good to move on for A levels. Be good to know perceptions of the seniors please

Bromley High is definitely a more challenging academic environment but I know two families with daughters at Babington and they are very happy with how the girls are doing there. It really is very small...my concern would be being able to make friends with different groups within a year. My dd is moving from a very small primary to a much larger secondary and can't wait. I have seen through her eyes that small class sizes have some unexpected drawbacks. Just a thought

Thanks MarinaResurgens. I think the small class sizes are what is bothering me incase there is someone that you do not get on with but are stuck with them! I guess the same could be said for a big school with a chance of more kids there to pick on you! I guess it really depends on the year group. If you don't mind me asking, are your friends daughters achieving well academically at Babington House? Do you know anyone with experience of Bromley High School secondary

Another advantage of a bigger school is more flexibility of subjects. I suspect BHS offers a broader language choice at GCSE, at a small school they might not offer the opportunity to do 3 languages if your daughter turns out to enjoy those. There will be other shy girls in a large school for her to find, in a small school there might only be one other.

Hi Hayz, neither of them is particularly academic and what their parents like about the school is that it is small enough to offer personalised learning support to help both of them achieve their potential. They might go under the radar in a larger school perhaps.
Some girls go to Bromley High from my dd's school every year and it is definitely a more academic school, harder to get into, and as Eastpoint says, the GCSE range is likely to be broader, especially in the academic subjects such as MFL, option to do Latin if wished, etc.
IME (I have Y10 boy as well as a Y6 girl) people who get a BHS place do tend to go there. I have never heard anyone say anything bad about its pastoral care. All other things being equal, I would go for BHS as it offers wider choices. What does your dd prefer?

and I'd also ask both schools directly about support for shy newcomers who don't have friends from primary transferring with them. Good luck!

Thank you all for your responses Eastpoint and MarinaResurgens. I know that Babington offers Spanish, German and French but not DT which my daughter loves! MarinaResurgens, I think that you are right on the wider choice for the senior school at Bromley High and I think that might be where she does end up going. There is a new head starting in September so it wil lbe interesting to see how that changes things! It is such a hard decision to make as there are many decisions I don't mind getting wrong - just not ones that concern the kids! I have heard that at BHS they have a team building holiday so the girls can get to know each other quickly in their form. DD is not sure what she prefers! Thanks again x