bedford girls and bedford boys school

[Bonty80]

Hi Im thinking of bedford girls and beford boys school for my children who currently are in years 5 and year 3 , any recent experience of the school wil be much appreciated.
thanx

My daughter left Bedford Girls School after Year 13 in 2016 having been there since Year 9 (joined via merger from legacy schools). My son currently in Year 13 at Bedford Modern School (BMS). Both Bedford School and Bedford Girls School (BGS) are very good schools, and most children that I know of are happy there and achieve well. However please do consider Bedford Modern - I feel it preferable to BGS - both for overall teaching and leadership - it’s innovative and organised. I cannot do the comparison against Bedford - although if you visit you should be able to ‘feel’ the difference (Bedford more traditional - typical boys only school). The sports at Bedford school and BGS are better than BMS however, and if your children are sporty and talented in this area then they will generally are better placed at Bedford and BGS (although it is still very competitive to get into the teams). Consider the single sex vs co-Ed implications - I believe evidence shows girls do best in single sex - boys do better in in co-Ed environment. Girls school is quite ‘fun’ with dressing up days and school trips can be quite ‘light’ in education. BMS has no dressing up days and all trips are educational. Your choice as to which you think is prefereable. Lovely head of BMS junior school. All three schools are probably academically level. PM me for more info if necessary.

thank u so much for such a detailed answer, just 1 more query of u can help. wats the best way to compare the results of the independent schools plz

To compare the results of independent schools, you could look at their respective GCSE and A level results (no SATS will be done). However this comes with limitations. Both sets of results (GCSE and A level) are available on the schools' respective websites - but only for 2017-18 for Bedford School and BGS, and then they 'cherry pick' what they want to display. Bedford Modern are the most transparent as they do a full subject by grade table for four years ! Over the four years I would expect BMS to be the best , as it is the hardest school to get into (and thus its pupils will have an overall slightly higher ability). As it is Co-Ed it has a wider population that applies to take the entrance exam (and its significantly cheaper than Bedford School) and thus can and will take the higher achieving pupils. (As an example to enter into BGS sixth form they require 5 Bs at GCSE whereas it is 10 Bs required at BMS - I don't know what is required for Bedford School) . (Letter Grades are used as I don't know what the comparison is now in terms of the numbered GCSEs now). There is quite a bit of migration from BGS to BMS for sixth form. (This is not the case for Bedford to BMS). In comparisons, please remember that year groups do vary - BGS had a very good GCSE year last year.

You could also look at each school's Inspection Report (available on the websites - if the full one is not there then the school can supply it to you). or look at The Good Schools Guide (website), which will have similar information.

Other things to think about …. if your children are 'classically' musical then I know Bedford school is good in this area (the others may be as well, but I don't know as it is not something my children were interested in). BMS is very good with its drama productions - the senior school ones are as good as going to the West End ! BGS is the only school to play lacrosse. It really depends on your children and what they like.

You also need to think about Bedford School and its Saturday School - and whether you and your child are willing to do this for years ! This clearly involves getting up / commuting / missing out on other things to do on a Saturday morning ! However if your son is into sport, then there will be matches anyway whichever school he attends.

thank u so much for such a detailed reply, has helped alot

I have friends that have used all those schools and agree completely with Really. I second Bedford Modern over Bedford Girls for girls education.

The only experience I have of Bedford Boys School is having teenage boys (wearing the school uniform) barge me and others out of the way at lunchtime in Bedford town centre. There seems to be a bit of an issue with their attitude imho.