CLSG or SHHS for Y3+

[NWMom]

Dear Mumsnet community,

I will be very grateful for your comments on our dilemma. We live within a walking distance from SHHS; however, we are close to tube and the commute to the City School for Girls would be a matter of 30 mins, alternatively we can use the school coach to send her to City.

I understand there are quite a few of you living around Hampstead who were faced with the same dilemma and I am wondering:

1. Which school did you choose and why?
2. Are you happy with the choice? Is there anything that you wish you had considered?

If you chose City, what factors justified the journey for you.

Thank you so very much!

There are a number of girls currently in the senior school at SHHS who were at the junior school at City. I understand the reasons for them moving range from going for the gentler approach and better pastoral care at SHHS while still being a school that gets top grades (well over 90% of all grades a and a star at GCSE each year) to wanting a more local school and more locally based friends. I’d say the local factor would be more of a pull factor in year 3 though. Even though it’s just 30 mins to City there is navigating public transport at rush hour every day - and the fact that many friends will live on the other side of London.

It's funny you should say that @mamabyname as my daughter in y7 at SHHS was saying this about one of the girls on her sports team. I asked why she'd moved from City and she didn't know, said something about it being more local. I wondered whether she'd been managed out of City but if she was so far from academically able enough to stay on, then I don't think she'd have been able to get into SHHS as it's not dramatically less academic.

We live nearer to City but didn't apply as we didn't love it so thought I didn't make sense as getting in would only present a dilemma (and actual journey times would be similar). If I had to choose between two pretty similar jobs, but one was walking distance and one was an hour commute (I'm doubling it as that's what it will feel like to a 7-year-old as their sense of time is so different to ours), then I know which one I'd choose.

I don't know anyone with daughters at both to compare directly. I know someone with daughters at Channing and City and says that City is incomparably better.

@farewelltoarms I know of ex City girls in various year groups at SHHS and I wouldn't want to say anything to identify anyone individually. Of those I know they chose to leave and were asked to stay at City so not managed out. From what I know and it's not the full story, it was definitely to do with pastoral issues and wanting to be more local. I think when they joined City in the junior school, SHHS may have been between head teachers so perhaps at the time it was more of an unknown - but I think the current head at SHHS is quite inspiring.

I completely agree re. head. I think she's the best sort of inspiring, understated but highly knowledgeable and effective. The opposite of Boris Johnson, which can only be a good thing...

I get the sense that with a good head in place and the work being completed, it's a good time for SHHS and it is becoming increasingly hard to get into. We certainly benefited from it being marginally easier!

I'm a regular poster but have name changed for this thread.

DD joined the sixth form at SHHS in Sep 19 and we're extremely pleased with the school.

I agree that this is a good time for SHHS - the head is very strong and inspirational, the building works are complete and their recent GCSE / A'Level results are some of their best on record. Oxbridge offers at 20%+ for two consecutive years.

We have no regrets....

So in answer to OP, there's very little between City and SHHS currently so locality May be the key factor here.

Thank you all!