Secondary schools Derbyshire/Sheffield

[Tillybank]

Does anyone have any advice on moving from private school to state school?
My daughter recently moved from the local primary school to the local private school (YR5). The private school only goes to the end of yr8. She is due to start yr6 this week.

Our options are: 1 - Move her at the end of yr6 to the local secondary school OR 2 - move her at the end of yr8 to a private school out of area.

My major concerns are, we have moved around a lot of schools for various reasons. She loves the school she is at the moment and some of them might go on to the out of area private school, but she also has friends from her old school that will go to the local secondary school.

I am worried that sending her to local secondary school she might get bullied for moving schools, she may feel that she has never 'finished' a school because we have always left before the last year, she might hate the new secondary school and old friends may move on.

With regards to sending her to the out of area private school my worries are, that 1, the current school may close within the next year due to financial difficulty - it is a small school and has already closed the college section of the school in the last year so is it best to get out sooner rather than later? 2, will she struggle moving to a private school that is further away from home and friends.

Any advice would be great.

Hope Valley College is indeed a lovely school that gets great results. I would avoid Birkdale like the plague. Silverdale, High Storrs, Tapton and Ecgberts are also excellent.

Sir Henry Fanshawe is meant to be good too. That’s Dronfield.

l agree that all the popular secondaries in Sheffield, that unless you live in catchment, you won’t get in. Not even from feeder schools sometimes.

@stolenstoat what makes you say that about Birkdale?

And yep… 100% need to live in the catchment for all of the schools mentioned above and even then it’s not guaranteed!

All of the above have their issues… high storrs I would personally avoid. A friend’s child has recently had a terrible situation at Henry Fanshawe - school have really failed her child. You need to visit them really first as all kids are different.

My son has just started at High Storrs sixth form ( rather than staying at Silverdale, wanted a change and subject choices) . It is a very good school. Lots of friends children have gone to Oxbridge from there. Birkdale was a boys school until 2020, coed in the lower years only. I know of a few sensitive, non sporty boys who were very unhappy there. I'm not sure how they will adjust to girls

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow I’ve also heard bad things re Tapton too recently. Be very interesting if they get inspected… their last inspector was 2012 & they are still riding on its coat tails. Exam results still very good though…. Strange….

@bluefrog11 I can't seem to find Tapton's results from this summer on their website or social media? Would be interested to know what they are in comparison to other schools nearby.

I forgot Henry Fanshaw, I know Meadowhead doesn't look sparkling on paper but if your dc are likely to do A levels Meadowhead got one of the highest pass rate & grades in the city.

Jeez don’t go to Meadowhead if you can avoid it! The only decent comps on the south side are Silverdale, Tapton (although recently possibly not as good - rumours abound about behaviour locally), and to a slightly lesser extent King Ecgbert, High Storrsand Henry Fanshawe. King Edwards is apparently improving but I don’t know much about that. Mercia is new and seems to have a different ethos - very strict from what I’ve heard. Not sure what results they are getting but I tend to judge schools on pupil experience rather than results.

Mercia is the most oversubscribed school in Sheffield so you need to pretty much live on top of it to get in. It has no results yet as the oldest cohort will sit gcses this year. It is strict and had a very narrow curriculum a few years back though that might have enlarged now there are more children in the school.

Meadowhead is improving and the sixth form is shaping up nicely imo.

But same point as before. All these schools (except possibly Meadowhead) are catchment only. If OP is Catholic or actively follows another faith then she could try for Notre Dame, another excellent school, but other than that her choice depends on where she lives.

Why did you move her from the primary school she loved? In what way was she struggling during lockdown? Were there not other ways to address the struggles without moving her from a school she loved for the final year?
What is your catchment school? Realistically that is the school that your child will be given a place at. Appeals to oversubscribed schools aren't often successful so you need to consider the catchment school and whether you would want your daughter there. If yes apply for a place for year seven, if no stay where you are and look to move into the catchment of the school you would want before her current school closes/ she finishes year 9.

Mercia’s catchment is the whole of Sheffield?

What have you heard? ( intrigued)

Dd goes there. She’s just finished GCSE and gone into 6th form. She’s never mentioned bad behaviour.

Fwiw, the amazing head who got Tapton the outstanding went to High Storrs.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow The catchment is huge but as it’s popular it is oversubscribed places are awarded on the admissions criteria which includes distance. I think the furthest this year was not much over a mile.

We were offered Mercia in S10.

What have you heard about Tapton?!

I live really near it, know lots of people who send their kids there. And I’ve heard nothing

I’m sure there will be other girls going to girls high from her school at y7. Now the school she is at don’t do gcse, surely the only dc that will stay on are ones that particularly want to join schools at 13+ anyway.

You will not get a place at any of the popular Sheffield schools that have a catchment area unless you live in the catchment and even then it isn’t guaranteed.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow which year? The catchment for Mercia has really shrunk. Ds would have got a place in 2019 but not this year.

Where you offered a place at Mercia for this year? The last awarded place was 1mile, with 128 catchment kids being refused. The ethos of the school and its marketing as the most oversubscribed school in Sheffield are making it a very popular choice

Sorry, to be clear, the official catchment hasn't shrunk but the distance from school for the last child admitted has.

It had only just opened, it was 2016

It sounds an awful place to me, from what I’ve heard.

If you want a slightly less high pressure private option, Westbourne is nice school. Has always been co-ed.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow I run a baby group locally (plus I know a few people with kids there also) and a few of the childminders are full of it about Tapton.

Daily fights
(often filmed), swearing, bullying, homophobic abuse, certain groups of kids that the teachers are too scared to deal with.

I just can’t square it….. such amazing exam results (better than selective and private schools!) yet rumours of such bad behaviour. Surely it needs an Ofsted soon….

@bluefrog11

I taught there for a very long time and left a year ago.

l don’t recognise any of that.
There were no daily fights
Tgere were no groups of kids that teachers were scared of. They were just dealt with.

Cant speak for bullying, as a lot if that takes place without knowledge. But my dd never experienced it.

Did you decide what to do @Tillybank

Our DC are younger than yours but not sure what to do when the time comes. I think it's awful the school in question let children join knowing that they would be closing the y9-11 part.

My ds went to Meadowhead, the 11-16 part is OK if your dc can stand up for themselves & has no SEN needs, my friends ds hasn't been to school for nearly a term as what was called The Bridge which was a learning centre for pupils with SEN & additional learning needs has been closed down, the school has simply washed their hands of him. The sixth form is very good & has some of the best A level results in the City. Mercia will be having their first GCSE cohort exams next summer & it will be interesting to see how they do, my neice & a couple of other children I know are pupils there, if your child suffers with anxiety or struggles with organisation it may not be the best school for them, I get the feeling it is an exam factory & all they are bothered about is exam results, not producing children who can think for themselves. I know of two sets of parents who have removed their dc because the discipline is too rigid, one child began self harming & the other had to be referred to CAMHS as his mental health was suffering.