Any direct experience on Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Barnet

[MeAmy]

Hi
May I know if you have any direct experience for QE School in Barnet? I know this is one of the best Grammar schools. But I would like to know about the school environment, teachers and other areas. I found reviews for QE School at Google which is very alarming. Any suggestions please? Thank you so much.

@NM23 I had cause to drive past Wood Street today. I knew there was a teacher strike today so wondered why there were boys in uniform. Then I noticed differing uniforms and young boys being walked to QE Boys, so put two and two together and gathered it was Open Day.

None of these boys were talking to their parents en route. All had heads down, looking at the pavement as if the weight of the world was on their shoulders. They know how important it is to pass tests, they've been tutored for years and are terrified of failing.

If your son is able to pass the QE Boys entrance tests, he's obviously capable of getting into other selective schools and I would imagine he'd be far happier. Dame Alice Owen's / Mill Hill County High, for example are excellent schools which provide a very broad extra curriculum.

Hope it's ok to jump on this thread with a question.
Which primary schools would these kids be going to prior to applying to QE Boys? I understand the point they are tutored but would like to hear some specific primaries that kids are particularly successful at getting in (feeder schools? If there is such thing?). Both state and private.

We are in Herts.

The reality is you have to have an academically able child.

I live near the school and dont recognise any of this "head down dead behind the eyes" description. I was walking behind 3-4 sixth formers and could hear their conversation. I was pleasantly surprised at how articulate thoughtful and funny they were!

I would take that over barnet college kids who spend their time throwing fast wrapers NEXT to bins and smoking spliffs in the childrens playground kids any day.

I@purpleyellowiris you don't need a feeder school per se. The exam sorts the wheat from the chaff as it were. I believe foulds is reasonably good but you need to livewithin 200m of the school to get in. You'd be better focusing on home support and getting a GREAT tutor with a track record of getting boys in and you will need tutoring. Some of the boys come from miles around

My DS is sitting the exam in September but I am not sure if he will get in or even if it is the right school for him. He is bright and capable but maybe not driven enough.

He has had tutoring in Y5 because his primary is light on assessment and I thought he needed the practice, but he has had a normal upbringing and outside interests (he does like chess though!)

We went to the open day last year and the boys were amazing, very professional when leading the tour but also smiley and positive in demeanour. DS was very taken with the robotics and the swimming pool. It was a beautiful summer's day and some boys were playing cricket outside which looked idyllic. Of course it's just a snapshot but we had a very positive impression. Some boys were complaining about them not offering football which I hope doesn't change.

I asked a female English teacher if they had a balanced curriculum in terms of including female authors and role models and what they did to combat sexism in the boys - we had an interesting chat but I'm not sure the answer is much really.

We also went to the open day on 6th July. Just hated it post the head masters speech. IT IS AN EXAM FACTORY., No diversity. Even though my son is extremely well prepared, I have no intention of sending him now to QE. being no 1 on the league tables was one thing, but when i attended the open day, it really painted a sad picture. I COUDNT AGREE MORE With @NM23 NM23 and @happyinherts. The open days at Wilson and St olaves were much more welcoming ( we attended those open days also)

"No diversity" - Wilson school probably had a very similar diversity profile as QE boys. Maybe the school plays a bit more music.

My brother went there and did very well, he's thirty now. He is extremely clever (IQ) and did well in the very structured environment.

To be honest, all boys who get into this school are already very bright with high IQ level naturally so it is important for them to have good pastoral care in the school which I felt was missing

@happyinherts my DS’ state grammar doesn’t close for teacher strikes. It’s not QE but it is one of the ones highlighted in pink in the list shared by the previous poster.

A few individuals teachers strike but the boys just get on with their homework or read during those lessons. To me, that sums up the school. It’s full of highly engaged, well behaved boys. There is no way that would have worked at my old state comp. There would have been a riot.

I don’t know anything about QE but I do know a lot about the highly selective state grammar that my DS goes to and there is so much crap said about it from people who have no direct experience of the school.

And my son did have a very enjoyable life at primary. He still does now, spending loads of time outside school playing football and cricket and hanging out with this friends. He had minimal tutoring prior to the 11 plus - it was just really exam technique.

"To me, that sums up the school. It’s full of highly engaged, well behaved boys"

That sum up the majority of the parents that opt for highly selective grammar, it is for the cohorts not the schools. It is trying to limit the downside effects.

But that's the whole point of a selective school - to select the top kids. And if your kid gets into such a school they are surrounded by similarly academic and well-behaved kids. This in turn makes their learning experience at school much more pleasant than if they were to go to a rough comp where being academic was something to be bullied about.

The main reason parents want their kids in the selective grammars is not the superior teaching, but the cohort.

Is it definitely not diverse? As an aside I toured a local boys grammar in our area which is quite difficult to get in. The head was very proud of the fact that only 25% were white British. The ‘talk’ for prospective new parents also reflected that.

Whilst diversity is a good thing, our local area is something like 92% white British. I work with the vulnerable, and see a never ending stream of late teen/early 20 white males who are just utterly lost in life and have no obvious prospects. I can’t help feeling somethings gone wrong somewhere.

It is fairly mono cultural with most families of South Asian origin. These families highly value education and hard work as a means to get ahead in life.

Jeremy Corbyn's son went there. Then to Cambridge and then Daddy arranged for him to work for him as a political aide.

For the last 50 years, statistics show that poor white boys, are the group that significantly under achieves. There is precious little extra help or support to get them into top schools.
One could wish that Jeremy Corbyn had addressed this issue but he did not.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/leftwing-mp-s-son-to-attend-grammar-1093111.html

@Budabest Not sure exactly how reliable Locrating’s stats are, but according to their ethnic breakdown QE Boys is only 2.7% white British. By far the biggest single ethnicity (56%) is Indian.

There are some side effects too, esp the culture that concentrating on academic ahead of everything else, complacency of teachings, high study pressure and competitive parenting is the typicalcl characteristic in these schools.

Also there is little science evidence that a bright kid study in a school surrounded by similarly academic and well-behaved kids will results in a higher attainment in other environments (e.g with a less academic cohort). Some are just grammar parents wishful thinking.

On the other hand, there are some evidence that bridge kid developed in a more diverse and mixed ability environment perform better than those kids with same attainments but attend Grammar and private schools (more structured, less diverse bubbles).

Maybe she could not tell anything bad about the school. I found a few teachers very disinterested during the open day.

And as some one said, when you select the best 180 students in the exam, the pressure is less on the teacher to teach anything to them. ( there is no topic of mixed ablity !)

I visited QE, Wilson and St olaves.

QE did feel like an exam preparatory house. But thats my opinion

Are any of the people on this thread claiming QE Boys is just an exam factory with downcast boys actual QEB parents? Because I know a few boys from my daughter's prep who went there and it's absolutely not what I've heard. Is this all based on one open day? That just seems rather silly. I didn't like the Habs Girls open day as much as the Mount House open day, but that doesn't mean anything. It mainly means that more famous schools with more severe competition for places have to try less to woo parents on open days.

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics

Lastest Office statistics (published in June this year) QE boys has over 90% pupils with subcontinent heritages. Similar profiles for Wilson school.

Nobody’s done anything about it because poor white boys may underachieve academically but they still outearn graduate poor black / bangladeshi boys at various ages.

South Asian isn’t a culture you prat.

It’s actually quite a diverse school with Indian, Pakistani, Arab, African and East Asian students. But all of those parents do value academics and the ‘curve’ is much higher as many want to go back to their parents’ home countries for uni. I know students who achive 90% by themselves who are being tutored so they can achieve over 98% to qualify for certain Indian universities.

I imagine questions would be asked if a sought after school in an area with a high % of non white residents had 97.3% white pupils.