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.

Which area is that then @angstridden2

https://open.barnet.gov.uk/insight-and-intelligence/jsna/about-the-borough/

Barnet is as diverse as any other Brough in London, but no body would deny this school is disproportionly skew that doesn't represent the local area. As it is a superselctive school, a lot of pupils travel very far away from Barnet.

According to government stats Barnet is 58% white British. Sadly the admissions profile for QEs is wildly adrift from the local population. I think it is sad when schools take the majority of pupils from way outside the area, which is happening in many places. These are state schools after all, and working class white boys are now the lowest academic achievers. Please don’t accuse me of racist intention, but I feel that if the situation was reversed questions would be asked about ensuring a profile reflecting the local population more accurately.

Incidentally two members of my family went to the school albeit many years ago, and hated it so it’s obviously horses for courses.

@angstridden2 If there were more grammar schools kids could go to their local grammar, but as it is kids have to travel form miles away to be able to attend a good school. I went to school in Germany - to a local state gymnasium (grammar school equivalent). There were countless of them all over the city, so everyone could attend their local gymnasium. Sure that's a lot fairer than the post code lottery in the UK?

And QEB is a super-selective grammar, so everyone regardless of their race has an equal chance to score highly on the exam.

Surely that's a lot fairer than the postcode lottery in the UK*

"And QEB is a super-selective grammar, so everyone regardless of their race has an equal chance to score highly on the exam."

A lot of parents won't even self select for sitting the exam in the first place because the school profile. If you were on the exam day you would see the boys sitting the school exam make up are heavily skewed too and so as the final intake.

Why are people so against their children attending a school with a high proportion of Asian students (I mean South and East Asia but I suspect people are objecting to the high numbers of South Asians)? Show me a grammar school that doesn’t have a high proportion of Asian students? 🤷‍♀️

The problem, surely, isn’t that Asian families - in the main - push their kids very hard to achieve, but that white families (especially working class) don’t?

I just think it’s unequivocally racist to hand wring about the QEB student body not being representative of the local population, calling it “sad” (have a word with the super selectives for choosing to be super selective, then) and hinting that white parents don’t even have their children sit the entrance test for fear of them being an ethnic minority at school. I have to say I find that hard to believe anyway. There are lots of reasons not to send your child to a highly pressured, highly academic, incredibly-difficult-to-get-into school - a proliferation of brown faces doesn’t have to be one of them.

"Why are people so against their children attending a school with a high proportion of Asian students"

"highly pressured, highly academic, incredibly-difficult-to-get-into school"

I suspect many parents are against the idea or latter, but call it stereotype or not, it is the culture element that for some families think this is the way to success (from 11 years old).

I agree with you. I've never heard such nonsense and I'm a white North Londoner with a kid in secondary school in the area.

I imagine a lot of working class families have neither the knowledge/ambition or money for tuition that others invest in their children. More power to those that do, but to refer to my original point I do wonder if the situation was reversed questions would be asked.

I think that’s absolutely the case with QEB, there are some black and Chinese boys but on the whole non Asian families on the whole won’t consider it for their children. There are plenty of other good schools on the Borough which are a mixed demographic, not a predominantly white one. The Borough is nearly 17% Jewish and should be represented in the school let I would be astounded if there are most than a dozen Jewish kids in the entire school probably less.

I can’t say other kids wouldn’t get in, many of them would They’re also tutored to the hilt but are much more likely to be at DAO, Mill Hill county or the SW herts schools

There are other good schools in the Borough. However, none of them gain such prestigious results. True, they have the creme de la creme of talent, but I would say these boys do not have a healthy social life. Everything revolves round academic prowess, sporting achievement and representing the school - sometimes even on Saturdays. These boys travel across London and beyond. They have no spare time at all. Perhaps parents of 'white' boys want them to have more of a social life and therefore that's why QEB doesn't represent the local community. Perhaps they don't want to gamble on missing out - too many candidates for 180 places, so settle for other schools. Who knows, but QEB is not your average grammar school. It is far beyond that.

*The Borough is nearly 17% Jewish and should be represented in the school let I would be astounded if there are most than a dozen Jewish kids in the entire school probably less.

I can’t say other kids wouldn’t get in, many of them would They’re also tutored to the hilt but are much more likely to be at DAO, Mill Hill county or the SW herts schools*

🙈🙈🙈🙈 Surely the fact that there are excellent Jewish schools in the borough that don't have such rigorous entrance exams might have something to do with a smaller proportion of Jewish students?

And DAO and Mill Hill (which is in no way comparable to QEB in prestige or results) are only preferred by SOME families because they are MIXED schools with easier entrance exams than QEB and DAO has the amazing sibling policy.

I have never heard of anyone avoiding QEB because of too many Asian students. How idiotic to think that way. I have only heard it the other way around - that it's a good thing to have a cohort with a high proportion of Asian students as they are more likely to be studious and non-disruptive. The three boys that I know who passed the QEB entrance exams were the three smartest boys in my daughter's prep year by far. They may have also been tutored, but there were no surprises when they were the three that passed the exam as they were the top boys in the year throughout primary.

And I can tell you that pretty much everyone I know has avoided it because of that. Even many of the Asian families at our school haven’t gone down that route as they want their children in a more mixed demographic

I think that’s absolutely the case with QEB, there are some black and Chinese boys but on the whole non Asian families on the whole won’t consider it for their children

It definitely is part of the equation. A close friend’s super bright son was offered a place there, but turned it down in favour of another local selective school as he wanted a more mixed and less intense environment. He did like the school, but he (and my friend) worried that as a white child he would feel socially out of place at QEB, and might not establish close friendships as easily as he would elsewhere.

"I have never heard of anyone avoiding QEB because of too many Asian students. How idiotic to think that way."

Personally I knew parents (one Chinese and one Russian origin) whose son got offers from QE boys this year and last year - above the cutoff point by some margin, live in Barnet Brough. In the end they chose top selective independent, one of the main concern is too many Asian students.

The Borough is nearly 17% Jewish and should be represented in the school let I would be astounded if there are most than a dozen Jewish kids in the entire school probably less.

Should it though, bearing in mind that a significant proportion of Jewish families in Barnet (particularly the Orthodox families, who make up the majority) will want their children to go to Jewish schools?

The school in the 90s and early 2000s has sizable jewish student population.

I'm Jewish and used to live in Barnet.

the numbers of Jewish pupils at non-Jewish state schools, as I understand it, have dropped significantly from the 1990s and especially in Barnet. There are several factors. One is that there are a lot more Jewish secondary places since JFS moved to Kenton and more schools have opened. The other is that many younger families are priced out of the borough and there has been a population shift. It's not just a QEB issue, though the process of a school's intake shifting can accelerate (if other Jewish families aren't sending, you're less likely to consider it). Both JFS and JCoss are comprehensives with excellent results, and QEB is so selective that it's a gamble.

I still have friends in the area, both Jewish and Asian. None of the Jewish families tried for QEB. They all sent to either one of the Jewish schools, or independent.

Friends story.
Her dd is very clever. Top of everything.
My friend didn’t believe in tutoring for anything and so didn’t for QEB entry exams
Her friends told her they weren’t tutoring either.
I told her they were probably lying.

Her dd did not get the required grades for QED entry.
All her friends did, all of whom were middling academically.

After the results my friend found out her friends had private tutors for their kids for at least two years and in the last year had been doing 1 to 2 hours a night.
So
Is the school so good because it is good or is it good because parents pay for private tuition before entry and for exams whilst there.

My friends daughter finished her A levels last September and is at University. Her old school friends who went to QEB didn’t do well at either gcse exams or after.

Do QEB take girls now? Or it is the latest trend of the gender identity thing? Given the high proportion of Asian pupils I don't think QEB is on that side of the liberal spectrum..

I thought Queen Elizabeth Barnet was still single sex?

Yeah that doesn’t make sense as it’s a boys school.

@purpleyellowiris Manor Lodge and Lochinver will generally have a couple of boys go to QEB but it’s not something I know much about.

It’s a great school for some boys and not for others. It wouldn’t suit my DS at all but it would really suit his best friend. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

There are a handful of WUS boys take the QE test this year and most of them get scores above 240.

It is to fulfill the parents anxiety to know how well their kid sit in a broader cohort. None of these boys who passed take up the QE offer in the end.

We're talking about different schools. This thread is about Queen Elizabeth Boys. There is a Queen Elizabeth Girls in the area but it's a comprehensive school and doesn't have an entrance exam.

Your friend must have tried for a different school. But it is true that all kids get tutored for the 11+ in London. It's not possible to pass the entrance exams otherwise due to the i sane competition. It's easier (probability-wise) to get into Oxbridge than into some of those grammar schools.