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.

As Queen Elizabeth's School in Barnet is a boys school, do you perhaps mean Henrietta Barnett School, the super-selective girls school also in Barnet?

@Totalwasteofpaper
@Twilightstarbright
Thank you both for answering my question.

I meant to write ds…...not dd
She doesn’t have any daughters!
It was a long day

“Her old school friends who went to QEB didn’t do well at either gcse exams or after.”

If GCSE didn't do well and at the bottom 30 the boy will get cull by QE at that stage. Culling at A level is one of the secret source of the School success at the league table.

Do QE actually cull boys at year 11 stage due to underperformance. They don’t openly state that ! Are there any parents whose DS was asked to leave the school due to below par performance . Quite curious. Being a state school they have no right to ask kids to leave based on pure performance I would have thought !

This is openly discussed and it is the fact, their sixth form offer 30ish less place and does not take new student from outside. So effectively some of the 11+ intake pupils has to go no matter how good their GCSE scores are (normally they rank by the School preference)

All the more reason not to go to QE.

Kids need a life and also Parents need to be happy. Once the kid goes to year 7, you want them to continue all the way till year 13 unless its your choice to move.

This whole picture of boys being extremely happy and Parents being happy - What percentage of it is a farce i dont know.
Anyways these forums are useful. Each to their own choice.

FWIW anyone who consider their boys had potential just give a try to sit the exam. It is a super selective and one round only so exam tourist wont reduce the chance of those boys whose parents genuinely thinks the school is right for them.

It is only at the expense of the School to pay for the exam cost - the school has enough funding from the parents contributions, and typically those parents love to have higher number of applicants to boast their successful status on such high demand school.

It's not a secret. The school is very open about it and all parents/kids know this.

The school is not open about it at open day though 🙄

@PreplexJ

Sounds like sour grapes to me. You're obviously very interested in QEB, Dame Alice etc.

The school has a reduced number of sixth form places so can't offer places to all of its year 11 pupils. Pretty brutal really as even the stragglers will probably be doing really well but will be forced to change schools. I'm sure others who have had enough of working very hard drop out too to go to other places.

They should make this clearer at the open days.

I have commented on a number London superselctive schools including QEB, HBS, Tiffins, SPGS and "comprehensive" school such as DAO.

Surely one can easily dismiss any criticism as "sour grapes" - though I simply don't have enough DS/DDs to attend all these schools (sweet or bitter grapes won't know) . I do have first hand experience on the process of attending/passed the 11+ test of some (not all) of the schools mention above. ( - when I say passed, I mean rank high enough to get offer). And I do know acquaintances whose DCs in all of those schools above to give insights.

Lets focus on substance of the criticism. My comments are mainly regarding 2 points:

These schools that achieving top public results is largely attributed by the highly academic selective intake cohorts.

Being top of league tables, these schools are target for a subset of parents desperate to get their children into a very narrow range of schools at any cost. Any cost I meant substantial high exam preparation effort, long school commute time or uprooting family at high cost to move closer to these school even good local option is available, and little consideration of school fit in other aspects. A large population of the prospective parents are the ones who typical indulge/obsess in competitive parenting.

The above 2 points might make the schools sweet grapes for some. But to my point, I tasted a sample, it is really sour and not for me and a lot of other parents.

I totally agree with you I believe the education is there but reality Behind the scenes I don't think the children are happy I called up to enquire about the school for my son. The lady who answered the phone was very rude (Receptionist) She didn't even say Hi Queen Elizabeth school or even say her name I asked I didn't catch your name and she said I didn't tell you my name and she said have you called the right place which was very strange to ask I knew exactly who I was calling and I knew exactly what I phoned up for it put me off if they seem to be quite Harsh and rude towards you can you imagine when your children are there.

I am just a concerned mum … why would Queen Elizabeth boys invite parents for the tour and not give some of the boys admission. I assume the tours are usually for boys that will be admitted except they change their minds … please can someone help me understand this … thank you

@Suavemum It's an oversubscribed school. Many of the boys have been offered places at private schools all over London. Tours are given, but at that stage no one knows who will get a place as there are exams to take. Tours are given, to give prospective parents an idea of the school.

Thank you. I understand the part of being over subscribed but I am not cool with letting parents waste their time to travel all the way for open day tours even when their kids have passed the initial cut off of 230. Since the papers have been marked and standardized, i think its only fair to admit kids that fall within the cut off and if those kids change their minds eventually , the nearest to cut off should be considered to reach their 180 boys goal

Thin year QE lowest score to get in is 232 from waiting list position at 30+

So 230 is a reasonable cut off score for inviting to visit, the school attracts applicants all over the country, some are far far away (hours commute) from Barnet, they don't seem to mind the travel time or relocation so let alone the tour event.

I think It's less crowded than the open day as they do it in batches. Another difference is a teacher conducts this tour whereas on open day it's usually a student who takes you around. I have been to both it helped with the decision making process.

Hi, your first hand experience will help a lot. (1) How's the pastoral care? (2) which subject does the school focus more on? (3) what sports options are available in the school? Thanks.

Hello, could someone please tell me the best prep schools that feed into Queen Elizabeth school for boys, Barnet?

Context: I am a new mum. My lo is 2 months old and I am right now in the research phase for schools and things that needs to be done in there 1st year. One of which is registering the child in the prep schools. We live in Chiswick right now and I have no idea about the Barnet borough hence the question. I will be applying for a few schools to cover the area of Barnet and Kingston upon Thames, the two areas where we might move later on. We don't know what the future will hold so just creating few options for the future.

Two months old! You're jumping the gun a bit. You don't even know your child yet.

All schools are different - even the super-selectives differ from each other in their approaches, atmospheres, styles. It's a mistake to look solely at results. You'll want to send your child somewhere that's a good fit for them. If they don't feel they fit in at their school, they won't do well, regardless of how good a school it is, and you'll all be unhappy.

The best thing you can do for your baby is raise them to be secure, loved and curious - which means sending them to an early years provision that is supportive and caring, rather than focused on getting them to the next rung of the ladder.

(I say this as someone whose own DC is at a highly selective grammar school)

BTW this is a very old thread. You might want to start a new one of your own.

@zaxxon , you seriously have no idea how suited your DS will be to an academically selective school at this point. Even if you and your OH have degrees in Economics from Bocconi and PhDs from Harvard, it is no guarantee of a child's academic aptitude or ability. So please, just chill for now and enjoy your DS as a baby.

And who knows? - last time Labour got in de novo, so to speak (as they probably will do this time, despite a spectacular predilection for shooting themselves in the foot on the very cusp of an election in earlier times), one of the things they did was give the population in areas with grammar schools the right to lodge an objection to the status of those schools. Iirc, only one place did, and the attempt was defeated anyway. This time round, they might be a little more proactive on the legislation front? By the time the 2035 year 7 cohort starts, QE may have reverted to a comprehensive school again, as it was for a time in the 1980s and early 1990s
https://www.qebarnet.co.uk/leadership-courage-and-commitment-reforming-headmaster-eamonn-harris-1984-1999-has-passed-away/

I know it, I love known people INTENSIVELY tutor their children( 2 hours a night, every day) from the age of six to get in.
Whilst it gets heat results it is so so pushy, in my mind, the results are at the expense of having any sort of life. . Everything is about being best, being 2nd or 3rd on a test in the class is never good enough. High level academic pressure and competition is standard. Pastoral care not a thing there. Very culturally un-diverse. Constant tests and comparisons.
I wouldn't have considered sending my clever child they to be in that sort of environment.

COmpletely Agree !