Roedean School vs Talbot Heath

[popeyecc]

Hi all,

My daughter has offers of the above schools. It's a difficult decision for me. Could anyone give me suggestions? Thank you so much

Hi - I assume you're looking at boarding at both? In that case, I'd choose Roedean as it's a full boarding school with around 50% boarders. Talbot Heath is basically a local day school that has boarding (a relative goes there as a day girl) and it's not a long day- the day students leave around 3:15 I think, so I'd worry about a boarder rattling around after hours in a somewhat empty school. Almost all the boarders at TH are international, other than a tiny minority of girls who are in the swim programme so busy with that. Also, in terms of extra curricular and facilities , Roedean is far ahead, but to be fair to TH, that is reflected in the fees- there's a significant difference. TH possibly edges it academically but I admit I haven't checked the latest data.

Hi, thank you so much for your advice.

I have looked the 2022 GCSE and A-Level results up on the best-schools.com.hk.

Roedean
By GCSE: A+A*, 84.54%
By A-Level: A+A*, 70.14%

Talbot Heath
By GCSE: A+A*, 55.35%
By A-Level: A+A*, 44.92%

Of course, it depends the number of candidates. I don't know if it can help.

Ah ok, so I was wrong. Roedean gets better results too (albeit that may reflect intake as much as value add). In that case, assuming that the fee differential isn't an issue, I'd choose Roedean, mainly because I wouldn't want my child to be a minority boarder at what is very much a day school- TH has less than 50 boarders in the whole school so could be only 4/5 per year group.

Don't mention it and thank you for your opinion.

Yes, boarding ratio is another important consideration.

My daughter is at TH. The school day is 0800-1550. Prep available til 5. She is a day pupil and yes the boarding house is small but the girls there are happy and it's a family atmosphere. Loads of lunch time and after school clubs that are mostly free. At present the number of international girls boarding is high but it's not always like that. It's an open campus site and they heavily promote independence and getting involved. It's got quite the Mallory Towers vibe as it's very much about what you put in and the value of being an all rounder. But they do have specialist areas too and if your daughter is a scholar then there are supported activities there too. They are very into swimming and tennis but not exclusively so. Boarders can stay with day pupils at weekends and vice versa.

Has she had a trial day?

@SophiaLarsen My daugher did not join a trial day as she is an international student. I know TH is a quite good school and they support all students all the time. But it has less than 50 boarders in the school so could be only 4/5 per year group.

Roedean sounds like a good bet if you want more boarders. Fine balance. I went to 2 boarding schools both with high numbers of boarders and i loathed it. I think I would have preferred the more family like atmosphere of a small boarding house. So it's what you and your daughter think would work. Weekend excursions etc are so much easier to plan and so really fun stuff with small numbers.

I realise you're only looking at 2 but my friend has children who are termly boarders at Stamford School and they love it.

I’m at roedean in year 12 as a weekly boarder and I love it! Please ask any questions.

Good Lord, my local comprehensive gets better grades than TH.

We're looking at moving our daughter to TH from state school. Be interested to hear your thoughts on how nurturing the school is and how strict it is. Don't mind standards and an element of strictness but state school is ridiculously strict now and it's damaging DD's mental health (she's very well behaved by the way but is terrified of being told off), so want to move her somewhere that's more nurturing.