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Original poster

Please help me which school I should choose !!!!!

19 replies

SElondonmummy · 12/02/2023 15:06

Hi,
My daughters are in lovely GDST school in SE London. DD1 is year 6 and DD2 is in year 1. We applied few academic single sex schools for our DD1 for senior/secondary. She did amazing in 11+ assesmentas and have received an offer from all of them including JAGS and City of London Girls. What I am worrying is: my DD1 is so happy in her current school and she is doing amazing academically and socially…. She is in Netball and Hockey team, she represent schools in all competitons and she is in a school council team etc… She is even in school website and in all open days she represent her school. Basically she is so popular in her school and this makes her so confident and happy. If I move her more academic hot house school for senior, I dont know if she going to feel the same in her new school. JAGS and City of London Girls school is about 50-55 mins away from our place and my daughter need to travel with school bus. She needs to take the school bus around 7am which I dont know how we will manage because we have also DD2 and her school start at 8:25 also my daughters are so active during day withe their clubs so I do believe she will find it hard to wake up, get ready and be at the bus stop before 7am. I also have DD2 which I dont want to change her school at the moment as I think she is so young to travel that long even if she has offer from more academic schools in i 7+ assesments. At the moment we leave home around 8:15 because their school is 7-10 min drive away (1 single bus around 30 mins). I also would like to let you know taht we sre not planing to move because we love where we live and we want to stay close to our grandparents. Actually we just tried academic school just to see her potential but at the moment as she did amazing in 11+ process I dont know if I should move her school. I will be so glad if you share your ideas what would you do as I am so confused! Just to add, my daughter prefer to stay as her %85 school friends will move to senior side but my husband says she move and try… She is so confident and friendly so I believe she will have no friendship issues but ofcourse its a bit risky because she will not be able to do playdates or all school clubs she wants etc because otherwise she will not have time to spend at home, do her homeworks etc… İf she we move her to one of these schools ofcourse it will be harder for us to manage everything, also we will spend about 6k more annually (because we have scholorship from current school and we dont need to pay for a travel fee) but if it is worth it we are ready to pay for her.
Do you think it is worth to change her school?

Thank you.

OP posts:
snowtrees · 12/02/2023 15:30

I see no benefit of moving

mdh2020 · 12/02/2023 15:30

Why did you even sit her for the other schools?

CatChant · 12/02/2023 15:34

I can’t see any point in moving her. It sounds like she’s fine where she is now.

Oblomov23 · 12/02/2023 15:36

Don't move her.
Re eldest dd, this is completely normal re starting secondary, getting up earlier, getting bus at 7am. Girls coming from further afield to secondary. All normal.

Original poster
SElondonmummy · 12/02/2023 18:37

My daughters current school is selective but it is not hot house - do you think she will have advantage to be in more academic school?

OP posts:
CatChant · 12/02/2023 21:17

My DD was at a GDST school and left (to go elsewhere for Sixth Form) with all top grade GCSEs.

Original poster
SElondonmummy · 12/02/2023 23:05

@CatChant my daughters schools gcse results are also so good. Actually I do believe that she will do great even if she stays in her GDST school but these school are so sellective and academic - I am not sure if it advantage to be in that kind of school? Because my daughter is top student in her class and she loves that. If she study full of bright kids I am not sure how she will feel about it. I dont want her to loose her confident. Also I am unsure if that top school push girls to get better grades or their GCSE results are amazing its because they are so selective and pick more doable kids?

OP posts:
CatChant · 12/02/2023 23:25

Well, any school that cherry-picks the very brightest academically should have a damn hard time explaining why that cohort doesn’t gain top grades.

But I think you’re overthinking this. Your DD is happy and doing splendidly. There’s no reason to expect she won’t continue to do so if she remains at her current school. And you will avoid a longer commute for her, and higher fees to pay by keeping her there.

There’s a saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

invigilator · 12/02/2023 23:27

She's happy and thriving and doing well- I wouldn't move her. Particularly if she'd need to be at a bus stop before 7am- she'd be exhausted!

Bunnycat101 · 13/02/2023 17:42

Everything in your post screams keep her where she is. You could always look again at 6th form. It seems like getting an offer for some of the big name schools can feel like such a big thing it can cloud whether it is the ‘right’ thing.

maybein2022 · 13/02/2023 22:46

My DD is in a GDST school which is considered academic, but not a hot house as such (PHS)- she is doing incredibly well there. Why would you want a hot house environment?! If she wants to stay and the alternative is a 55 minute commute…. Not worth it. Also, interestingly, I know of a couple of children who got into JAGS but not PHS on the 11+… just saying!

Original poster
SElondonmummy · 13/02/2023 23:05

@maybein2022 our GDST school is in SE London and it is not so considered as a academic school. But results are still good - around 55% 9, and 85% 7-9 in A levels.

OP posts:
maybein2022 · 13/02/2023 23:07

@SElondonmummy honestly I’d keep her there and look at a different sixth form maybe, when the commute is less of an issue.

Original poster
SElondonmummy · 13/02/2023 23:08

Sorry, %54 A*-A and 85% A-B

OP posts:
Original poster
SElondonmummy · 13/02/2023 23:18

@maybein2022 👍🏻 one of my friends daughter went to St Pauls Girls and achieved almost all A* from each subject in GCSE and her older daughter was in less selective school and her majority of grades was A and in the end they went to study same course in same uni, 3 years apart… So maybe I am overthiking :/

OP posts:
elastamum · 13/02/2023 23:28

Your daughter is happy and doing well where she is. A 2 hour round trip to school will not improve her quality of life. She will be tired and will most likely have homework to do at night once she gets home. It will be miserable.

SausageinaBun · 14/02/2023 00:29

My DD started at a highly selective school this year and leaves the house at 7am. Whilst the school is great, the travel is brutal and limits how much time DD has to do other stuff. We didn't have the choice of any closer independent schools. I would definitely have considered a less selective one with a fraction of the travel.

Stopsnowing · 14/02/2023 04:15

My dd has an hour commute each way and it has impacted her happiness and friendships. I am a bit puzzled as to where you are currently in SE London for it to take an hour to get to Jags but in any event don’t move her just for slightly better academic results.

mumof20somethings · 15/02/2023 17:06

Don't worry. If you and their father did well academically, soaked up information like sponges and had no problems with the 3 Rs, it's highly likely they will do well academically wherever they are. You can always get a tutor in for a bit of exam prep. Focus on them being happy with friends and avoid long travel distances which are just going to exhaust them.

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