Roedean School VS Cardiff Sixth Form College

[AnneSinn]

My daughter has been studying in a girls school so far for her education and we will send her to a boarding school in the coming academic year. She isn’t a very bright child and she even has symptoms of ADHD. At first I didn’t expect her to get in CSFC but surprisingly she got into it…. I know that CSFC have been ranked as one of the top schools in the UK and their requirements for promoting to year 13 is AAB which I afraid my daughter can’t meet the requirements and get expelled because she is so lazy and I know she is definitely not the cream of the top. Should I send her to a more carefree school or should I take the risk to send her to the A* factory?

Hi Anne,
I am at Roedean at the moment. I have many friends with ADHD and the school is just brilliant at helping out with anything that they might need. The grades are amazing, not because we are forced to study 24/7 but because the teachers are fab and we genuinely enjoy learning. Boarding is so much fun, and the rooms are very nice and clean. The location is so picturesque I feel like I am living in a book. If your daughter is happy to put the work in, (and she will be supported by an army of strong teachers), she will excel. There is so much to do except study, sports and performing arts are big here and you will usually find people playing just dance or monopoly in the evenings (after they have done homework). I do know some people from Cardiff, it is not mainly boarding, and most boarders are international with lots of local day pupils, so very different to Roedean. I’ve also heard it’s quite pressured, but I’m sure there are great sides to it as well. I love Roedean and I’m sure your daughter would too, please ask me any specific questions that you have.

I would also reccomend watching some of the videos on YouTube for some student insight. (Look for the ones that say day in the life at roedean)

Apologies, Cardiff sixth form college is mainly boarding (I mispoke!) Please ask me any questions.

Why are the only options Cardiff Sixth Form College or Rodean?

Cuz my daughter got offers from these schools recently 😶

The only way I would send a teen to Cardiff is if they are British, uber A* bright and Cardiff had offered them a 100% scholarship.

They do like to do that kind of thing to keep their ratio of international and Uk students at a decent level (as it would not appeal overseas if it's solely Chinese kids).

Roedean is a lovely school where students can flourish. It's too far for me, as even boarding I'd want to be closer, but I would seriously look at it if I was less than 2 hours away max.

Have you applied anywhere else?

I did applied for Burgess Hill girls and Malvern St James and she got both offers but she didn’t really like the campus that’s why I won’t consider l that for her. On the other hand she also got rejected by a few girls school which she really wanted to get in 😢 I am thinking if it worth to sacrifice her last two years of high school education purely on studying in order to have a higher chance to get in medical school . She personally wants to become a doctor , I am not forcing her to do anything 🙏

That's a tricky one then as medicine is AAA, and often candidates are all A star and a string of 9s at GCSE.

It's not going to help asking how many students each place get into medicine as the statistics will be skewed as you'll have international quotas in the mix too.

I'd personally ask what support (in detail) each place gives to aspiring medics and how they help prepare for the ucat and bmat exams, and then the interviews.

Quite a few of the Roedean girls go for medicine, last year one went to Oxford and this year, lots have got in for medicine, including my friend who got in for Medicine at Newcastle uni. There is a medicine society and a series of lectures for medicine. The sciences are extremely strong at Roedean and I think chemistry is THE most popular A level if I remember correctly.

Well in that case Roedean seems to be the better option!