Which school??????????????????????????

[elizzadss]

Hello, my daughter is in Year 2. She in state school right now and we decided to move her private school next year so she seated 3 private schools 7+ exams. Lucly we received an offer from all of them. 2 of them was coed and one of them was only girls school. As a parent we were unsure which one to choose because all of them was so different from each other. One of them was good for the sport (facilities and big green space), other one was slightly better in GCSE/A Level results (known as a best academic local school) and other is really friendly, welcoming and nuturing school which I have read and heard all good comments about how the girls happy with the school. My daughter did taster day and decided from first day that she wanted to go girls only school. She liked the environment and said classroom was so fun and quite with the all girls. So in the end we decided to go for that school. But I would like to know what do you really consider when you choose school for your kids:

• 1. academic results (coed school %45 A* GCSE)
• 2.facilities (coed school -%43 A* GCSE)

1. or nurturing school which your daughter prefers to go? (Girls only - %41 A* GCSE). By the way 2 of coed schools told us that all junior students needs to sit and pass11+ exam to be able to move to senior school. But girls only school said all girls moves to senior without needing to do 11+ assesment.

Term ends in less than 2 weeks in many private schools so you must have committed and be about to pay the fees and turned down the other places. Go with what your dd is happy with, she is still young and all the schools sound good.

Go with the best fit for your child now. Don’t focus on GCSE results for primary if there is a different intake for Y7. Be prepared to review the situation as she grows.

Have you also checked the state school results? DD’s state school (albeit a grammar) got 49% 9s for GCSE in 2022 but that reflects the intake. However a private school that also sifts for Y7 may have a similar profile. You mention that one of the girls school doesn’t have a test for progression to the senior school so 41% top grades is fairly impressive. Do check how the schools reports it’s top grades, thst you are comparing like with like. I have seen some schools say ‘A equivalent’ and they mean 7 to 9 at GCSE.

Don’t worry about GCSEs in junior school- typically it is a completely different mix of kids by that time, so not indicative of junior school performance. You can always change for seniors school, so I would focus on the school that is best for your child now. At my dcs school there is a big divide between junior and senior schools, and they are run pretty differently (different leadership, staff, lots of turnover in student population) so while we are fully committed to the junior school, will be reevaluating for year 7 based on dc’s preference and performance against what the school offers

Think about location of these schools too if you have to get there.

Gcse are a long time away - you can always do the evil 11 plus and change. Those 3 schools are all roughly the same on the scores - so I'd pick the school you can see your child being the happiest

Good luck

I'd go with the one she liked.

The difference in those results looks pretty small to me, plus they will get better results if they are more selective at 11+, so the nurturing girls school that allows everyone to stay may have slightly lower results due to that. But that won't affect your daughter.