Shall we move her?

[Leila85]

Hello,

My daughter has offer from these schools. She currently goes to Blackheath High and she loves it.
We are happy that she has offer from JAGS and Alleyns but she doesn’t want to move. We never had problem with Blackheath High she been there since nursery - (our eldest is also in Blackheath High) she loves her teachers and she has lovely group of friends. We do playdates so often with her classmates and she likes that her school is local (12 mins walk away).
JAGS and Alleyns are more academic selective schools and they have better clubs/facilities than Blackheath High but in the same time I feel like my daughter will not be able to benefit from them as she doesn’t like to wake up so early or stay at school until 5 etc.. At the moment we live home at 8:10 but if she goes to JAGS or Alleyns we need to leave home around 7:15 to take school bus from Blackheath. Also she doesn’t like to travel by car too much -

Do you think she will get use to it?

JAGS and Allenys school fees are higher than Balckheath High, also we will need to pay for the school bus - in total £4000-5000k more per annum - is it worth to move her? Actually she doesn’t need better education or any pressure to achieve her potential her GL Progress Test score is 137 for Maths and 135 for English.
But she will be in academic environment and she will have more academic friends - is this advantage? She is at the moment one of the top student in class (probably 1st) and she loves that - or this is a advantage for her?

Thank you in advance 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I would keep her where she is. If she is thriving and happy why would you change that? If she is doing well academically and you are happy w the education received, I would keep her there.

@SamPoodle123 I know lots of people who did massive preparation to get an offer from these school but we never did any practice (whatever she did at school). I feel like she deserve it but in the same time not sure if it will be beneficial for her rather than saying I go to JAGS or Alleyns… Because we live far and commute will be harder. Also she is in love with her current school

I’d leave her. Blackheath is a really good school, and even though it’s not so selective it doesn’t have the disruptive/ low ability kids that could make life tricky in some schools.

Proximity, existing friendships and an extra £5k are really important!

I say that as a parent of one of the Dulwich schools - it’s great, but won’t do anything extra for a kid who is already performing well.

@Violettaa true, almost %70 BHS junior girls move to seniors automatically without taking 11+ entrance exam. But still we are so happy with the Blackheath High education and results. My eldest wasnt so academic and we are now expecting all grade 8-9s from her - she improved a lot in since she moved into Blackheath. Also, my daughters have lovely group of friends - they go to school happy and doing well without any pressure. We will be sad if she is not going to have same environment if she moves other school - maybe we are overthinking☺️

Don't move her if she is happy

I get it, our dd came from state school and did not do much prep and now goes to G&L. She is happy and loves doing all the sports. We let her decide, as she had other offers and got into a good state secondary.

I would let your dd make the decision, but do the travel with her so she understands the difference and do it the time you would need to get to school. My dd is not a morning person at all, but since starting at her new school wakes at 6am to get to school early so she can do hw and sports. To me, it sounds like she will do well where she is and she is happy, so why rock the boat. But if she wants to make the change, then I would just make sure she understands about the travel etc. My dd does not mind it, but she has long days and I wish that the school was a 10 mins walk.

Oh, leave her be if she's happy, and you're local. There are advantages from a smaller school. I'm ex-GDST and have no fault to find.