Girls Senior Schools

[Legoninja80]

Hello parents, I need some advice.

We are looking for a senior school for my Year 5 daughter. She would like a single sex school but doesn’t want to board. Possibly open to flexi-boarding at times. We are based in West London, but don’t want to travel into London. She’s highly academic and quite sporty in and out of school.

We have seen LEH which although academic felt a little bit of a hot house. Even though DD performs extremely well, she doesn’t like to be put under a huge amount of pressure.

Downe House - we really liked the feel of the school, but unsure how academic it really is. We are concerned in such a small environment she will sit comfortably at the top of her class without having the challenge of peers.

Anyone have experience of Downe House especially from a day girl?

Any other suggestions we haven’t thought of?

Queenswood. Just near Potters Bar

They have door to door transport, excellent sports, academic scholarship programs. Flexi boarding.

I think unless you want a real hot house, you won't find anywhere much more academic than Downe House if looking for that type of school.

Most people seem to feel it sits in a comfortable position of facilitating very high achievement without a suffocatingly competitive culture. They ensure that Music, drama and sport and a wide range of activities generally are given sufficient status to allow all girls (bearing in mind it is a selective school) to find their niche.

AS a parent who has been through, and has children at, some highly competitive schools, I always wonder how prospective parents worry a school won't have enough "runway" for their child. These schools are always keen to extend the top students. If what you mean is will she feel sick with anxiety under the pressure to hold her own at the top of the pile, it possibly isn't a frontrunner though.

There’s nothing wrong with sitting at the top of your cohort and not being surrounded by lots of other super academic children. My DD is one of them and it’s done far more for her confidence than being in the middle of a super bright year group. She is stretched academically by doing differentiated work that concentrates on breadth rather than racing ahead. She finds everything easy and is on track for all 9s at GCSE. I’d rather she was in the non stressed out environment she’s in than being in a high pressure place generating unnecessary stress.

Both Downe House (which is really quite academic) and Queenswood (select for average ability and above) do this very well. Another one to consider is Queen Anne’s, Caversham. If getting a train from Euston is possible then Berkhamsted is also a strong contender.

For some children, they need to sit at the top of their cohort and I agree it does wonders for them. For my DD it’s not the right place. We’ve been in that position and she found herself demotivated and in our experience the teachers were more interested at improving the others to catch up. This may have been the school and we have since moved to another Prep which has a lot more kids and therefore more competition. For DD this has ensured she is able to collaborate with her peers on a similar level to her particularly in maths. She herself has said she’s happier in this environment.

Downe House seemed very laid back on visiting and we really liked the Head. Our current Prep Head agreed it’s not overly academic and that might be a reason not to chose it for our DD. Although he didn’t really suggest anything else either.

Depends where “west” you are then. There’s some great options heading Oxford way - St Helen’s & Kats, Headington, and Abingdon if you would consider coed. They have bus routes from Reading / Henley / Gerrards Cross areas.

Wycombe Abbey is the obvious academic choice. We really liked it but I know others find it marmite.

There’s Habs Girls and St Albans High School in Herts.

If you won’t consider London schools or boarding then there’s not many more options.

I actually think Downe House is quite academic. CAT scores minimum 115 but more like 120+ for most girls. Be warned that the head will likely leave whilst your daughter is there though - she has been there for 25 ish years.

Woldingham? Catholic day and boarding, good train ride from Clapham.
Family chose St Swithuns for weekly boarding with busing on weekends.

she found herself demotivated and in our experience the teachers were more interested at improving the others to catch up.

This won't happen at Downe.

To be honest, the only obviously more academic places would be Wycombe Abbey, which, as has been mentioned, is quite marmite, or the London Days like St Paul's, which have another vibe again, There is a reason London parents send so many girls out to Downe House, but you need to decide which sort of environment you are looking for: large city and pressurised, or rural and a bit more emphasis on achievement not being everything in a child's development - which it really isn't. Most people who have discussed Downe House with me felt it was more or less as far as you could push upward academically without tipping over into that sort of ethos. But if that's the ethos you want, you should be honest with yourself: plenty do - obviously as they have waitlists.

Even though DD performs extremely well, she doesn’t like to be put under a huge amount of pressure.

I would have thought this summed up a DH perfectly ... and there will even be quite a few who relish a bit of pressure.

Putney? DD’s friend has just chosen it above more highly ranked schools ( St Pauls etc) as it had a more “normal” vibe. Not sure if this counts as travelling into London, depends where you are. Wimbledon High also.

Surbiton I felt that was more relaxed (the vibe of the girls) than LEH