Glendower school or Hill House ?

[chirinemum]

Hi my daughter has just been offered a place at Glendower prep school and has also a offer for Hill House , I actually prefer co-ed schools but am wondering if anyone can give me advice on which school might be better choice both academically and being happy there.

thanks for all the advice

Hi chirinemum, I'm in exactly the same situation, although am also waiting to see if we get any other offers.

We liked Hill House very much (pupils seemed utterly charming), but loved Glendower. With Hill House, I liked the co-ed and the eccentricity but worried about the 70/30 boy / girl ratio, and the really small class sizes; in a class of 12, there would maybe be only 2 or 3 other girls to make friends with, and was slightly nervous about the amount of travelling between sites.

Glendower seemed very friendly and down-to-earth, and their website is massively informative about the sheer range of stuff that they do. Girls seem stretched academcically and to go onto good schools, and looked happy when we went round. But think we'll will need to meet new Headmistress first before we make up our minds, as we had thought that the old one was great.

To be honest though, I don't think you can go wrong with either of them

Would be lovely to hear first-hand views of mothers of current pupils.

I think the Hill House 70/30 ratio is based on the whole school. Most girls move at 11 while the boys change schools at 13 so there are effectively 2 school years with very few girls. Lower down the school I have noticed that there are generally 4-6 girls in each class of approx 12.
The travel between sites is managed with minibuses for the younger ones, the minibuses are owned and operated by the school rather than an outside agency.
Having the school split over several sites means it has a small school feel and the younger ones seem to settle well.

Hope that helps.

My daughter goes to Glendower and I absolutely love it. It is a gently but academic school and my daughter is very happy there. I would highly recommend it.