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Cotham v Redland secondary school.

6 replies

PosieParker · 05/02/2012 14:22

Any ideas?

OP posts:
crazymum53 · 06/02/2012 15:24

Redland Green has had it's first set of GCSE results in 2011 and they are the highest ranked co-ed school in Bristol. Results seem to be better than Cotham in 2011. The sixth form is however joint between the 2 schools and am unsure how this works in practice. Both schools are rated by OFSTED as outstanding, have a good reputation and are oversubscribed.
Live too far away for either of these to be an option for my child but would recommend looking round both schools and working out your home-school distance to see which is closest.

PosiePumblechook · 06/02/2012 15:34

Well either way I have to move!!

exexpat · 06/02/2012 17:50

I know people who have (or have had) children at both, and have heard both good and bad about both. Redland Green obviously has a more uniformly middle class intake so you would expect it to get better results; some people have said this, and the fact that they have been so oversubscribed from the start, means they sometimes seem to think they don't have to try very hard... One friend withdrew his daughter because they were offering little to no support for her fairly severe dyslexia (she's bright so was just about keeping up with average/expected levels, but was capable of doing much better with proper dyslexia support).

Cotham gets good results considering its very mixed intake, and has a very good reputation for music, dance and drama, if your DCs are into that sort of thing. But I have heard some occasionally worrying things about bullying/gangs/violence - though I guess you are going to get some of that at any large inner city school.

Possibly more worrying for me is a friend whose yr 9 son is extremely bright but is currently getting into trouble quite often, largely (it seems) because he is bored in lessons - they only seem to set for maths so far, and the level of some other things, like science, doesn't seem to be challenging him. He also seems to be influenced by the 'not cool to work hard' ethic while trying to impress the cool kids. I've heard similar from another friend whose son has now left Cotham. But again, that can happen in any school - it can be a question of individual attitudes rather than the overall culture of a place.

Have you been to look round and get a feel for the two schools?

woobly · 16/10/2012 10:23

Anyone got any more thoughts on this? The date to decide is getting closer... and we like both!

crazymum53 · 18/10/2012 11:22

What a lovely position to be in where you qualify for both schools. If in your position would probably put Redland Green as preference one and Cotham as preference two. HTH

DooDahDay · 11/11/2012 16:06

It's interesting what exexpat says about Redland Green's results - i've long thought that considering their catchment area their GCSE results should be nearer 90% 5 GCSEs A*-C than the 70ish% it is currently. Can't help but think they are not trying very hard at all and relying on middle class parents' "ethic". Isn't the "Value Added" score supposed to reflect this type of thing?

That said, if I had the choice I would choose Redland Green over Cotham. Although that's probably just because they have a nicer uniform rather than any concrete reason.

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