Assessment at Bishop Challoner

[pinksplutterweasel]

My daughter is in year 5 at a well regarded primary in Bromley but has been having some friendship issues which have resulted in some problems for her with anxiety and self esteem. I'm beginning to worry that secondary school might be an issue if she is one of 1000+ kids in a school - on the one hand she'd have a greater number of 'friends' to choose from - but if she did have problems, she'd just be another kid. She's academically capable but not one of the top 5 in the class. We are looking at possibly sending her to Bishop Challoner - we live ridiculously close - she could virtually roll out of bed and into her form room. From what I understand speaking to the admissions department, I could send her for year six and that would make for a nice smooth transition into the seniors. She will have to sit an assessment but not an entrance exam. What I wondered was - how 'high performing' do you have to be to pass the assessment - is entrance based on being the creme de la creme academically speaking or are they open to taking a well rounded, confident, ambitious child who can hold their own and achieve decent grades. Is there any way I can prepare her for the assessment and interview? Thanks in advance

My son started bishop challoner from year 9 and is far from academic. I don't think you need to be be too clever i think you have to just have potential. Bishop challoner is not an oversubscribed school so i think this is why the chances of getting in are more high. It is a good school, very small with small classes. I do like the school however if i had the option to send my younger daughters there for secondary i would most likely stay clear mainly because they have a very high staff turnover in the secondary with many teachers leaving with no or little notice right in the middle of the term. The options for gcse is very limited same as the 6th form. You would have more options in a mainstream or a bigger independent secondary. Ive heard very good things about the junior school and very good pastoral care throughout.

Bullying can happen anywhere. It is all about how a school deals with it. I have not really heard any issues with regards to bullying in bishop challoner and anything that arises are usually dealt with very quickly. If you want to send your daughter to a school based on the smaller classes, more attention and the facilities it has to offer i would just say let your child be herself as the rest would be age related so should be things she knows already (year 5 related) and she is coming to the end of year 5 so should be fine with the knowkedge.

I assume you live around shortlands so i would read up on your locally secondaries and ofsted reports, maybe talk to other parents regarding how bullying is dealt with in their schools. I guess your in catchment for harris beckenham and Bromley and possibly langley which i know is a fanatic school. Also the new school eden park high which i hear very good things about.

Good luck with it all and consider all options as bullying can happen anywhere its just a shame your daughter got to experience it.

Starting at year 6 she may not need to do an entrance test for year 7 although they still usually automatically follow through the school but double check

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. It’s so hard to know what to do for the best isn’t it. We’ve been to see the secondaries and our first choice of those that we are potentially in the catchment for are Harris beckenham, followed by ravensbourne and Eden Park. We have a DS as well and while we fall into catchment (probably) for Langley girls, we don’t for Langley boys. We live on the same road as BC - just a few doors away in fact - but that’s not the reason for choosing it. I think she might thrive in a school where a close relationship with the teachers is possible, where she’s not the littlest fish in the pond (having the younger kids on site too) and to have a chance not to be a shadow - there are some strong personalities (little madams) in her class and so she says she can feel intimidated voicing her ideas in class. She’s honestly a lovely, mature little girl and perhaps her maturity is her downfall - she doesn’t like messing around - she was appalled when we invited some girls to her party a couple of years ago. It was cocktail making and dinner - lots of fun and we assumed that because our daughter new how to behave in a restaurant full of people, the others would too. We ended up earning the girls we were going to be thrown out. They were trying to squirt ketchup at each other, found them in the loos emptying all the soap out of the dispensers,
Flicking each other with juice. She is so not like that herself - and will prefer to be by herself than follow a crowd if she doesn’t like what the crowd is doing. I’ve always said she would be right at home in and Enid Blyton school - she’s old fashioned in her ways and quite studious - she’d rather devour a book at play time than play ‘it’. My friends’ daughter Goes to st Christopher’s. They’re best friends and god sisters. My dd gets on so well with the other girls from st Christopher’s who she mixes with at play dates and parties. I’m not saying that a certain type of child goes to private school but that my dd has just been unlucky that the girls in her class just haven’t been her cup of tea. I want her to go to a school where she can be herself, grow in confidence and not have the legacy of the bad experiences she’s had over the years. She’s been looking at the BC website and getting very excited about the lunch clubs and extra curricular activities. I’m actually thinking that if they like her and she likes them - it could be the one!

Apologies for the typos - thumb typing on my phone🤦‍♀️