Old Vicarage vs. Notting Hill and Ealing High School

[richmonddad]

DD has a place in both Old Vicarage school in Richmond and NHEHS in Ealing. We currently live in Richmond and love it, however willing to move if NHEHS being an all-through school (and potentially a good one at that) is worth it. It is very hard to make up our minds as we didn't grow up in the British education system either.

Things going for OV : Smaller class size, seemingly more attentive teachers, already has some friends, no moving houses
NHEHS: Good senior school, no 11+ stress, excellent school amenities (Swimming pool, dance studio, gym, multi purpose theatre etc.)

What are your opinions?

If you are in Richmond, like the area and have local friends I would stay put and go for OV.
You really don’t know what school will suit your dd as a teenager at this stage. Sometimes it’s good to have a change at 11. Ov should prep your dd for good senior schools . LEH, KGS Putney High etc.
No personal experience of either school

I agree with Mary21 that it's too soon to know what school will suit your dd at 11 so doesn't seem worth moving house now if you have a good alternative.

Also a school can change a lot between now and your dd reaching 11.

Other factors to consider are that NHEHS doesn't prepare for 11+ and entry to the senior school is not guaranteed.

NHEHS Junior just won the Sunday Times prep school of the year award, and there are likely good reasons for that such as great academic results achieved in a nurturing and caring environment.

As for the cited advantages of OV:
"Smaller class size"
How small are we talking? Is 20 not small enough?

"Seemingly more attentive teachers"
How did you make that determination?

"and entry to the senior school is not guaranteed."

I'd think if that turns out to be a problem, the affected DC would struggle in an academic school or 11+ entry to top schools anyway, and hopefully the assessment would have prevented you from ending up in that situation. I understand most girls pass through, so sounds like nothing to worry about in your case. If worse came to worse she would move to a less academic environment which, again, is unlikely to be necessary.

OV - small class size: OV has 15 pupils per class, whereas NHEHS has 20 until year 2, 24 then on.

Attentive teacher: Completely subjective opinion based on open days, may be a complete misrepresentation.

NHEHS class sizes are a bit lower than that in practice. The key difference you omitted is that NHEHS is a selective school which places it in a different league academically and in terms of children's experience at the school really.

I'm not sure selection at 4+ guarantees a school in a different league academically Londonmum8. Have you looked at the destination schools from Old Vicarage? They look impressive with offers to senior schools with better academic results than NHEHS and considered more selective at 11+ e.g. SPGS, G&L, LEH, WHS

Selection does play a role, and technically, NHEHS admits at 4+ and 7+. I haven't looked at that if only because it would be comparing apples to oranges. BTW From memory LEH results tend to be ranked below NHEHS. The new head from NLCS looks like he means business.

One other thing to look at is 11+ entry papers from the various schools of reference. Having googled maths papers from NHEHS and LU for example, there is a clear difference in difficulty in favour of NHEHS, presumably representative of the level of the girls at junior exit. Additionally, the girls do benefit from being spared questionable exam prep drills not to mention the benefit of the option to avoid the overall stress and hassle of 11+.

BTW Helpfully, NHEHS offers an excellent afterschool (and now also a breakfast) club - a fairly uncommon arrangement in the indy sector. The number of school days is also above average which is a blessing.

Anyway, sounds like you've made up your mind (which is sort of understandable given the 30 min+ commute from Richmond!), so hope you are happy with the choice. All the best.

Oh, I wish we did! :) previous poster was not me.

LondonMum8, do you think selection at 4+ makes a real difference? Also you seem to have personal experience with NHEHS, what would be your opinion on the teachers?

Intuitively, I would think so, and clearly they are doing something right given that maths is 1-2 years to infinity ahead of National Curriculum in some aspects. Effects of 7+ are definitely tangible. Not as much exposure to specialist teachers as I should have gained, none of whom DD can fault. Class teachers are lovely, native Mandarin and French, amazing music teacher, a GM runs the chess club. HTH

Dear Londonmum8,

I just have read your post and wondered what decision have you made and are you happy with it? We are in the middle of important decision and will really appreciate your respond. Thank you!