St Paul's Cathedral or Gower School?

[HighEstate]

Hi all - I appreciate that (a) not everyone will be in the enviable position of being able (or finding it difficult) to choose between two schools that they like: apologies; this thread is not meant to gloat but is a genuine request for help/information; (b) that there is a decent amount of information on both schools (including the various long threads on why The Gower School and Miss Gowers are awful etc, some or all of which I have read and take with a pinch of salt) and (c) that it might be difficult to choose but - all of that being the case:

Could current/recent parents (and or well-advised others with connections to either/both schools) give us any suggestions as to your thoughts on which one to choose? Our son appears to be bright (though he's 4 - perhaps a little early to make definitive judgements) and sensitive; he's currently in a Montessori nursery and we like that approach (although it is one that seems to be shared, to some extent, by SPCS) and we would eventually like him (if he is able to/feels like he would do well there) to go to one of the Big Secondaries (usual suspects here). Any advice? Thanks in advance!

@HIghEstate, I have 2 DCs at SPCS currently and know several parents who have/had children at The Gower School.

SPCS is a great school and i can't recommend it highly enough. Both my DCs moved there in Reception from a Montessory pre-school and there were no issues with that transition. SPCS runs the International Primary Curriculum up until Year 4, which involves a new "topic" each term/half-term that runs across al subject teaching, and this seemed a fairly easy step to take from the Montessori curriculum.

The Gower School seems much more Marmite - I know parents who've had a good experience there and others who've had quite the opposite. I know enough to suggest that you might be being over-generous with that pinch of salt.

There's no real way of knowing in advance which school your DS would be happiest at, and he might do equally well academically at either, so you may be better off considering the key differences in what each school's offers beyond academics and pastoral care.

SPCS

• Class sizes - 20 in pre-prep, 16-17 in Years 3-6, 12-13 in Year 7 & 8
• Fairly equal mix of boys and girls until Y7 & 8 - most of the girls and a few boys leave at the end of Y6
• Senior school transfer - option of 11+ or 13+ transfer. Well-run and established programme of Common Entrance preparation, including special provision for pupils sitting scholarship exams for the likes of Westminster/SPS/Winchester. Headmaster has good links with heads of London day schools and boarding schools and gets involved personally in conversations with senior school admissions teams during the entrance process. 11+ preparation less well-oiled but improving. School sends pupils to a wide variety of schools and tries to find the best fit for each child rather than feeding to the same small pool of schools. Sends at least 1 or 2 boys each year to Westminster/SPS, often a small handful to City, and every couple of years 1 or 2 to Eton/WInchester. Day pupils usually move on to London day schools, choristers to boarding schools with good music (Kings Canterbury, Rugby, Uppingham). Plenty of scholarships - for example, this year of perhaps 60-70 pupils taking 10+/11+13+, there were at least 30 scholarship awards across the whole range of academic/music/sport/art/drama.
• Extracurricular - superb music (and improving all the time thanks to a dynamic new head of music) - almost all pupils play at least one instrument and/or sing in one of the choirs. Good art and drama, competitive team sports
• After-school care - no after-school clubs until Year 1 and then not every evening. From Y3 onwards, in addition to after-school clubs there is a supervised homework session until 5pm.
• Holiday programme - patchy, often a week or two of clubs (9am-3pm) in the Easter and Summer holidays but not at Christmas. Definitely doesn't cover the entire holiday period. Easter holiday is longer than most schools - typically a month.
• A happy, vibrant school with an excellent standard of teaching and low staff turnover.

From what I know of TGS, some key differences appear to be:

• No 13+ option as the school ends at Y6. This is less of an issue for girls, as most girls/so-ed senior schools seem to have their main intake at 11+. However if you are aiming at "big name" academic boys' senior schools, this will mean transferring to their prep/junior schools (or a separate prep for most boarding senior schools) at 11+ rather than directly into senior school.
• More comprehensive wraparound care on offer, including holiday care that covers most of the year.
• Smaller class sizes in the upper years, which may be good for individual teacher attention but may reduces the friendship pool
• Standard of music education and music opportunities not as high
• Doesn't send pupils on to as wide a range of schools, and may not have quite the same level of connection with the heads/admission teams of boys' senior schools as TGS is not involved in the 13+ process.
• Seems to have quite a high staff turnover.

In your shoes, and thinking ahead to senior school transfer, I'd choose SPCS. However I'm quite happy to admit I'm biased - I couldn't have asked for a better start to my DCs' education. Feel free to pm me if you'd like more information.