Elizabeth College, Guernsey

[london2k]

We've had 2 kids go to EC. I can honestly say that it's a waste of money. One of our kids left EC and went to Beaucamp (a FREE school) and we think the level of education is if anything better...and certainly no worse.

Another of of our kids left EC and went to Blanchlande, which is a paid school. But the level of education at Blanchlande is substantially better than that found at EC.

In short, I can not recommend EC.

Hi,

We are relocating to Guernsey over the summer and are looking for schools for our 3 boys.
We were considering Blanchlande, but obviously hearing that Beaucamp is also good in your opinion, maybe we should look at that one too.

Have you any more info that might sway us? One son is going into year 10 so quite crucial we pick well! He is more maths/science focused, where our other son isn’t very academic but into his sports.

Number 3 son is going into year 3 so maybe mainstream would do him 🙃

Any feedback on schools would be much appreciated!

My brother went to Elizabeth College for A Levels. At the time it was the only option on the island where he could take Further Maths for A Level which was important since he wanted to do Maths at university. So it is worth looking into if that is still the case if your older son is more focused on Maths/Sciences and might want to do Further Maths.

Which school did you decide on in the end?
I have kids at Beaucamps and they are doing very well there.

My son has just finished year 7 at Elizabeth college in guernsey. We’ve been very unhappy especially for the price. It’s pretty much a non selective school (there is an entrance test but it’s very easy and everyone I know got in. I don’t know of anyone who didn’t and that’s from a huge range of state primary schools on the island) however the children aren’t set. So in maths for example, huge range of ability but all taught together. My son hasn’t progressed at all and is bored.

however main problem is the lack of discipline. Very lax head teacher, Jenny palmer, and she doesn’t seem to have her finger on the pulse. The children don’t respect her and she’s very lenient. My son and his friends complain of vaping in the toilets, kids gaming in lessons all the time, disruption in class from behaviour issues.

I get that it’s a small island so they can’t afford to expel as they need the money but they need to tighten discipline regardless. Maybe suspensions would help.

there is a tiny dining room which doesn’t fit barely any of the school so most children take a packed lunch and sit in the school hall to eat. What sort of private school can’t fit children in their dining room? Sports is terrible - whole of year 7 done and there weren’t any matches organised against other guernsey schools in cricket or hockey. 4 matches in football for my sons’ team and those are the only matches all year in any sport which he played against other schools. Playground is a small patch of tarmac with one patch to play football but has to be rotated amongst 7 year groups and 90 children per year group so usually can’t play on it. One Astro pitch for hockey between 500 students. One water logged sports field so often football/rugby cancelled.

no swimming pool as they filled it in so they don’t do swimming any more. No tennis or squash courts. No cricket nets (apparently are building some but they’ve said this 4 years in a row and as of this moment in time they’re still not ready)

I could go on. A chunk of children leave in y9 to board in the UK and I can see why, we will have to look into that too.

if you compare the gcse and a level exam results at Elizabeth college you’ll see they’re on a par with a state school and well below the UK average for private schools. Fine…. Except it’s not fine as we pay £15,000 a year! Everyone I’ve spoken to this year has the same complaints especially about discipline and vaping in school.

If you are so unhappy about it what will you do?
Pull your child out and send them to the excellent states school?

I am bemused though - my son has just completed year 7 and had several hockey tournaments at which EC fielded several teams.

Might I suggest that sending your kid to states school and using your 15k a year to pay for lots of fabulous extra-curricular might be a better use of your hard-earned cash?

Interesting

Wonder what you all think of the infant years as my aunt teachers one of those

Many family members went to Elizabeth College and all did very well. The last finished in the 80s though.

It’s clearly not doing so well now.

I’ll pass on all your thoughts 😎

the year 7 boys entered the beechwood tournament (beechwood is their junior school) and played the year 5/6 teams. against children 2 years younger (my other child was one of the year 5 beechwood children playing them) luckily beechwood organised this tournament or Elizabeth College wouldn’t have. Why didn’t they organise a tournament?

ive attached the sports fixtures for the entire year on hockey for y7. (The Tuesday 21st Jan was cancelled)

Next year (y8) they can’t enter the beechwood tournament as that really WOULD be taking the piss against year 5 so there are even less chances to play.

very happy with the junior school. Both children did pre school up to year 6 there and no complaints. It’s the senior school where it all seems to be falling apart.

I suggest asking Chris du Feu who is head of PE at EC.

Could i please ask for any experiences or insights on EC versus Blanchelande on Sixth Form? They seem so different. Blanchelande seems to have loads of one to one tutoring and very friendly but difficult to judge results given i think quite mixed ability. EC seems more traditional approach with decent grades. Sport isnt a massive driver for us. Interested more in the academics and how easy it is to fit in when moving between schools.

What is your child like? Probably their personality would guide the decision.

elizabeth college is not super academic these days. A level results this year have a large amount of C-E grades. But that, like with blanchelande, is reflective of their broad intake more than anything else.

https://elizabethcollege.gg/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025-Alevel-results-website.pdf

i imagine it’s on a par with blanchelande academically. It’s a more established 6th form so given the choice I would choose Elizabeth college just because it has more experience running a 6th form. Blanchelande has a very new 6th form. Do they both offer the subjects that your child wants to take?

people seem happy with the Elizabeth college one. They do get some arriving from blanchelande for 6th form though and I’m not sure there is movement the other way.

Very helpful thankyou. Bit of a mixed bag on subjects maths, and social sciences i would say, and both cover the impt subjects. B seems to teach some subjects in groups of 3 or 4, which i haven't seen before, reflective i guess of a smaller sixth form before but clearly that is very personalised. We attended the open days last year. I think an important thing is being able to fit in, coming new into a sixth form. DS is quite quiet and not sporty.

Blanchlande 6th form is very new so I would be interested in knowing how experienced the teachers are in teaching at A level- I genuinely don’t know the answer and they might be highly experienced!

Also isn’t Blanchlande quite religious? That may or may not bother you.

Is he musical? Very good music at EC. Not sporty isn't a problem, they have to do a sports option but it doesnn't have to be traditional hockey/football/cricket etc it can be 'the gym' or badminton, or table tennis, or even go karting I believe now!

I would look at the results for both schools for the specific subjects he wants to study.

This is now making me think! Elizabeth college boys came over London way to stay with some of of our year 6 boys and fielded two teams who played in a year 6 football tournament…..

I thought wow, they must be really good at sport, especially as they won! Were they not year 6?! They were exceptionally tall, we thought wow, what’s in the water!

@Aroundandabout Elizabeth College is a senior school. Year 7-13 but they have a junior school called beechwood so probably year 6 beechwood children who came to you.

beechwood is good for sports and they do lots of tours and matches in year 6

On this topic can i ask for any views on the Ladies College sixth form vs EC sixth form. I know they partner but not really sure how much. Looking at places for 2027. TIA

I think they are totally shared curriculum aren’t they?

They are totally joint at 6th form I think. Mixed classes for every subject. What you need to find out is which A levels your daughter is doing and the find out which campus they’d be taught on. If all her A levels are in the Elizabeth college building then makes sense to go there as they have to go back to their ‘real’ school for lunch and break.

likewise if her subjects are based at ladies register there otherwise she will spend half the time walking between the two sites.

Thankyou for the replies, very helpful. I think for alot of subjects they do dual classes so they run the A level at both sites. However for others like Further Math its at EC. Not 100% sure i understand how much cross over there is day to day for the majority of students.

My sister was at Ladies College and spent all day walking up and down the hill for her Maths classes. Her other subjects were arts/humanities and mainly at Ladies College. If your DD is doing sciences, cut out the middle man and go for EC.

That is very useful thankyou. DD is looking at history, psychology and english literature so i get the impression they are either at both centres or probably more towards the ladies side.

@alice732 it changes every year which subjects are done at which site. So you need to confirm with the schools themselves for her year of entry.