Godolphin and Latymer or Westminster

[ThatWildHam]

11+ results came through yesterday, and DD received offers from Westminster and Godolphin & Latymer

She seems to have her heart set on Westminster, but as it is the first year that they are accepting girls we're unsure about it

Currently confused and deadlocked, so any advice or insights from anyone with experience at either school would be appreciated!

Congratulations to your DD. Mine didn’t get Westminster, though it was very much her — and our — first choice. Did she apply from a prep school? Our older DD went on to Westminster Sixth Form from SPGS and absolutely loved it. The teaching and environment are fantastic and I’ve no doubt the girls would thrive there.

We’re lucky to have all three Hammersmith schools, so can’t complain. We’ll choose one for now and may try again at Sixth Form. We do prefer co-ed, but as Latymer doesn’t do GCSEs and we’re keen on a Sixth Form move, SPGS may make more sense..

Congrats to your DD! Are you looking at Westminster 13+ or WUS for 11+? Very keen to hear from parents of daughters who are considering joining this first cohort!

We find ourselves in a similar situation and have to choose between SPGS and Westminster and have little knowledge of either school. I never really expected this outcome and I feel Westminster has been a lot more welcoming but it is just a feeling. My daughter enjoyed the interview experience and came out happy having enjoyed the afternoon more than anywhere else. She loved how interested they seemed to be in who she really is, her likes and dislikes etc.

She prefers Westminster however last night had a change of heart saying that she fears there will be only a handful of girls and what if she won't be able to make friends etc
In terms of academics I believe both schools are very similar and while this is a first year experiment for Westminster I feel that there is no way they can afford for it not to be a success and will do their very best with these girls.
So tough!

Does anyone know how many girls will be admitted in year 7 for this September start?

@SWmumof may I ask what determined your daughter to switch at 6th form?

In my school generation I was among the first set of girls admitted into a previously boys-only institution.

It taught me many things but also fucked me up in many ways, and I say that as one of the Oxbridge-big career success stories

No way am I ever fucking doing that to my daughter. She’s not a social experiment nor a way of resolving your school’s budgetary issues. When you have equality of staff and equitable investment in sports, come and talk.

Westminster, if you know the school well, is notorious for poor pastoral care. They’re very invested in their Oxbridge applications and not in whether your kid is actually happy.

I see your point, however my understanding is that ultimately most schools will/are planning to become co-ed including Saint Paul's (boys) and I believe this is more of an answer to high demand and cultural/generational shift rather than financial pressure? There are schools that absolutely become co-ed due to falling numbers, I just don't think this is the case with elite schools - I am happy to stand corrected though!

Too outing to expand on my views, @RareWinter but don’t be fooled - all but a handful of “elite” schools are under huge financial pressure. Interestingly, one of the reasons besides pensions is the increase in litigation from parents.

Would prefer my son to actually study in school and not dismiss the pastoral care (which surely is easily taken care of by my family and his environment) but place less importance on it.

A school should take care of education. Same way my car isn't meant to drive over mountains.

With respect, wait until you’re made redundant, or go through a family or marriage breakdown, or a prolonged illness, before claiming your family is equipped to handle your child’s pastoral care.

They spend seven hours a day at school, and you want to be sure they’re in safe hands.

Interesting to observe the ways parents discussed Westminster (pre-offers) vs their thinking now: in our cohort there was initially a lot of talk re: how amazing it would be for our DDs to be part of a trailblazing cohort; now: rather more of a flight to the known.

As an example: those with SPGS/Westminster overlaps seem to be leaning pretty hard SPGS — which I’m not sure Westminster anticipated.

@IsThisRealLife Absolutely, I am living it, it feels a bit surreal and it is probably human nature and trying hard to make the right decision.
I am hoping that after attending offer holders day I will know.
Westminster's invite feels particularly special!

My daughter says that walking into SPGS gives her happy feelings although she thought the teacher's at Westminster were extremely nice and "fancy" (both introduced themselves as "doctors"). Argh, what to do!

It’s really sad that a parent doesn’t think pastoral care is important. It’s also likely one of the reasons schools with poor pastoral care but an “elite” reputation get away with it.

We’ll be accepting St Paul’s for our daughter. She didn’t receive an interview at WUS, despite being a sibling, and we don’t know what happened on the day.

That said, our experience of WUS has been a very positive one. Pastoral care in particular has been excellent and it really is a nurturing environment. I don’t think comparisons with how schools may have felt a generation or even a few years ago are very like-for-like now, especially given how deliberately the move to co-education has been handled under the current new leadership. The school has also had girls in the Sixth Form for a long time, and that experience clearly feeds into how they’re approaching this next step.

We have a son there, and the excitement about welcoming girls is very real — not just from the school, but from the boys and the parent body too. Since the co-ed announcement, families actively chose Westminster because they believe in co-education, over boys-only schools, and there are plenty with sisters hoping to follow in due course.

Wherever you end up choosing for your daughters, I think there’s real reason to feel proud that Westminster chose them. From everything we’ve been told, the Head and teachers have been very clear that the first girls offered places will be nothing less than exceptional — not just academically, but in terms of character too — and capable of carrying the school’s traditions forward while shaping what comes next. Best of luck!

No, I do think it's important to a vast majority, sure/maybe, but not relevant to my case, that's all. My point was, for two identical schools on the table, food quality (or whatever else) would be higher on my list when it comes to determining the right one for my son :)

I heard that it is just 20 girls

For what it’s worth, our neighbour has two very unhappy girls at SPGS, one has just applied for sixth form at Westminster but didn’t get a place.

SPGS positions itself is really chilled out and things like homework being optional. In fact, I don’t think it is called homework. But then you get real censure if you haven’t done the ‘not homework’. Tests are called quizzes. Yay. The parents say it is a hot bed of bitchiness and anorexia.

fundamentally though, why wouldn’t you go with the one your daughter likes?!

WUS for 11+. Which is the other question actually - supposedly there are more girls joining at 13+, but given that girls prep schools all end at 11 and all other girls secondary schools start at 11, I don’t really understand where these other girls are supposed to come from…

A few reasons:

1. I think she wants to go to Westminster mostly because it was harder to get in (“they only took 20 girls”!) - which is good for kudos, but may not be the best basis for a school choice
2. Her tour of Godolphin was maybe two years ago (and I still have been yet), so she might prefer Westminster because she saw it more recently
3. The whole first cohort of girls thing is a black box, so even if we view both schools again we’ll never really know in advance how that will work out
4. Westminster is about 60% more expensive than Godolphin…

To be honest though, they’re 10 or maybe just 11 years old. They may be bright 10 year olds and lovely girls but at the end of the day who knows how they’ll turn out and what defines ‘Exceptional’? It’s all a bit of a lottery at 11 although less so than the ridiculous 4 plus!

@ThatWildHamhave you checked out the WU 4 plus thread? It seems they are getting siblings accepting and r running thru the WL for dd to accept. You might find the 20 places for 11 plus are mainly taken by siblings. At least the parents will be supportive of the school but 20 is a tiny cohort to find your friends from and to compete in sports teams etc.

Many girls we know sat the Westminster exam(s); many those at SPGS.

Those I’ve spoke to with offers from both are leaning quite strongly SPGS.

Suspect the same will be true at other girls’ schools.

If we had an offer from SPGS then we would probably go with that as well. We got everything else we applied for (mostly with academic scholarship), with Godolphin probably our top choice, but not SPGS. Hence the dilemma!