Malvern St James

[MrPickles73]

Sadly Malvern St James is closing 🫩

Such a shame. And such a short time after acquisition...

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/763899

Yes just seen it on FB, very sad that another school has had to close. Hope the kids (and staff) are all ok, it must be so difficult for them.

Didn’t it just get taken over by a consortium and also change from being girls only?

It strikes me as another from the increasing list of already struggling private schools which are closing, after trying increasingly desperate tactics (acquisition; mixed sex; changes of staff) to stave off the inevitable. Successful, thriving schools are weathering the VAT change better.

The potentially asset-stripping nature of the acquisition is what I would suggest merits investigation. And the gleeful circling of surrounding schools, snapping up the scraps to bolster their own numbers against a similar fate, is deeply unedifying.

Options will be rgs, kings, Hereford cathedral or for a lot more cash, malvern college

I would probably go to Kings Worcester of that lot as a girl (sport is good) or RGS as a boy. HCS is decent too so good options.

Yes the VAT played a part but difficult to work out what malvern st James added to the private schools in the area. Not good at sport, quite academic I guess.

@cantkeepawayforever I think you’ve nailed it. Asset stripping and the vultures circling. I’m looking at you RGS who are putting on a special event and would be delighted to meet pupils.

To be fair to RGS (don't have any kids there) I expect parents having their kids school close will want to quickly make new plans

This is such devastating news. We're now in the unenviable position of trying to place our sweet ND girl somewhere that both matches the syllabus of her gcse subjects and where she would have a nice time. It's looking likely that Mal Col is going to duke it out with RGS (our boys are at KSW already).

Does anyone know just how important getting as much of the same boards as we can actually is.

She is being brave, but is gutted and worried. I know ultimately she will be ok, but I want to make this as easy as possible. She is bright. So do we send her to a place that's lovely with excellent pastoral care and she knows some of the kids already but has ZERO matches for exam boards? Or do we send her to the place with excellent academics and matches a lot of the boards, but she doesn't know a soul (this school is meant to be excellent with SEN).

I want to cry.

@Baldrick23 fair point. This has been on the cards for several years though and sadly it was just a matter of when not if. I do hope the children (and their parents) manage to sort another school out.

@TheCheeseTax what year is your daughter in?

The worst year - 10. I thought we'd get one more year.

I would be tempted to go with the one that matches the exam boards. She will make new friends she will be working hard anyway.

Sorry what a horrible experience but good luck you will need to be super calm as if this all fine and sortable and it should turn out fine

I think that for English, Maths and Science exam boards don’t vary their syllabus very much. I’d go for where she will be happy. A school that offers good support and has similar students is much more important. Also I’m of the view that GCSE results are far less important than A levels and any sensible school and Uni will take into account the very difficult circumstances you find yourself in.

Really sad.
Personally I found the announcements from Kings and RGS on FB really distasteful, really bad taste. People have lost their jobs and children their school.
I’m not affected personally but it’s not good for anyone. Such a shame.

Agree with this, though it will depend a bit on what subjects she’s taking eg a different time period in history would be challenging. This could be the case even for the same board I think though. Hopefully she can catch up over the summer if topics have been covered in a different order etc

@TheCheeseTaxin my experience HCS are awful with SEND if you were considering them. Lovely school generally, but SEND provision is pretty grim.

Thecheese - The boards aren’t necessarily the main thing - maths and science all pretty similar. In English they will be studying different books, history & geography they choose different optional units and study them in different orders - so you need to gather more detailed info than just the board.
You could do the same board but have studied the options that they will do in y11 and none that they’ve done in y 10. If lots go to the same school, the school will be able to support them as a group - enabling them to answer different optional units, for example ( ie revising / marking different units in mocks). Do lots of taster days.

Could Bowbrook be a consideration for you? I’ve heard positive things about their pastoral support.

We looked around msj about 4 years ago and it felt quite buoyant then..

Malvern College doesn't seem to be going all that well at the moment and our own personal experience of HCS has been v poor (academically and sports). So I would look to RGS or Kings Worcester.

Hcs sports for boys on the up. Fantastic new head of cricket and just appointed a head of rugby and reinstituted the sevens so I think boys sport on the up and cricket. Girls hockey is not good l.

baldrick23 head of cricket is fab but this year coaching the boys .. the girls have the head of sport who doesn't seem to do much other than organise a rugby tournament for the boys.. Our experience of girls sport has been disappointing. there's a total lack of oomph

Why is Malvern College not doing well? Their enrolment looks nearly at capacity.

Kwanza cherry having bought The Downs and Abberley Hall prep schools they closed Abberley Hall. They are now moving the Downs to Malvern College.

We have friends at MC and their experiences are quite mixed.. sounds like neither sports nor academics are that great. It's a shame as it looks beautiful and the sports facilities are amazing.

I was taken aback - our DS is at RGS - but realistically with the education tax it's survival of the fittest, hugh consolidation in the sector. MC trated Abberley families very badly, wouldn't go near them. They are apparently offering places to displaced MSJ pupils at MSJ fee levels...... they can provide like-for-like boarding etc of course which RGS and Kings cannot.