Queen's College

[Dustylaw]

I would be grateful for any comments or information about Queen's College in Harley Street. We went to see it and we were impressed by the feel and ethos and particularly liked the new head. Our daughter is bright but interested in all sorts of things and we would like it to stay that way so primarily want a school which can do all the academics very well but without a relentless exams focus. Thank you.

[mymummylove]

The pre-prep can't even get it's own girls into the senior school...

[Butterymoon]

Anyone's daughter starting QCL in September 2017?

[Butterymoon2006]

Any current parents at QCL? What is it really like?

[queengirl]

the thoughts of the school came back to me because i was reading that Peaches Geldof was a pupil there. she had her own column at 16. RIP

[queengirl]

ooh i couldn't resist writing here about my old days at Queen's college, harley street, because there is such little info about the history of it on the net.. i went there in the 80's and this thread brings back such memories! I remember all those teachers; Mrs Fierz was head, and Mr Hutchinson was still there teaching us the Odyssey; Mrs Wright taught us Shakespeare brilliantly, and Madame Langevin the french mistress and wasn't she just! Mr T Bagg who used to chat to us about his girlfriend's sexual preferences when he should have been teaching Chaucer; and Mr Angadai the marxist who put on the Genet french plays with all his favourite girls dressed up as french tarts; the creepy chemistry teacher Mr Watson with his down and out clothes who used to stay the night in the lab and leer at all the girls; at the time i was so young i kind of thought all this was normal..can you imagine all that going on today...! It was truly eccentric..I didn't fit in at the time and i was unhappy there for 3 years.. the girls in my year were all exotic and some modelling for Vogue, yes really in their school holidays...but i'd have loved it today! - found it so creepy at the time - the dusty classrooms and winding back staircases leading to more little rooms with old pianos in them.. now looking back its the stuff of novels.. But, i have to say the education was mostly brilliant and it did teach you how to think for yourself; I went on to get 2 degrees and intellectually at least i will always be my own person, partly in thanks to the teachers there. I'm sure its modernised now; but then it was like no other school i'd ever come across!

[squeaver]

I know two lovely, well-rounded, happy, bright Queens College girls. One left for Uni last summer, the other is in year 8. Both sets of parents are extremely happy with the school.

[Malonal]

A bit of a strange school. I recently applied for a post but heard that the application process had been closed before the application deadline... so I had wasted my time.
Just to say that the process of hiring teachers seemed to be based on who you know at the school, which cannot be a good sign when hiring academic staff! No other school would do such a thing.

[NWgirls]

I spoke with a current Queen's mum - she was very, very positive about the school, including academic improvement, her DD's enjoyment, pastoral care, art etc. Girls get quite a lot of homework, often 1.5 hour per day or so. She expects QCL to climb the rankings based on likely improving exam performance. So it was highly recommended by her, which helped reassure me.

Anyone else?

[aghteens]

Can't help on current Queens I'm afraid but I do know of Dr Ramsey from her previous job and I can tell you that she is extremely serious about academic standards. A friend of mine with a daughter already at Queens was rather horrified as she liked the previous more laid back attitude, but I know others who are considering the school far more seriously due to Dr Ramsey's influence.

[NWgirls]

Please? (bump - no need to read the very old posts, see 2014 activity)

[NWgirls]

Yes, where are those current Queen's parents hiding?

We are very, very happy to have fresh offer from Queen's College, which we plan to accept (unless a waiting list place comes through), as QCL seems clearly preferable to DD's other offer.

Here are som specific questions from me to (hopefully) get you started:

1. Fees are quoted before lunches, books and (compulsory) school trips. In your experience, roughly how much should we expect these compulsory extras to add in a typical year?

1. Any evidence that steps are being taken to improve A-level performance? (Queen's is doing OK at GCSEs but less well at A-level.) And why is it so? Is it ONLY due to less-selective cohorts some years ago? Or do they lose some high-performing girls before 6th form? Or are there teaching shortcomings or attitude issues?

1. What words would best describe the atmosphere? Is the fun gone with the relatively new (impressive) HT? How friendly vs. formal is the tone? Feeling of pressure? Relationships / frictions between girls?

1. Any comparisons with (a) Francis Holland NW1 or (b) Notting Hill & Ealing from parents with direct experience of QCL and either of these?

[mummyandme2]

In same position as you - northlondoncat . I was so impressed with Head - Dr Ramsey and loved the atmosphere . Think it must be on the way up academically but still with a quirkiness that was missing in other schools we saw . DD has offer from Channing and waiting list place from Francis Holland - but think we will go for Queens . These old queens reminiscences are great but need to hear from parents of present pupils .

[KittyVonCatsington]

Another ex Queen's girl here! Sorry, don't know much about the current situation as I left in 1999. Very sad to hear they are introducing a uniform though, loved not wearing one. It's making me laugh reading about the staff 'shenanigans'-we too, then, had a History teacher dating lots of girls and doing things with them in classrooms that even made the news back then!

The building is great though and I loved all of the quirky classrooms up top -a lot of the teachers were fab though and a wonderful Mrs Shaw helped me get a grade B Maths GCSE, despite being bottom set and being tested with Dyscalculia. I then went onto to study Computer Science at university and coped well with the Maths.
Memories!

[mummyandme2]

[poppetis123]

Hi - would love to know any more news on current Queens College, Francis Holland Sloane Square and also in Regents Street. What is the difference in these last two schools? Thanks v much

[Vickybeat]

Forgot to say that during my time, the music teacher had an affair with a pupil, as did the english teacher. Mrs Fierz was headmistress who taught us maths on occassions, a complete eccentric and lovely lady. A real character. My older sister also went to queens and she enjoyed it too, it gave us both an inner confidence , and an individuality, that lacks nowadays I feel. If Iwas living in London and could have afforded it, I would have sent my daughter. Yes, tempting to have the shops but novelty wears off, the cafe was always a hit!

[Vickybeat]

I went there from 1973 and left after GCSE's, ( o'levels then). I was 12 years old when I started and remember that my class teacher was Miss Parkinson .I had a great time there, happy memores on the whole. We had a great french teacher called M'selle Langevin who always looked immaculately dressed, very parisian. Mr Hutchinson taught ancient history, greek and latin. I loved latin and managed to pass the o'level. Some of the teachers then just helped the bright pupils only and one english teacher, Mr Bag seemd so intellectualy superior and unable and not bothered about bringing the subject alive to teenagers. I never enjoyed sports as the walk to the park was always freezing and Miss Rowsell the PE teacher just helped the very capable girls. She was a bit of a bully. I met my bestfriend then, who still is and we are now 50. I remember the cafe down the road, great hot chocolates! Looking back now, the teachers varied hugely, I wasnt pushed but managed to pass some exams.

[evjanderson67]

HI there,

I went to Queens College very briefly (I was at a boarding school before that and my parents couldn't afford to keep me there so moved me when I was 14 - not a good time as I had already started my O level course at that school). This was 1982 and I have to say at that time it was a pretty poor school. The teaching in a lot of the subjects was pretty abysmal and the results were dismal for a private school. If you got 5 O levels you were doing pretty well. A lot of very intelligent girls were leaving with 1, 2 or 3 O levels. The school had an ethos which I didn't get - it was non-competitive and supposedly treated girls like individuals. Well, maybe because I arrived late but i was pretty much ignored by 80% of the teachers and I flunked big time. There were no facilities at that time and the building was dusty and cold and out of a bygone time. However I have read recent reports of it and it now sounds excellent so something must have happened in the last 30 or so years. I think back in those days private schools could get away with a lot more than they do now. There are more inspections now and due to the internet, more word of mouth reports (like this!).

[Dustylaw]

Thanks for all the comments - they made me laugh and remember some of my own teachers and all the stuff that went on in a 'respectable' girls' school that would now be scandalous.

Regarding current Queen's College, the destinations of the leavers seem pretty good ie if you had a bunch of girls from medium bright to very bright, would these destinations mean that those girls had done well, as well as at anywhere else or possibly even better? As for being able to troll round London at lunchtime (eventually) I was pretty reassured when my daughter told me that her only stipulation would be that if I expected her to pick up things from John Lewis then she would expect to be able to get a taxi home ie she strikes me as more sensible than I was as a girl. And when it's dark and she is heading for the tube, I would rather it was on those busy streets than on more deserted streets. As for the head, yes, we did think that any school that had her would be balanced and sensible and quite kind too. I suppose for us the thing is that we would like a school that thinks our daughter is more than just the accumulation of her expected A level grades and Queen's College seemed to have that genuine interest in what the girls were really like or could turn out to be.

[5VO1]

Yes it was!! He had a favourite in our class called Claudia, and he always called her 'My little Claudine' - hadnt read any Colette at the time so that went over my head too. My mother was at St Felix in Suffolk and always thought it was 'Gladly the Cross-eyed Bear' instead of Gladly the Cross I'd bear - anyway - I meander too long in the past - Im sure Queen's is now totally spiffing and just what the OP is looking for!

[curtaincall]

Was that Monsieur Parsi who was related to Albert Camus?