NORTH WEST LONDON PRIVATE GIRLS SCHOOLS

[100lilgreen]

After realising i have missed the 7+ entry for my daughter who is at the local state, I really want to start thinking about senior schools. She is very intelligent in my opinion but not overly. Which school could you reccomend as we live in Hampstead Garden Suburb ...

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Channing (my DD is there, lovely school, fairly academic but not as much as NLCS or City of London School for Girls), North London Collegiate (=NLCS, very academic), South Hampstead High (ditto, perhaps a tiny bit less than SHHS) - these are all girls' schools. Highgate mixed and also very selective. Henrietta Barnett of course, but very, very selective. There are others further north but I don't know them.
If your daughter is only 7, relax - you really don't need to think about secondary schools until she is in year 5. You could get the Good Schools Guide, though, which I found helpful at the early stage of looking at schools.

Go see all of them. Besides academics, every school has a different feel. Give your daughter time to mature and see where her interests lie. Facilities can play a big part in your decision. We looked at all those schools. DD1 is at NLCS and DD2 is at CLSG. Neither liked SHHS or Channing. If you want to skip the tutoring, try St. Christopher's up to 11.

We wanted her to go to channing at age 7 but we missed it so concentrating on 11 +. What is channing senir like, since we only saw the junior. What made your daughters not like it or SHHS?

Canning is very sweet and neither of my DDs are. They both prefer to be 'highly motivated'. DD1 especially gets very bored if things don't move at her speed. It was a shame as Channing is so close. I also didn't like the old Head at all. Same for SHHS, the Head at the time put me off and I didn't like the rabbit warren feel.

I haven't seen SHHS but have heard it is full of drugs an anorexia although I am sure anorexia is an issue which runs through alot of all girls schools! Is Francis Holland, Queens College less academic? Also what about Habs comparing to Shhs, Channing, NLCS and CLSG?

A friend of mine's daughter went to CLSG from a very good state primary. She's now is year 9 and having an awful time - not doing well academically, out of her depth with friendship groups.

Her friends from primary who went to the local very good comp are much happier and doing much better academically too.

Her parents think the sudden shift to hot housing academics in conjunction with a long travel (over an hour each way), a very different social scene and being with no-one she knew was, in hindsight, too much for her to handle.

Ok, here is a bit more about why I feel Channing suits us very well. It is quite an academic school but not as much so as NLCS or CLSG and it is not very pushy. I have a strong feeling that they think that it is girls who are happy work to their best standards, not necessarily those who are pushed. This suits some girls such as my daughter (who is quite bright but not at all competitive and who gets stressed under pressure) very well. The girls all seem very nice and even though there are differences between them, of course, and friendship groups within each form, the form as a whole seems to get on well, as evidenced by the continued existence of whole-form parties - which seems to be driven by the wishes of the girls, not the parents or teachers.
I do know of other girls who love it at City - which would not suit my DD at all. Slightly strangely, I felt a little uncomfortable about SHHS but I couldn't tell you why and my DH really liked it.
I have the impression that F. Holland is a little less academic than Channing but still very good and, in terms of its ethos, quite similar. It does have a more cramped feel about its premises but we would have been happy to take a place there.
Queens is much less academic than Channing and I think more liberal in its approach though the new headmistress may tighten things up.

One thing I can say for sure is that your DD will not suit all of these schools. If she is a City girl, she won't be a Queens girl and vv, IMO. Highgate and Channing are two very different animals.

The best recommendation I can give you is to go round these schools and look carefully at the girls you see and imagine your DD as one of them. Would she be happy there? Did you come out of the school feeling that you really enjoyed the visit or did it feel like a chore, or like an imposing environment? Could you see yourself talking to the headmistress about any issue that may crop up? Do talk to other parents with girls in the particular school you are interested in but do bear in mind that their girls may be different to yours. And do follow your gut instinct.

If you have specific questions about Channing, feel free to PM me. Hope this helps a little!

Thanks so much, very useful! I certainly did love Channing Fairseat and would have loved to send my daughter there. So excited to see the senior. My daughter did try for the 4+ NLCS exam but didn't get a place so wondering if we should try again at 11? She goes to a state where around 40% go on to private and most families are middle-class so in reply rosebud, I don't think she would struggle socially having gone to a state primary .

While we are at it, my son is also very young but starting to think about schools. He is very dyslexic but i def want him in a mainstream senior, not a specific learning difficulties school. Which could you suggest for when he is 11, that would support him well ..