Views on South Wilts Grammar school

[mrsrat]

We are able to move to either Gloucestershire or Salisbury and would like our daughter to go to grammar school in 2012 if possible. There are far more options in Gloucestershire and only one is Wilts. She has a good friend applying for SWGS. Havent done any visits yet but the facilities at the Gloucestershire schools and the general sourroundings seem much better than at SWGS. Any comments would be much appreciated.

She did sit the practice paper yes, she seemed to find it a bit harder than she expected - she has sat two independent mocks and found the test at south wilts more difficult. I'm hoping its nerves and being in a new environment. How did your daughter get on?
We're probably going with Romsey for our second choice, Mountbatten is a bit far for us to travel.

Go on bella I'll bite. What do you mean by saying that Mountbatten teaches a 'Grammer syllabus' ? I can't say I have identified any significant difference in subjects taught between Romsey and Mountbatten.

(Though as far as I am aware, Romsey still offers Latin and I thought M no longer did).

I do agree however that the 2 schools appear to have a different ethos. Nothing to choose between them in terms of headline results though.

TeenAndTween - Mountbatten mentioned that they taught the Grammer syllabus in the opening address by the Headteacher when we went to the open morning. Said they were the only school in Romsey so I have to assume Romsey doesn't?! We have not looked at Romsey as yet and I went there over 20 years ago so have no idea what it's like now. As my DD's current school feeds into Mountbatten it will probably be our second choice.

Lindsey077 - We did a few weeks tutoring with John Stringer and 2 mock exams with him. The first exam result wasn't great (mid 200's) as she only finished half of each of the english/maths paper and even less on the VR paper. However after the tutoring/familiarisation she sailed through the next mock and seemed quite happy last week. She did the test this morning and said she finished all papers and only found a few questions really hard and guessed. Fingers crossed she passes but I was told close to 400 children sat the exam today for 150 places.

bella DD1 has just left Romsey and honestly I think you can have just as much of a grammar curriculum there as at MB. (However for less academic children there are also great options for them too at R). Do go and look at Romsey (open evening 6th Oct), it isn't as 'smart' as MB to look at, but it has a great ethos and results equal to MB's. I have the impression that maybe 20years ago MB was better than R, but I don't believe it is now.

the head at Trafalgar is a great guy

i wouldnt think many travel from Romsey schools to SWGS - the schools there are fine, surely?

christ guys - spell grammar right - that might help

Brenda I agree both the Romsey schools are great. I think a very very few do travel but unless you are massively keen on single sex education I struggle to see how the cost/benefit really works out. Both the Romsey schools are capable of enabling children to leave with strings of A* grades. Of course they get fewer than a grammar, but they are comprehensive, not selective.

I share concerns of the pressure placed on the kids there too tbh.

Results - at a huge cost

Hi ,
I live in Totton .I would like to make my daughter appear for the 11+ entrance exam in 2016 for the admission in 2017. Does anyone know any tutors from our local area to do tuiton? Can any mums tell me what is the best transportation to go to Salisbury school from Totton, Romsey or Southampton? Anyone share the transport among the parents?

Our daughter started at SWGS this year and she loves it.

We didn't get a tutor - we briefly considered it but he was a waste of time - so my husband did a few practice papers with her across a couple of months so as not to overwhelm her. I was surprised at the level of the questions to be fair - these aren't subjects routinely covered in Y6 and she's only started to cover some of the subjects (especially in Maths) at the back of this term that were in the 11+ paper - which strikes me as being particularly unfair. That said, our local primary school was a disaster zone of underachievement so that may be it: the mere idea of sending one's child to a selective school was treated in the same way as announcing a fondness for eating dog poo - but you've just got to push through the 'race to the bottom' 'gibbsmedat' mentality and do what's right for your own children.

The girls seem to love the place and the size of the forms and year groups mean that every girl will find a good friend by the end of the first term. The school is remarkably well appointed although some of the buildings are a little dated now - and the smell of boiled cabbage hangs in the air some days... The school demands a great deal but the girls seem to be bearing up under the load, noting that some of the parents are quite...determined...and I'll leave it at that I think. :)

SWGS will place girls in forms so that they with girls who live near them. This really helps with car-sharing, but the bus services are fantastic, and there are hundreds of SWGS girls walking down into town on a daily basis as it is so close.

Homework ramps up after the first half - but it makes the girls focus on prioritising their work loads and applying themselves - which if they are going to be a success in life, is a useful lesson in itself. The girls are treated like grown-up young ladies and they mature quite quickly but not beyond their limits. I know some of the girls in my daughter's class have formed a Harry Potter fan club so they're still allowed to be children - and quite right too.

So she loves it, and will never look back. It's not for everyone - but then it wouldn't be selecting the best and the brightest if it was, would it?

jisan From Romsey girls take the train, though I don't think it is many as our 2 comps are both v. good.