To board or not to board...

[HolofernesesHead]

...that is the question! And if so, which one?

Here's the background: dd is 9, in yr 5. We are moving in June (already sorted) to a vilalge in Hertfordshire. It has a village school that has already said it will take her and ds (7 y o). It's v. good, 'outstanding' by Ofsted's standards (not that that's everything), v. nurturing etc.

There is no obvious feeder secondary school - the children from there go to schools in literally four different towns. So lots of choice potentially.

We are moving because of my work which is a four-year fixed term contract, so we know that we'll be moving again in 2016, when dd is just coming up to GCSEs. I might find a job in the same area - but then again, might not. Dh works full time too (in a v. central location in London, so geographically neutral in that we won't be moving because of his work). As we both work full time, boarding school is affordable, but it might be tricky to support the dc financially through university if we put all our finanical eggs in the boarding school basket. (I know this might make me sound barking mad to be talking about university when my dc are not yet into double digits, but there you go...)

So the reason we are thinking boarding school might be the way to go is that it'd guarantee continuity between living in Herts and wherever we are after that, and it'd hopefully give the dc a great childhood / education. I am pretty much in favour of the state system generally, and part of me would feel disloyal (I am state educated, and have no regrets or bad feelings about that). Dd is v. much in favour of boarding school, and ds is picking up on her enthusiasm. The local schools (in the 4 different towns) range from excellent to really not what I'd want, so it feels a bit of a lottery, and unfortunately for us because we are very much in between all those places, we could well come bottom of the list for the good schools.

So WWYD? And can you think of any boarding schools in the south east that you'd recommend?

I like Aldenham. Those that poo poo it tend to do so because it does not rank in the league table like Habs or St Albans. But they are co-ed and non-selective so what does one expect in an area filled wi grammars and super-selecitves. I'd probably opt for Haileybury though because it is more well-known.

Thank you Colleger. I am not even slightly interested in Habs / NLCS for DD, I know both schools well and they are not for her. I am actively looking for somewhere which is less selective and will nurture her other skills, allow her to be creative, take part in lots of sport and build her confidence so that I can either leave her there if she is happy or sit her elsewhere if she needs a change.

I can highly recommend St Edwards Oxford as senior school; it ticks all your above mentioned criteria. It is in particular a very caring school with a very high standard of pastoral care. The only thing is that it is full boarding or day and the day children have to stay till 9pm.

HG what's the A grade pass rate for st edwards's ? or I might just go online, thanks.

It's not the most academic school in the UK but it has a very new head whose been brought in to push up the academic results. But I know from personal experience that nearly all are happy and that the able seem to do very well. It is very sporty so for that reason doesn't suit all.

By the way, Edgegrove prep is not that bad, yes the headmaster suddenly left back in the summer hols, but has had an interim HM since then, a very experienced and capable man, who has been doing very well, a new headmaster has now been appointed who comes into post next September.

What's diabolical about the curriculum, it doesnt have a D and T department at the moment which is a shame, BUT they will be opening one come september with the new head. Not sure what you mean by young backpackers ? Care to explain more ? My dc have fantastic teachers! the curriculum has helped send children to haileybury, habs, downe house, NCLS, Eton, Harrow etc with scholarships. It's a very family oriented school and most of the parents love it, so do the children. Its a very good school and the most racially diverse I've come across in the area.

There are a large percentage of young foreign teachers, why.... because its cheap hire. I had the misfortune of having 3 inexperienced teachers for my children; they learnt absolutely nothing for 2 years that?s why we left the school. I would just like to add that there are some very good teachers in the school that work incredibly hard.
The curriculum is weak in the junior years, the early year?s department is very good, I didn?t stick around for the upper years. The school will not prep the children for grammar schools and told me so. Also the children that have got into the good school have been tutored externally. Ask yourself why the school only publishes leavers destinations over a 25 year period and not year on year, I think the last person going to Eton and Harrow gained places over 10 years ago.
I hope the school improves with the new head. I heard he?s very young and has been head of a school in the Middle East.

Domestic goddess, where did you move your children to? I did notice on their website that they don't mention sending children to any of the good state secondaries but is that because it finishes at 13 rather than 11? All the other prep schools in the area have a number of children going to QE, Dame ALice Owen, Watford Grammar, JFS but Edgegrove seemed to me to be much more geared up to boarding rather than day schools. On the tutoring, everyone tutors for 11+ and 13+ regardless of whether their children are in state or private school so I don't see that as an indication of failure on behalf of the school. Of course it is insane to spend all that money and then tutor but everyone does it so it is hard not to fall into the trap of doing the same.

domestic goddess i have not seen a "large amount of young foreign " teachers, I've seen a couple of foreign teachers, and they weren't young, very experienced, I think you're exaggerating a little as you've obviously removed your children.

And did you do a survey of all the children that got into good schools then and they told you they all had external tutoring ? Because my dc are in the upper years so I know quite a few ( you said yours were in juniors) not one of them has been tutored externally so I'm wondering where you got this information from.

You also mentioned the Leavers list which I've just looked at, domesticgoddes if you look at the Leavers list regularly you would have noticed that this format has only been there since the Xmas holidays, till we broke up it's been on a yearly basis, I don't like this new format either and will definitely bring up when we resume.

I can assure you the children go to all the good schools including public schools, I actually have the yearly breakdown which was sent to me in september and if I wAsnt on an iPad (can't figure out how to attach a spreadsheet) I'd send it to you, as of early December we were celebrating with 3 of dc friends who just passed their Harrow pretest , those are just the boys I know personally who applied there, they have a very good record of good schools so really don't know where you are getting your information from.

As far as grammar schools go, just like maybe time said, Edgegrove is a boarding prep that goes up to age 13, so if you are planning on going to grammar school, it may not be the right place for you as they are more towards independent schools that require 13+ most of the other schools in that local area go up to age 11, so if I was contemplating grammar schools I'd probably go for those ones.

I?m not exaggerating at all. When my DDs attended the school the school had a large number of teachers from South Africa and Australia.
Edge Grove take boys and Girls, they may prep the boys in the later years but they most certainly do not prep the girls in any way shape or form for entrance into Grammar or private schools at 11, which is rather frustrating considering the fees are higher than any other school in the area plus not all parents want to send their children to boarding school.
The school assured me when we first joined that my DDs would be prepped but probably due to heads coming and going the ethos changed. DDs are now at Habbs we couldn?t be happier,thank goodness we had a fantastic tutor or I?m sure they would have failed the entrance test.