King's Worcester and RGS Worcester

[ayclondon]

Utterly struggling to understand the differences between the two senior schools. Everyone asked so far seems only to have good words to say about each of the senior schools and be at a loss to describe any differences.

For what its worth in my day the Kings Boys were more county set, the RGS Worcester boys more grammar/urban boys - of course both have changed and admitted girls etc . Best to go round and see which fits you and your family best.

Thank you timmytoes.

Other comments we have heard were that King's might be slightly more arty and push the children marginally harder academically, RGS more sporty, King's has nicer buildings, and for King?s the fees are higher. None necessarily conclusive reasons in of themselves.

I would also suggest visiting and seeing which feels better.

At DS1's state primary school there were about 6ish or so children who actually took both entrance exams and took a place at whichever one they passed for. If they happened to get into both they then looked at each one more closely.

I know of one boy who went for Kings in the end because it offered more opportunities in Music for him.

I'm afraid I have no experience of Kings as my DS1 is in RGS. We didnt consider Kings only as there is a family 'tradition' of attending RGS.

Thank you MRSJWRTWR.

We'll definitely be visiting the schools, there seems just to be such a paucity of information and strong views on the schools. It?s not necessarily a bad thing, just trying to understand how the schools are viewed generally by others.

We are going to see the schools in the next few weeks. Will report back.

I asked DS which is the better school and he said "define better". From his perspective Kings is better ... but his perspective is Rugby! A mate of his says RGS is better but I'll let you guess where Mate goes to school.
I think timmy may have it with the county set / trade differential (example: Kings has a long tradition of providing choristers for the Cathedral. See also: Rugby), but only at a very vestigial level these days.

Thank you senua.

We've ploughed through all the external exam results and it seems that over the last few years King's has had slightly (but only slightly) better exam results than RGS- does that reflect your understanding ?

My understanding is exactly the same as yours i.e. I don't know! I have never really got a 'feel' for one school being better than the other but we are not close enough, geographically, for me to take more than a passing interest.
Looking on the bright side, there are worse problems in life than deciding between two excellent schools.

From a ex RGS parent TRY KINGS all the way I wish I would have done so.

Historically Kings was a boarding/public school and RGS was a voluntary aided grammar school. I expect that difference has eroded over the years though? My husband went to Kings and didn’t particularly enjoy it but that’s 30 years ago!

I’d decide on convenience and gut feel if there’s no other considerations.

I don't think there's much difference but I heard that they were both very good during lockdown in terms of the daily lessons that they were offering, running a normal school day online.