Langley Park for Girls, Beckenham, any recent points of view? Or Harris Crystal Palace?

[Urbanvoltaire]

Does anyone have any experiences with either Langley Girls and/or Harris in Crystle Palace? I'm looking into prospective schools for my 10yo and these 2 are on the list. I'm not overly concerned about a single or mixed school so any points of view much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.....

Langley Girls has a good reputation, and I know a girl in Y9 who is happy there. I understand that it changes a lot in the 6th form, when boys are admitted. But if you treat it as a school up to GCSEs, you and your DD can choose whether she moves on for the 6th form.

I don't know anything about Harris, though.

My step-daughter went to Langley Girls a few years back and from memory it was a very good/nice school and she was very happy there. I think it still has a very good reputation.

I don't know much about Harris Crystal Palace, however I've just appealed to a Harris Academy local to us and the representative for Harris Academies said she had 129 appeals for Harris Crystal Palace so it's obviously extremely popular as our local Harris is outstanding but only had 45 appeals!

Thanks for the replies, I've a gut feel Langley Girls will be my first option. A friends daughter goes to Harris CP & really rates it. They live very close by so she's planning on sending her younger daughter there too.

I have a kid at Harris CP and we have been very happy with them. We picked them as first choice because we wanted a co-ed, proper comprehensive with a positive atmosphere and that is what we got.

Negative views I have heard from other parents are that they are too conformist, too much of an exam factory and don't care about the pupils as individuals. There is some truth in this, you will hear a lot about all the tests and statistics they have and how this defines how and what your child will do and how you have no say in the matter. I don't know how well they handle problems.

The Business and Enterprise stuff is irritating. The yearly Celebration of Achievement always seems to feature a speech from some local David Brent and some of the letters home seem to have been written by him.

Harris the parent organisation are pretty ruthless and do not care about individual children or parents. But the teachers at Harris CP definitely do. The school is also run very efficiently and keeps you informed very well.

Overall I would recommend Harris CP to anyone. I would not however say the same for Harris Merton or Purley. The others I do not know enough about.

Thought you might be interested to know that Langley Girls recently had an Ofsted report in April - graded as "good' but not "outstanding" this time - some interesting comments in the report.