Why does Wallington Boys never seem to be first choice?

[legallady]

There is a lot of comment on this site about the Sutton grammar schools - Wilsons, Wallington Boys and Sutton Grammar. I appreciate that it's horses for courses and one person may love something about a school that the next person hates, but why do people seem to always prefer either Wilsons or Sutton and then Wallington seems to be the one that people accept if they are not successful with one of the others?

Wilsons seems to currently achieve the best exam results but there isn't much to call between Sutton and Wallington. There are differences in emphasis generally, but they all seem like good rounded schools to me. Obviously travel will make a difference too but Wallington must be closer for some people, surely?!

Can anyone tell me what I'm missing? Of course it's personal choice, but I'm just intrigued as to what people think is missing from Wallington so that it hardly ever seems to be the school of first choice.........

[Shaheensayed1]

Hi All anyone's DS attending wcgs currently? How is the school overall? Tia

[PettsWoodParadise]

Hello Shaheensayed1 you seem to be asking the same question about any grammar school in the SE. They are have their similarities and their differences but you need to realise that it is about match to our DC and not just about how one parent views one school for their DC. You need to give a bit more info about your DC, what they like, what their first impressions of the school were when you looked round etc, I also gather you are looking at commuting from Orpington. A commute like the ones you are considering in your thread for Wilson’s or this one for Wallington would mean a horrid amount of time travelling for your DC. Please consider closer options to you which it sounds like you have available to you.

[Teddygirlonce]

Shaheensayed1 you might be as well, at this late stage, to just pick the order out randomly from a hat. They are all good schools (although we've only heard about three of your potential choices?). Surely you and your DS must have had preferences when you looked at the schools on their open evenings?

We only went for schools in our own and neighbouring boroughs and had the fortune to be able to put three local(ish) grammars on DC1's CAF (some closer travel-wise than schools in our own borough). In the end the order was determined by him and issues of ease of getting there (not convinced by a journey that required more than one bus/method of public transport) combined. We did not base our CAF order by the school's exam results/school league tables position alone but by which one we thought would suit him best, which we thought he would have the highest chance of getting into and which ticked the most other boxes. And, as DC1 was the one to go to the school, his preferences were more important (as long as for valid reasons rather than just the quality of the school meals!) than ours.

As I've recently commented on another thread with a similar OP, there's more to education than just academic achievement! Your child needs to be happy, engaged and have the opportunity to thrive, don't they?

So I would advise you to ask your DS for an order of preference and get your form submitted ASAP. You will feel an awful lot better once you've done so!

[sara176]

Hi, I received an email from WCGS today regarding my DS position in waiting list. He is 9th in waiting list. I would really appreciate if anyone can give me some information regarding waiting list. If they move or if they do then what is the chance that my DS will be offered a place. I don't know if I should be excited but I wa when I found out he wa 9th,It give me some hope. Please any information will be greatly appreciated.