Please help me find a decent state secondaries for a central London girl!

[Janni]

Hello, we live in the City of London and have a daughter in Year 3. There is no state secondary for girls in the borough so I need to look further afield. We would like a mixed or single sex school state school that is fairly nurturing and has decent exam results at GCSE. Our daughter is bright and sparky but not an academic high flyer and I don't think she would be in the running for scholarships. We are not religious but would not mind a church school. However, we won't be pretending to be churchgoers in order to gain admission. There are two things that might give our daughter priority with regard to admission in certain state schools: she was adopted from local authority foster care when she was 2.5 and she has cystic fibrosis, a chronic health condition. I have looked at the websites for St Marylebone School, Greycoats School and St Mary Magdalene. Does anyone have any advice to offer us about any of these schools or about any others we could consider? Many thanks.

Please excuse the typo in the thread title!

If you want to argue for a place on social/medical grounds, you will need to show that that particular school can meet your daughter's needs better than any other school. You will also need to support your application with statements from health care or other professionals.

Check the admissions criteria for any school you're interested in. If I recall correctly, having been a looked-after hold will put your daughter into a high priority group, in which case you wouldn't need to argue on social/medical grounds.

Looked - after child

Not sure about central London schools but all the state schools (including grammar) we have looked at give priority to Looked after children. Have a look at the following comp's that also have a decent ranking and are fairly central; Camden school for girls, Cardinal Vaughan in Holland Park, Preston manor in Wembley.

Camden school for girls? I went there and loved it

Mondrian - I think the difference is that the old admissions code gave priority to children who at the time were looked-after, but the latest admissions code gives priority to children who at any time have been looked-after. So a child whose adoption has long been completed wd not have benefitted from the old code but will from the new.

Thanks so much for all your replies. I will look at Camden School for Girls and also the ones mentioned by Mondrian.

Cardinal Vaughan is a boys school OP
Marylebone School is very central and is a girls school.

Have you thought of going private - there's a charity that does give financial support for adopted children. I came across it recently and will have a look to see if I can get the name. Worth a punt?

www.educational-grants.org/

Check out Buttle Trust: Buttle UK
Jane Edwards / Karen Melton
Audley House
13 Palace Street
London SW1E 5HX
Registered Charity number 313007
Tel 020 7798 6223 Fax 020 7828 4724
E-mail [email protected]
Website www.buttleuk.org/

The Trust will consider grants for the children of single parents, adopted children and those cared for by relatives and friends. Awards are given for day and boarding education when children (normally of secondary school age) are facing significant social, emotional or health problems.

I know people with daughters at Marylebone School and they are very pleased with it. I'm not entirely sure of the admissions criteria but I think that all applicants sit an exam (in order for the school to ensure a mixed ability intake) and I think that you can also get in through a choral route.

You've started your research in plenty of time so you're in a good position to find the right place for your daughter.

Thank you, Chocrock. Moomins - thank you for the information. We're trying to save money by not going private but are reasonably comfortable so not sure we'd qualify, but I'll have a look. If possible, I would like to support the state sector as my husband and I were both state educated and I don't like the polarisation that seems to have occurred in London. But that's another thread :)

QueenOfToast - I'm hearing good things about Marylebone. I'll definitely look at it.

My friend has a girl at Marylebone and she only has good things to say about it.

Schools like St Marylebone and Camden might be particlarly suitable because, as well as having good reputations, they are also fairly small which may be helpful because of your DD's medical needs. Also neither is too far to get to. Greycoats may be OK but the school is over 2 sites, so this may present a problem.

Thanks for the info, CecilyP - I didn't know that about Greycoats. Will investigate further.

chockrock FT is showing them as mixed school, I guess they could only be doing mixed 6th form but still 42% girls is too high for just 6th formers!!!

Cardinal Vaughan only takes girls at 6th form level. I have no idea where the 42% comes from. You also have to be a Catholic to attend.

you might not have considered hackney but the city academy there is sponsored by the city of london corporation and each year they have nine places set aside for children who live within the city boundaries. these places are never filled. ds is there and i cannot praise it highly enough. they have nurtered ds brilliantly and completely on the ball regarding his dyspraxia. is a new school too so while is only goes up to year ten and has no results as it were the kids are thriving and majority achieving well above nat av ny nearly ayear. the head is amazing.

Thanks MadameDefarge - I used to work in Hackney and will certainly take a look at the academy you mention.

yes was going to say St Marylebone. They take girls from a very wide catchment but it's probably difficult to predict if you will get in because there seem to be so many different entry routes for different criteria.

Perhaps consider the UCL Academy also.