Best Schools in London (girls)

[happymum77]

How would you rank these London South London Grammar Schools:

nonsuch high school, cheam
wallington high school for girls
newstead wood school
bexley grammar
townley grammar
tiffin
(I do not list others as I cannot get to them by train)

Also, which are the best independent schools for girls right now?

Day schools:

St. Pauls
City of London School
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx

Boarding Schools:

Wycombe Abbey School
Cheltenham Ladies
Sevenoaks ?
xxx
xxx
xxx

I need to start planning the school for my little ones.

Here's an overview of state and independent secondary schools across London (showing girls, boys and mixed schools) that might help with your rankings ...

www.londonschooling.com

... together with more detailed reviews in the ofsted and isi inspection reports ...

www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report
www.isi.net/reports

... and all the different views on this discussion thread.

Gosh this thread shows me how desperate some parents are, to push their children into a certain 'league' as they see it - avoiding 'rejects' , because these are 'rejects' i.e. students who did not get into a certain school.
Yes, I also find this rather distasteful as an attitude.
I would not like my children to mix with children who have been taught this sort of set of values by their parents!

Planning Oxbridge for your daughters aged 7 - 9 y ?....hmmmm.

Godolphin & Latymer

Sorry haven't read any of the above but would like to say that (and I know this is somewhat childish) but mine is.

I loved my time at Godolphin. It was the best time ever!

Thanks for the reports. I think that I now have all the information I asked for. Thank you mums. :)

I was not originally planning to, but will now respond to the rest of the comments, as it seems that people are ever escalating the issue, jumping to conclusions based on other people's conclusions.

Naturally I want my children to go to the best schools possible, but take into account that they might not succeed getting there. Forgive me for trying though.

As for Cambridge Medicine - the comment was cynical, with emoticon, but it did not get through to most. Naturally my DDs will be free to study what they want, not that I will not try to guide them in some way, in exactly the same manner all of you are guiding your children. I would not jump into conclusions here. Thank you.

Once again, thank you for all your inputs. I think that we can now close the topic. Happymum.

must admit that

www.londonschooling.com/

is an excellent one stop resource.

Thank you.

I agree that regardless of what school my little ones will attend it will be a right school for them, and the same with the profession they will chose. This is obvious. No need to write the obvious.

Ok, topic closed. Again thank you, and the list you gave me.

www.londonschooling.com/

OP you have made me feel really sad. That last post was really bad mannered and you do know I hope, however clever or successful your dd are, they will not get the best from life if they are not well mannered.

You have had some excellent advice on this thread both about schools and also about raising teeneagers and happy young people. A little good grace wouldn't go amiss and is something one can't buy.

Ok, topic closed.

Arf!

Ha ha indeed. OP is obviously not old school MN or she would have drawn a line

NearTheWindmill - did not mean to make you feel sad. I am really thankful to everyone. Only two days ago I only knew of few schools, and now I feel that thanks to your and other input I have a school strategy ready.

Naturally I fully agree with you on the need for children to have manners and respect for one another, but I cease to understand how did you derive that I feel differently? Manners are very important, as is mutual respect, I would never think differently, ever if somehow I was offended here by maybe 10 different people, and it seems that by choosing to ignore them, I became disrespectful and bad mannered and now causing you to feel really sad.

No more comments from my side. Have a great weekend everyone.

So essentially all you were looking for was a league table of GCSE results? Really?! Sorry but that information is far from a schools strategy, especially if you are focussed on superselectives (and would be willing to entertain boarding). And if you couldn't have found a league table by simply googling, then you are at least 6 years behind the mark in preparing your 9 year old. (Only 5 years or so if she is in year 4 I guess, with a lot of catch up if she is in year 5). How has she found the sample SPGS papers out of interest?

I'm not sure that you have been given good advice here, mainly because you haven't given enough information about your dds. Are they gregarious, sporty, bookish, arty, musical, tomboys? As SPGS itself points out, the school chooses the girls it feels will fit. If you have a sporty rough and tumble girl then somewhere such as FHS isn't a good fit. But I can't see how you'll find that out from the website you're so happy about? By 9 there should be some glimpses of the future woman appearing.

There is a huge wealth of knowledge on here about a lot of very specific points. If you want medicine, yes, some schools are better than other. Similarly law, journalism, Oxbridge. That's why you were asked very early on "what do you mean by best". 9 can be quite young, and that is why several posters have issued warning about being careful to choose a very "specialised" school at 11 unless you are sure that your child is of that mold. Many do opt for the "good all round" schools until they are more certain of where their dc is heading.

There are guides such as the good school guide and the independent schools handbook which will give you a feel for a number of schools, but I do think that you may be (seriously) underestimating how prepared the rest of the "competition" is for some of these schools, especially if your dd is not in a prep school.

Well this thread is of the type that really puts me off mumsnet ( i dont look often) but feel some relief that others found it ignorant and excessive too.

Yes, essentially I was looking for the league table, sorted by area, hence yes, the task is now done. All the other tables I have seen earlier were not by area, and not by borough anyway, so were a nightmare to work out.

My next phase is to attend some open days, with the little ones, and only then I might return to mumsnet, assuming I still can :), to share my concerns / observations. Bit early for that now.

Again, fellow mums, thank you for your input and apologies if my comments seemed at times out of place. I underestimated how integrated many of you are to each other - hence a special thank you to replying to the thread started by the stranger.

SPGS is a wonderful school for very bright girls, but not always such a happy place for girls towards the bottom of the cohort

As someone who attended a selective girls private school in the States, I would suggest sending your daughters to a school which views girls as individuals. It should be kind, reasonably academic, and discipline fairly. Schools with strict but not extravagant uniform are to be preferred, as it cuts arguments over appropriate dress. At seven and nine, it's best to teach good work habits, especially working quickly and diligently.

Looking at your strategy you are planning for your dd to sit around 5 entry exams for each state and private schools.

in order for that to happen you need to find out what each exam is about. This will either be you free time or you need to find tutors who will guide you.

My dd is in Wally Girls. When she was sitting her exams criterias were different from what they are now.
You will find pretty much impossible to compare those grammar schools as we parents don't talk about them with each other the same way as all mentioned private schools are discussed.

I can say my daughter never experienced or witnesses any racial or homophobic behaviour. Complaints about teaching from parents are listened to and acted on. Their current head came from Nonsuch where she was a deputy. She made changes to how school operates but the transition was seamless afaik for the girls.

Despite gcse workload my dd goes to the same no activities as in y10. Her mock results are due this week and school keeps them on their toes. Parents are going to be able to log in and see mocks scores online which is a new thing for us. I wish there were mire parents evenings - Wally Boys where my son is does that better.

My dd has met girls of the same attitude as hers. She's made (I hope) friends for life.
I can see that she's matured a lot this year. She thinks highly of her school.

Having gone through this once with DD1 and now going through it with DD2, I can honestly say my view has changed.

I was originally of the mind that academic excellence was everything however as you go through the process, things change. DD1 was offered a s'ship @ JAGS, on s'ship waiting list @ PHS and called for s'ship interview at one of the 2nd tier GDST schools, passed all the SW London selectives and is now at TGS. She loves it, it is definitely the school for her as she also loves the sport and is very active. Is it any better than any of the other schools? On reflection and as time goes on, I think the answer is no. But is it the right school for her, definitely.

DD2 who, academically on paper, is the equal of her sister didn't pass the TGS 1st stage (although passed Nonsuch and WHSG). Having gone through the process with DD2, I now see that TGS isn't the right school for her nor is Nonsuch and WHSG and we have started to look at more indie schools for her. Visited LEH a few weeks ago, one of the top girls schools in the country. On paper, an outstanding school with amazing facilities - it is beautiful and its academic record outstanding. However, I came away from the visit feeling disappointed. I so wanted to love the school because of all that it can offer but I didn't. I can't put my finger on it but I just didn't warm to it and DD2 like the facilities but didn't like it as much as another GDST we visited with less space and is, in exam terms, lower academic record (nor did I). Consequently, we haven't applied for LEH and GDST school is now our preference.

So, what's the point of this post? Well, before I started this journey I was where the OP was - academic excellence was everything. I'm still not saying that it's not important, it is and it does have a part to play in the decision making process but I think you just have to consider each school in the round and not put any more importance on one element that another. You should also consider your DD and her personality and individual likes and dislikes. Don't write off any one school at this stage, keep an open mind and also visit as many schools as you can. You may find that you surprise yourself like I did.

Incidentally, we all loved JAGS and I was a tad disappointed when DD1 picked TGS over it (but she saved us shedloads of money so who am I to complain). I also had the same feeling about Alleyns as I did about LEH - loved it on paper and hated it after visiting.

Good luck