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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Catchment for Watford Girls Grammar

28 replies

SidandAndyssextoy · 31/01/2014 11:51

We're considering a move to Watford and I'm trying to work out where it would be sensible to buy.

As a WGGS old girl I'd love my daughter to attend if it suits her, but as she's only 2 at the moment, that's a shot in the dark! But from my reading of the admissions arrangements a decent proportion of entrants come in on distance, so I thought if we bought near enough, we would have it as an option when the time came. But the furthest offer distance for last year is under 500m. Coming from London, stupidly tiny catchments are nothing new, but I can't see HOW there are so many girls so close to the school given that it's not in a particularly residential part of town. Am I missing something? The houses I've been looking at are about 0.6 miles away which I thought would do it!

OP posts:

tiggytape · 31/01/2014 12:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 31/01/2014 12:39

I have been wondering this about the boys' school. The distance cut-off last year was approx 360m, if I recall correctly. A lot of the land within a 360m radius is taken up by the school itself, its grounds, a storage company and part of Cassiobury Park. Can there really be that many 11 year old boys living on Shepherds Rd & Cassiobury Park Ave? Or do their families just move there for application year?

FiveHoursSleep · 31/01/2014 12:50

I think quite a few people do move close to the schools temporarily but you have to live there for quite some time ( at least 18 months, I believe).
My DD1 got in from the Outer catchment, so we did it the hard way but from what I have seen, some ( not all) of the kids who have got in just on distance do seem to struggle a bit in these very academic schools. The schools work them very hard in order to get the best out of them , but it doesn't seem much fun for the kids involved.
If we had to do it again, I'd compromise and move into the inner catchment area and try from there as if you have a bright child, who wants to do well they have a pretty good chance of obtaining a place from there.

ShredMeJillianIWantToBeNatalie · 31/01/2014 13:29

I always wondered about those new-ish flats very close to the boys school .... surely the school would be very aware of anyone trying to rent short term? 360 metres is very tight.

I know some of the Bucks schools have strict catchment rules preventing a parent from gaining a place for their child on the basis of a rented property if they own another property within 20 miles of the school.

ShredMeJillianIWantToBeNatalie · 31/01/2014 13:32

I was quite surprised when I looked at the breakdown of the Parmiters places for last year. Don't quote me, but by the time you accounted for the initial catchment slice, the academic assessment, the music places, and then siblings, there were hardly any places left for the final catchment swoop - about 18 I think? Out of 206....

tiggytape · 31/01/2014 13:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ShredMeJillianIWantToBeNatalie · 31/01/2014 13:36

Sorry no idea how that posted twice...

Original poster

SidandAndyssextoy · 31/01/2014 14:19

Yes, I was thinking of siblings but of course the boys' siblings too is another tranche.

And there is the possibility that it wouldn't be the right school for her, although of course there are so many decent schools in the area. When I went it was a genuine comprehensive with no selection so still very good but probably far less pressured.

Anyone know the chances of getting a year 9 child into either school by the way? Our eldest would be about that when we move and obviously we need to think about him too. My assumption is that the waiting lists are loooong even that far along?

OP posts:

Original poster

SidandAndyssextoy · 31/01/2014 14:42

Incidentally current parents might be amused to know that the Hertfordshire application process at that time was for parents to write a letter to explain which school they wanted their child to attend and why. You had about 3 preferences which you might be allocated if you didn't get your first choice. I remember absolutely no transparency about the procedure at all. Can you imagine anything like that now?

OP posts:

Dancergirl · 01/02/2014 20:00

So it's gone from a pure grammar school to a comprehensive to a semi selective??

ThreeBeeOneGee · 01/02/2014 20:06

It hasn't been a grammar school since the 1970s.

As far as I know, it went straight to partially selective "comprehensive", but I could be wrong.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 01/02/2014 20:10

Yep, I was wrong. They were comprehensive from 1975 until 1995.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 01/02/2014 20:11

Although still count as comprehensive for Ofsted & league table purposes, as 75% of the intake is supposedly of mixed academic ability.

Original poster

SidandAndyssextoy · 02/02/2014 11:56

Yes, as I said, it was completely comprehensive when I went. Yet still got excellent results.

OP posts:

soul2000 · 02/02/2014 12:50

A Comprehensive that's called a "Grammar" that is really A Grammar , but Legal technicalities mean they are forced "Poor Sods" to admit 4 Lower ability students 2% each year although the real make up of 75% High 23% middle ability is in line with a Grammar that takes top 25% of ability range.

I feel for the 2% lower ability students who must feel hopeless in that environment. I am a massive supporter of grammar schools I just think it is unfair to use lower ability students to fulfil legal obligations .

The School achieves 34% AAB at A Level , up with the best state schools in the country, how can any of the lower ability students have any realistic chance of being admitted in to the Sixth form.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 02/02/2014 15:10

Sixth form entry requirements for internal candidates (if it's the same as the boys' school) are 6 B grades at GCSE. The sixth form only offers A-levels (and AS levels, although not for long).
If my children don't get 6 B grades or above at GCSE, then I wouldn't have thought that A-levels would be the most suitable type of further education for them.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 02/02/2014 15:17

At the moment we are planning to send our (slightly lower than average ability) DD there in 2015. There are three or four schools where she might possibly meet the admissions criteria, and this was the one she (and we) liked the most. Does this mean she will be a "poor sod"? Not according to the less academically able pupils I have spoken with. Some years they have quite a mixed ability cohort, including the current Y7.

notallthere · 02/02/2014 15:43

WGGS old girl here, I left 7 years ago.

ThreeBee, if she is motivated and hard working, she will probably be ok, although may well be quite overshadowed by the large number of very able girls.

She may feel she is a lot less capable than she is, particularly if it is a bright year e.g. she may end up in bottom set for maths and feel she is "bad at maths" whereas in a normal comprehensive she would probably end up in a middle set and feel more positive about her abilities.

WGGS does have very high expectations and really push all the girls to achieve their best, even the below average ones.

Does she have any particular talents e.g. music, art, dance, drama or sport? From my experience, WGGS has excellent music and art, and drama and dance are good, but sports facilities are not anything special.

If she is a talented e.g. musician or artist, she will be well supported, however if she is more into sport it may not be the best school for her.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 02/02/2014 16:55

Thanks notallthere, she is good at both art and music. Her year group at primary happens to contain many highly able children, so she used to be in the bottom groups for Maths, spelling etc, and it didn't seem to worry her. She got herself moved to middle groups by being conscientious and working carefully (if not quickly).

Our second choice school has had a lot of recent staff turnover in senior positions, so seems more of a risk.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 02/02/2014 17:09

Our second and third choice schools both stream children from Y7, across all subjects, and there is very little possibility of moving between streams. I can see the value of setting for individual subjects such as Maths or MFL, but I'm not a fan of streaming across the whole of KS3.

FiveHoursSleep · 02/02/2014 19:15

My DD1 is in the current Year 7 at WGSG. Her strengths are academic and music, but she's enjoying PE.
I think WGSG does pretty well in sports these days. It's certainly got great facilities with the new gymnasium and hall.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 02/02/2014 19:50

FiveHoursSleep: do you mind saying approximately how much homework your DD gets each week? DS2 (also Y7) is only getting about 2 pieces each night, each of which takes about 15-20 minutes, but I've heard that the girls' school sets much more homework.

FiveHoursSleep · 03/02/2014 09:22

She's not getting much actually. About the same as your DS, or maybe even less. They got quite a bit to begin with but it has been tailing off. They have quite a bit of revision and she seems to be doing okay with that. We have a parents' evening next month, so I guess I'll find out how she's really going but she's loving the school so far, has made friends and is enjoying the lessons.
They do seem to move through things quite quickly so I think she is more engaged than she was in Y6.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 03/02/2014 14:23

Thank you.

They got quite a bit to begin with but it has been tailing off That's been our experience with the boys' school too.

They do seem to move through things quite quickly so I think she is more engaged than she was in Y6. Again, ditto.

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