Henry Beaufort in Winchester

[giddly]

Hi. I live in the Winchester area and have a DD currently in yr 4. Henry B is our catchment school, but people from our area seem to be able to also get their kids into Kings and Perrins. I've always assumed DD would go to Henry B - I know it is considered the poorer of the Winchester schools but is still good, and there are some apects of it (i.e. pastoral care) which seem strong. However, there seems to be growing dissatisfaction among some parents about Henry B at the moment, and to be honest their results don'y look great considering the catchment (although I realise you have to be careful how these figures are interpreted and compared). I was quite surprised that only just over half students got 5 GCSEs at a*-c givien it's a fairly affluent catchment and it performs badly in comparison to similar schools according to the figures. I'm getting a bit concerned - DD is quite bright (around a 3a / 4c at the mo) but by no means exceptional, but does need a bit of a push as she gets demoralised and off topic very easily. Does anyone have any experience, and am I right to be a bit concerned?

the weakest of the Winchester schools - possibly
but still eye wateringly good compared with most of the country
all parents winge about all schools
HB is better than most
go in and visit and see how the 'vibe' makes you feel

Not from this area but if you're most concerned about results look at the Gov performance tables for Hampshire. High attainers on entry (ie Level 5 dcs) do very well in all the Hampshire schools but only Kings(from your list) does well for middle attainers (74% Level 4s on entry get 5 GCSEs A*-C). Only 49% of Level 4 dcs achieve this at both Perrins and Henry B but Perrins has a brighter intake to start with so does better in the league tables. Might depend how bright your dd is.

I know parents at all 3 Winchester secondaries (but not Perrins).

The parents of probably the brightest child (likely Oxbridge) chose HenryB and are happy with it. But all the parents are happy (one child moved after y7 from Kings->Westgate)

There is at least some self selection from what I can tell, especially wrt Kings.

Thanks for your replies. Clavinova - I think you have very succinctly summed up my concerns. DD may well be a middle attainer, and as you say only Kings (and Westgate which I didn't mention) seem to do well with this group. As I understood it children who get a level 4 are considered on course 5 or more GCSE including English and Maths, so this strikes me as a real failing masked by a fairly bright intake.

Having had experience of both Kings and Westgate, choose carefully. Kings streams and sets it's pupils in the October of yr7. At the moment there are 3 bands and several sets within each band. Kings does not take the junior school SATS into account, it sets based on work done and tests taken in the September of yr7.
Currently Kings is attracting very bright children from all over Hampshire, Southampton and Portsmouth because it does not have sufficient catchment children to fill its 330 or so places in each year (this will probably change as the developments on the Romsey Road/Pitt Manor come to fruition).
You could find that your child is in Band2 set4 or Band3 set1 and still be achieving higher than the national average, however due to the time tabling issues your child would probably not be able to do a second language.
There is a fair amount of movement in the October- December of yr7 when some pupils move from Kings to Westgate (as Westgate does not currently Set/stream so rigidly.

Thanks - thats really helpful. I think in many ways DD would be happier at Westgate from what I've heard. I've been looking very carefully at the statistics and feel quite disillusioned with Perins and Henry B - I know it's only forone year but only 50% of kids acheiving level 4 at the end of primary gettin5 GCSEs including English and Maths is a worse strike rate than some of the much maligned schools in Southampton. The fact that there overall results are in anyway reasonable seems to rely on the fact that there are a fair amount of high acheivers coming in in year 7.

giddly
there are underlying factors in the stats that are 'debatable'
esp re Southampton (where I live)
feel free to message me and I'll check out on the grapevine what might work for your DD

That would be great talkin - I will

Personally, if I had a DC who had a chance of getting into say Westgate over HB, I'd tend to take it.

HB is definitely considered the weaker of the options; and yes, Kings rigidly sets- the problem being they seem to think that if a DC is good at Maths, they'll automatically be good at MFL, for instance (timetabling issues). Greta if your DC is good at such things but maybe demoralising if they aren't.

I know HB have a homework club every night, overseen by Peter Symonds 6th formers, which is possibly useful.

The reality is, you can forensically mine all the stats but at the end of the day, few DC's achievements are linear, all sorts of things come into play that can boost or derail them- and HB is still, compared to much of the country, a very good school.

Thanks Tansie - realise we're pretty lucky in this area, but it's still a difficult choice. The stats obviously don't always tell the full story, but everything else is so subjective (and I think people who have made a choice to commit to a school are often reluctant to admit they've made the wrong choice if they feel they have).

The other piece of the jigsaw, seldom mentioned until your children are settled into secondary, is the amount of private tuition that takes place in Winchester. Many Kings and Westgate pupils are being tutored to maximise their chances of moving from GCSE B to A and to 'ensure' an A* if at all possible.
These kids are bright and they are attending a good school AND they are also being heavily supported by tutoring.
This could be why some of the stats look brilliant.
Kings and WG probably won't acknowledge the amount of tutoring - why would they, their results are excellent. But ask around some local secondary parents, have a very good look around the schools in Sept, when your DD is in Yr5 (also ask the prefects that show you around, they are really honest) and look at the underlying detail not just the OFSTED/FFT data. Good Luck!

giddly you're absolutely correct about the 'bias' you'll hear as few will admit to having made a mistake!

Are there really loads of tutors in Winchester? Genuine Q. We were looking for a GCSE tutor to the south of Winchester a while ago (not to turn a B into an A; to turn D into C!) and there was just about nothing available!

I think you should visit the schools, maybe originally alone, then with DC and start with a clean slate. You might find you actually really like one over the others and it becomes an obvious choice. (I felt Kings was just like my old GS, circa 1973, whereas I thought I'd love it! Though I know of plenty of (high achieving) DC there who are thriving.)

You can analyse stats trends, underlying factors etc etc til you're blue in the face, but, at the end of the day, if the fit feels right between you, your DC and the school, that's a massive plus- and, as stated before, you really can't go too far wrong if you have Kings/Perrins/Thornden/HB/Westgate as your surrounding schools!

Thanks aufweider - I hadn't thought of that! Interesting. Tansie - you're right. A lot of it will be down to gut reaction I think. I find it so stressful though - making a decision for which dd will need to bear the consequences!

giddly - I'd say the consequences won't be dire, which ever way you go, and, if they aren't as good as you'd've liked, the must remember that What Went Wrong might have gone wrong at whichever school your DC were at- and, for all the 'success stories' you'll hear from other parents, you have to bear in mind that they're talking about their DC and their DC's 'fit' at a given school, which again may not have been your own experience under the same circumstances.

As it is I'm not 100% sure we made 'the right' choice for the DSs, but it's more that I now realise they'd've been fine at just about any of the schools we looked at. We made our choice based on what we knew at the time.

One can be swayed by amazing results- but- can you be sure your DC constitutes 'the top x percent'? Is the school already packed with above-average achievers? If it has amazing sports facilities, will your DC avail themselves of them? Top drama studios- does your DC like to act? A language college is great if your DC has an interest in language, but if not... and so forth.

What I wish my DC's school had includes compulsory 'club' membership, one a year; and offered an extended day with a homework club for all years. Which, despite being the top rated comp, academically, in the county, it doesn't!

Thanks Tansie. That's exactly it - I don't think DD will be in the top x% (I know that's very unusual to admit on Mumsnet) but want a school that will be the best for a high average child academically - they aren't always the best academic schools on paper. Unlike her sister I'm really not sure she'll be fine at any school - she's quite complex and lacking confidence and is likely to find the transition very difficult, resulting to her clinging the first person or thing who gives her a bit of security - which may or may not be helpful for her.

I thought DS2 would be a bit like that, tbh. He's young for his age, quite short and a little bit babyish at times. He is as innocent as the day is long; at 13 (this month) his favourite toy (other than Minecraft!) -is Lego. He needed a year's KMcG to get a '4' in his KS2 English SATS (though got 5s in the others, as did most of his school mates). His spoken English is still very unsophisticated and basic, peppered with silly errors. I confess I chose DS1's school based as much on anything that I hoped they'd 'do well' by all their DC, not just the clever ones, hence would 'work' for DS2. I was worried that the lower sets in a more- dare I say- run of the mill comp could not only contain the less able but also the less-arsed, or 'chair-chuckers' as we call them! So I picked a MC school that didn't feel like a GS (Kings) as I didn't want DS2 to have his 'failure' spelled out in a number. I rated DS1 as 'clever enough'.

Roll on 3 1/2 years; DS1, 15, has morphed into Kevin-the-teenager, all attitood, sulks, slammed doors and an apparent refusal to understand it's not me who'll be sitting his GCSEs next year; DS2 is actually doing better than his DB was at the same age (2 year gap) and, in terms of consistent effort, application and enthusiasm, is his tutor's star-pupil. He won't ace a Russell Group uni place but I'm no longer thinking 'apprenticeship' as a first resort for him!

So with the best will in the world, they change, they develop, they infuriate and please! So though I picked what happens to be the 'best academic comp' in the county, DS2 isn't, as stated, eye-wateringly academic yet is flying along as quite an 'average' academic attainer.

None of the 'Winchester' comps- Kings, Westgate, HB, Perrins or Thornden, more or less- do at all badly academically, but we're blessed with such good comps- lots of consultants' DC go- that they do seem to be able to help all DC along.

Thanks Tansie - that's reassuring!