peter symonds winchester views?

[lorimeed]

Looking at Peter Symonds for my daughters sixth form but have heard varied things! She's very academic and currently at private school on a academic scholarship with Oxbridge aspirations but I've heard many people struggle making the transition from private to a large college? Views and general opinions please :)

PS dropped General Studies last year : the AS students are not doing it and no sign of an Extended project.

I drove past St Swithuns today on my way to and from work. Waved to OP

Then again it might be that DD is exempted as she is doing 5 AS

I could ask DD but as I've just finished work for the night it will have to wait till morning

The EP has been an option for DD at PS in Y13 now so I would think it is also an option for the current Y12. If I recall it was this time last year when DD said it was being talked about in tutor time etc.

Ds has not mentioned anything, but then again he is intending to take 4 arts A Levels to A2 so an EP would break the camel's back I'd've thought.

Sorry Lorimeed, didn't get back to you. I've interrogated DS this morning and he says that no one in his friend group takes drugs. He knows of 3 students out of his 4 classes who have been stoned/said they had been smoking in college time.

He's been to 1 party since September and they didn't even get properly drunk, frankly I'm a bit perplexed. They seem so much more innocent than we were.

I agree - in the Lower Sixth (at an all girls' superselective grammar school) we were wild back in the 80s. Ds has never been to a party! He did have half a Budweiser after the Prom - and played cards with his mates.

Anyway, just asked ds about the EP and he said that they can do it if they have a burning passion about something, but have been advised that although it's something to talk about at interview, (top) universities are not fussed.

Brenda there was an article in the Telegraph education section recently saying exactly the opposite - that for Oxford and a few other 'top' universities the EP can be the deciding factor. I'm not a linker, but it will be there if you're interested. I think the school may have it wrong about being useful for interview too, as on the whole the tutors prefer to keep the playing field level so tend not to ask about the subject matter of the EP.

Molio, both of your statements are over-generalizations. EP has no impact at all on admissions for some subjects (e.g. maths, physics, engineering) but is indeed often talked about in interview. The Telegraph is also renowned for its over-generalizations in its education pages.

And sometimes it's pure advertorial for private schools.

Of course they're generalizations uilen and I'm aware from my own area that the Telegraph generalizes, but in a sense it has to, given the space available for these articles. But the article chimed with my own knowledge about the EP sometimes swinging an offer, although that experience is limited to the humanities, admittedly. I haven't a clue about the mathsy subjects. Again in the arts and humanities there can be a clear reluctance to talk about the EP, indeed some tutors say that at the introductory session and explain why. Anecdotally, ranging further out of my comfort zone, I was told that a peer of DD produced her EP at her medicine interview and was told firmly to put it away, for level playing ground purposes. Brenda did say her DC was doing arts, and so.... Anyhow, I agree that four arts A2s is probably enough of a workload without adding in the EP.

Molio Anyhow, I agree that four arts A2s is probably enough of a workload without adding in the EP.

So do I! Sadly not everyone sees it that way...:(

Just a view (and I am only thinking of humanities here ) is not the value of the EP or any similar extended essay , as a means of encouraging a pupil to think and read more widely around a subject? So as far as university goes this is the benefit of doing one - i.e. to encourage that habit of learning , rather than in the physical essay produced. So if a school encourages this in other ways , or the pupil does it naturally not such a big deal. But I don't work in education so it is just a personal view. I would agree though for those doing a large number of A2s there needs to be a realistic assessment of workload.

Brenda , what did you mean by "And sometimes it's pure advertorial for private schools." Not trying to be obtuse , promise , but probably missing a nuance (or indeed the blindingly obvious ) wouldn't be the first time

I think their articles sometimes seem to try to put the wind up people and induce panic that you're not doing the best for your child if you're not shelling out £££ for a school that's in the know . Whether it be IGCSEs or IB or that really clever dcs are all off to Harvard now, there's this undercurrent that state school pupils are ignorant of how things really work.

Brenda ,
I see your point now . I had read your comment as a direct comment on the EP , not the Telegraph thing in general . See , I was missing the obvious - told you I could. Thanks , though for explaining .

Slightly worried that Op thinks her DD might be future Prime Minister material.
Just what the country needs ,with her extensive knowledge of real life...

just looked at the KS5 destination data that came out yesterday.
Peter Symonds got 25% into RG & Oxbridge.
Not bad for a college that has kids doing Btec and that only demands C grades for the core non A level subjects.

Nevertheless, according to the OP they're still a bunch of stoners!

25% into Oxbridge and Russell Group or 25% into Oxbridge? The latter would be very impressive but the former not especially - there are a lot of RG unis.

Molio
The league table and what I wrote are quite clear.
Do you have kids planning to attend Peter Symonds?

No TP my kids are fine where they are but that's not even relevant. PS is such a huge college lots of people are going to know kids there, but actually one doesn't have to have any connection at all to comment so please lighten up. I queried what you said because if you really do mean 25% to RG including Oxford and Cambridge then I'd say, ok, it's not bad but it's not great either. In fact I'd be asking the question: why did 41% go to RG including Oxford and Cambridge in 2011 if only 25% went in 2014? There may be a very good explanation, but I'd want to know what it was. That said, I've heard pretty good things said of PS although it's hugeness isn't something all the students take to, clearly.

Here is the data set
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/destinations-of-key-stage-4-and-key-stage-5-pupils-2012-to-2013

Getting 25% - ie around 500 pupils - into Russell Group universities including Oxbridge is a fantastic achievement in a state run environment where many of the pupils are outside the scope of such institutions
eg those doing BTEC PE and other non A level courses.

Yeah, its crap compared with St Swithuns, but that is because, as the OP informed us, Symonds students are too busy taking drugs

That link doesn't go to 2014 cohort data though...