Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Secondary education

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

SW/W London Independent Schools thread part two

629 replies

Chillaxalready · 09/02/2015 20:09

There. I've done it and started one.
1001 messages and counting!

OP posts:
Dinocroc · 11/02/2015 11:18

I do. DS2 is amazing at maths. We did zip in terms of tutoring but tried to encourage him to read books with more words than pictures . A tough ask. And bought bond English comprehension books. He did a couple of VR but I think that's a bit mathsy too. So my advice would be to get them to do what they don't like/ aren't good at. Painful though that is Grin

Needmoresleep · 11/02/2015 11:33

The advice, way back when hard to think DD is a sixth former and we are almost at the end was that she needed both:

  1. to show she had a real flair and was a strong RG candidate for her better subject
  2. do well enough in her weaker subject to "get over the bar". Selective schools wanted to ensure that students did not have problems with either maths or english as weaknesses would bleed through into other subjects and could turn the GCSE years into a pretty miserable experience. At the time LU reputedly set quite a high bar for maths, odd given its reputation as a school for arty children.

FWIW I think co-eds like to take a few girls who are good at maths, as it helps them rebalance potentially boy-dominated maths sets.

Chocfinger · 11/02/2015 11:39

Needsleep what is EC? I think my DD would thrive at KGS- sporty and coed. She prfers Putney (waiting list), LEH (friday, we find out) and the new state school in twicckenham, Richard Reynolds. Any useful info you might have to help me sway the debate (well not a big debate currently!!) much appreciated! She didn't like the look of the lunches at KGS Hmm

Chocfinger · 11/02/2015 11:41

Also- interesting point about the rebalancing- my DD far stronger in maths, which she actively enjoys, than English

amidaiwish · 11/02/2015 11:41

extra curricular?

Needmoresleep · 11/02/2015 11:43

Yes!

Dinocroc · 11/02/2015 11:49

Choc finger.re KGS They can get a baguette if they don't like the look of the lunch. Does that sway it?. And a couple of the sports teachers are very easy on the eye...

wheresthebeach · 11/02/2015 11:56

Agree Amidaiwish - it's their attitude to mistakes, and how they talk to parents that matter. During the application process you do rather want to feel valued - regardless of the numbers applying.

amidaiwish · 11/02/2015 11:59

dinocroc, can they bring a packed lunch? do any?

Dinocroc · 11/02/2015 12:06

Amida I think they can. Don't know if any do. Will ask DS1 tonight. He is not organised enough to get breakfast either but apparently they have hash browns and breakfast rolls in the morning. Hash browns are 20p so I'mtold and he seems to be surviving on themGrin

amidaiwish · 11/02/2015 12:08
Grin i can only imagine what dd will eat if left to her own devices. at an LEH day from the extensive lunch offering she had a lamb chop, a bread roll and a chocolate chip cookie.
CountessDracula · 11/02/2015 12:13

Yes they can bring packed lunch at KGS.
We don't bother - dd says the food is variable in quality but there is always something she likes, they have 2 x pastas, jacket potatoes with fillings as well as the normal main courses. If she has a lunchtime club she sometimes orders a baguette at break, it comes with a piece of fruit or a cookie (I think) and a drink. They can choose their fillings then pick up at lunchtime

Needmoresleep · 11/02/2015 12:14

Its always going to be a small sample, but the KGS girls she knows seem to love their school, and be really engaged across both academic and non academic elements. It seems to be the only co-ed which has cracked giving girl's sport genuinely equal status.

That said over the years she has met lovely girls from almost all the schools mentioned in this thread and honestly most seem happy, as indeed is DD. Actually I think she would have been perfectly OK almost anywhere which was supportive of dyslexia, but looking back KGS might have been the best fit for her.

(There are so many variables: journey, school food!, teachers, classmates and and and. No one can ever know. The vast majority will be happy with the school they go to, and as long as they meet standards and there are no behavioural issues, schools seem reasonably sympathetic to accepting children who fail to settle in their first school.)

From her feedback the least happy school might be the Lycee, but that is possibly because it is so large, the hours so weird and because the French approach seems to have schools focussed simply on education so not offering the extra-ordinary and priviledged range of non academic activities and clubs available in London private schools. Plus the French system has a lot of subjects and seems to be hard work. So a bit apples and pears.

castlesintheair · 11/02/2015 12:35

No needmoresleep, the French system is definitely not meant to be fun. It's lack of EC is my main reason for a possible return to UK but it is academically excellent and so cheap. And the 4 course lunches are pretty good. Argh, what am I doing?!?!

Needmoresleep · 11/02/2015 13:41

Castles, exactly. The destination Universities of pupils DD knows are been really good, though all of a smallish sample have gone to the UK the US or Canada. Not France! Particularly impressive given the intake is not selective.

A number seem to bail out at 13 or 16. One famous example being Mika who switched to Westminster. Very few of the Lycee students DD knew were really French. Indeed some were second or third generation Londoners with rather tenuous French links. Not surprising given the fact it seems to deliver a cheap quality education.

Chocfinger · 11/02/2015 18:25

Thanks for your considered response needsleep. All DDs options are exciting - whether it's Surbiton, KGS or Richard Reynolds- which we will hopefully get given we fit faith criteria. I just wish I had some results for the latter or indeed parents with children there to talk to. With the indies perhaps I shouldn't get hung up on small differences and if she is lucky enough to get off wait list at Putney before I make a payment elsewhere, let her go with her preference.

Bonsoir · 11/02/2015 19:23

needmoresleep - "Plus the French system has a lot of subjects and seems to be hard work."

Yes, yes and yes to this! French DC work extremely hard in secondary (not so much in primary - there is a huge leap). The upside, for French DC who go to English universities, is that HE is so much less stressful than school.

castles - we heard today that DD got a place in 6ème at Sèvres but she was allocated to the "second site" at Chaville rather than the main site at Sèvres. We would rather she stayed at her current school than go to Chaville so will need to negotiate hard with Sèvres (we plan on being there as the office opens tomorrow morning!).

Grrr.

DarkBlueEyes · 11/02/2015 20:04

Chocfinger I think you have given yourself some very sound advice. If we do have a choice I think I'm going to suck it up and let DD choose, given I am happy with ALL the schools she's tried for. Then it's her commitment iyswim. That's a big IF though, no choice for us yet.

castlesintheair · 11/02/2015 20:13

Bonsoir, well done your DD. I considered Sèvres amongst a few others but decided in the end to stay here (am I mad?) or go back to London. Good luck in getting the site moved. It appears the transfer from primary to secondary is a hassle wherever you are.

Bonsoir · 11/02/2015 20:41

castles - I can confirm from the from the front line that the transfer from primary to secondary in Paris is a huge hassle and getting much worse every year!

Chillaxalready · 11/02/2015 21:48

beingfrank we've been told they are looking into it to work out what has happened with her all her information (and to work out how they got her gender so spectacularly incorrect!)
Can't imagine they will be forthcoming with detailed info about what went wrong, but they have apologised!
If the reserve place had been offered on actual performance in all the various aspects of the process I wouldn't mind - it is the fact that I have no faith in how accurately she has actually been assessed!!

OP posts:
Beingfrank · 11/02/2015 22:13

Indeed Chillax - it doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

wheresthebeach · 11/02/2015 23:05

Assume that gender is a 'tick box' that's gone wrong; but losing all the information is rather more concerning. Very very odd. And yes...I'm not surprised you're not convinced about the accuracy of the assessment. You deserve a full explanation...if they can find one!

scaevola · 11/02/2015 23:18

Whilst I was in Unanswered Messages, I spotted these two languishing threads and as this one is in Active so often I'm going to link them here - in the hope someone here might be able to help (recent research and interrogation, if not direct experience)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/educationTalk/education/2305702-Lady-Eleanor-Holles-does-it-work-if-non-sporty

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondaryTalk/secondary/2306110-Streatham-and-clapham-high-school

Chocfinger · 12/02/2015 10:54

Just received the LEH letter- waiting list for DD)-:
Suspect LEH waiting list does not move enormously....

Swipe left for the next trending thread