CLSG v JAGS?

[Honkers2015]

My first time posting. My dd has been offered a place at CLSG and JAGS - we are finding it hard to choose between the two. We never thought we would be in the fortunate position of having to choose between them.

Love the green open spaces, facilities etc at JAGS, but always uncertainties with a new head and am also worried it might be a bit of a hothouse. My particular concern about JAGS is how girls are made to feel if they are below JAGS average once they are in (considering all the girls must already have done very well to have got in in the first place). I have heard that JAGS tells you what the median (not average, but I may have got that wrong) grade is for each test. At the end of term report, girls who score below the median point get graded "n". Does anyone know what "n" stands for (hopefully not "not up to scratch"?)? If it's a median grade, won't that mean 50% of the girls will be in that "n" camp? I want dd to go to a school which encourages, carrot approach rather than stick! I may be worrying over nothing and there may be a perfectly sensible reason why JAGS does this. I will try to find out after half-term but just wondering if anyone here knows. Dd is at a very gentle state school where you generally have no idea how everyone around you is doing - she will have to learn to be robust if that is indeed the system and she chooses to go there.

For some reason, I didn't get the impression from the City girls I met at the open day that it is a hothouse. The interview also suggests to me that they are trying to help the girls to learn and they are not expecting perfect answers first time round - dd needed prompting with the maths and English questions but she said the teacher was really trying to help her which made it a positive rather than negative experience. Really liked the feel of the place - it felt very happy and down to earth. Downside is lack of any open space to speak of and journey - although JAGS coach and City tube journey is probably much of a muchness, dd will have to leave much earlier in order to avoid full on rush hour crush and will not be able to do after school clubs (at least until she is a bit older) if she is to avoid the 5/5.30 northern line crush....

Any thoughts on the above would be much appreciated

I would recommend you go to the CLSG offer holders morning. It is very informative and having an offer makes you see the school in a different light

Thanks, yes, will be going next week.

Congratulations!

Am always surprised by threads like this.

Considering the amount of cash you'll be parting with, surely you had weighed up the pros and cons before application and determined which school's ethos and practices would best suit your child?

Bit harsh. It's pretty difficult to tell a school's 'ethos and practices' from open days when being herded round with hundreds of other prospective parents. And there's no guarantee that you'll get an offer anyway. I think everyone goes through a period of indecision when faced with a choice and it's sensible to ask questions of current parents.

She will prob do well wherever she goes. But seriously consider her social life and where you live. If in N London, opt for CSLG , if in S then Jags. You don't want her spending hours to meet people or you to chauffeur to matches or parties. Sounds silly but I know various people who wished they had taken that into account. Peer relationships are incredibly important up to about year 10.

Marni / ancientbuchanan - thanks for your advice.

I keep reading and hearing rumours (from people who have no direct experience) about JAGS being a hothouse but whenever I speak to someone with a DD/neice there they all seem very happy. No doubt it has high academic standards but I'm starting to wonder whether these rumours are so entrenched that they are passed on as fact! Hopefully someone who has a DD there will help clarify to some extent and help with your decision one way or another (I would like to know, too!!). Congratulations on the offers!

Ridinghigh - yes, I had a pm from a current JAGS mum and I am now totally reassured that it is a happy school: academic, yes; hothouse, no.

That's great, Honkers! Would you mind forwarding me the message (if the OP doesn't mind) if it has any other info? Thanks

Ridinghigh - I have just pm-ed you.

Thanks for the message, Honkers. Very reassuring!

Results-wise they are fairly comparable, I believe, so the rest comes down to intangibles.

Just to reiterate a point earlier, the commute is important and a comfortable, predictable coach journey would be much less arduous/stressful than the northern line in rush hour for a child. I know which I'd prefer even as an adult. Unless, of course, the commute on public transport is short. Whereabouts do you live?

Bit harsh. It's pretty difficult to tell a school's 'ethos and practices' from open days when being herded round with hundreds of other prospective parents.

Really? State school applicants seem to manage it and then rank schools in order of preference on the CAF.

Can't see why it's so different for parents in the independent sector.

CLSG is bleak- unless it's on your doorstep I'd definitely go for JAGS.
DD went to JAGS and tbh under achieved (no fault of the school) and is now on course for RG from a better school for her.
What's your daughter like character wise?

Really? State school applicants seem to manage it and then rank schools in order of preference on the CAF.

The two groups aren't mutually exclusive you know-many independent school parents have also filled in a CAF.

You'll see lots of threads on here asking for views on particular state schools before the CAF is filled in because the decision re order of preference has to be made then. With independent schools that final decision can't be made until the offers are in and you know what your actual options are.

Re. CAF Obviously!

Re. Independent schools: doesn't stop one having a preferred school - a school that will meet the child's needs and whose ethos one is in sympathy with. One presumably determines all this (and practicalities like journey time) before applications are submitted, not after. (Especially as most of us begin the school 'discussion' in y4/y5, in order to begin tutoring, take up a second instrument, etc etc)

Then, if the preferred school offers, decision easy. If no offer forthcoming one can look down one's list.

Honkers - would also be grateful for the email.

Notatheminute- why are you even responding to this thread if you have nothing useful to add to the questions asked? Sure another thread could benefit from your obvious wisdom

...because it's an open forum SWStressed.

Do feel free not to read.

Yes but irrelevant passive aggressive comments don't add much to the thread they are just tedious to scan through

Seriouslyffs
I am interested in your comment that CLSG is bleak - my dtr is a pupil there and loves it. She is completely intending to stay on for 6th form (hasn't even applied to any others).
Do you mean the environment or the education?

Just the environment- I've heard good things about the teaching. I'm aware that it's a trivial thing to select a school on, and children are much less bothered about grass and views!