6th forms: Reed's School, Cobham, City of London Freemen's School and Rosebery School, Epsom

[Crazycatlady14]

I'm currently looking at 6th form options for DD who has expressed a desire to move for 6th form. She's more interested in Science subjects than Arts so may be looking at A Levels in Physics, Maths and either Chemistry or Geography. Does anyone have any experience / opinions of these 6th forms?

I wouldn't be keen on Reed's. I don't know the others.

The Howard of Effingham is in the same area and has an excellent 6th form.

I know Cobham (Notre Dame) from ex- 6th form very clever and hard working, diligent girls now at top Universities. I think 51% of the cohort achieved A last year with 81% of them achieving A-B... the girls I know loved the school and their parents were always over the moon with their achievement and support given by the school. (The downside= they had to pay the fees.)
Rosebery is ok-ish... We get conflicting feedback about Rosebery: Some saying the standards dropped recently (although league tables might tell you a different story)
Common knowledge between pupils: in order to achieve A*-A grades, parents arranging paid tutoring
However, I overheard parents saying that Rosebery school has been very good supporting girls in danger of not achieving C grades.
I think you need to visit every school yourself and 'get the vibe' in person. You know your own child, your own standards and expectations. Good luck.

Thank you for all your comments, they're very helpful.

LadyConstanceDeCoverlet - would you be willing to expand on why you're not keen on Reed's? My initial concern about Reed's was that my DD would be in a small minority of girls studying sciences but they did emphasise the pastoral care, which appealed to me, but it would be interesting to hear the reality of the situation.

Theocat - thanks for the suggestion re Howard of Effingham. I hadn't thought of that as I presume you had to be in the catchment area but will investigate further.

Nicp123 - thanks for the suggestion re Notre Dame and feedback on Rosebery. Ideally I think my DD would prefer to go to a mixed school, even though we are looking at Rosebery. We're going to the open day at the beginning of November so we'll see what DD thinks of it and see what the vibe is like.

There's effectively no catchment for the Howard for 6th form

Main advantage of Reeds is that all girls are new in the 6th form so no having to break into established friendship groups. Of the schools you mentioned CLFS is by far the most academic

Nicp123 those results aren't what are on the website here www.notredame.co.uk/TEARS-OF-JOY-AS-NOTRE-DAME-GIRLS-CELEBRATE-A-LEVEL-SUCCESS-1 35% A/A and 68% A-B. I'm actually quite surprised at those as the reputation of the school (IME) is very much that it is where the less academic girls go, certainly it's where the girls who can't keep up with 11+ preparation tend to move to. Interesting that it may be coming up academically

If she is in Y11 then better get a shift on - entrance exam dates are looming!

Yes I feel like I am completely disorganised with this as DH works abroad and DD, having mentioned this in passing last month, now seems more keen on the idea of moving. I'll have a look at Howard of Effingham as I have heard good things about it and feel that a co-ed environment might be better for DD. CLFS I feel may be too academic for DD and I am not sure what the pastoral care is like but would welcome any feedback from anyone who has experience of the school. It may be that the prospect of revising for entrance exams and doing numerous amounts of coursework concentrates DD's mind as to what she actually wants to do!

I know you didn't ask for more suggestions, but Esher college just popped onto my head. It also has good reputation academically, don't know about pastoral care, but might not be the right location for you.

Thank you ilovegreen, we did think about both Esher and possibly Reigate College but it would mean a fairly lengthy commute from where we are, with possibly 2 or 3 changes of trains. I'm certainly not discounting either of them but given DH is abroad and I work a fairly long commute from home, if there are problems with transport, DD won't be able to get to and from college by herself. I guess this would be a problem anywhere she goes but just trying to get my head around all the options