Godolphin & Latymer v Latymer Upper

[ASPH]

After additional tours for both school we still can't choose between GL and LU for our DD, who is academic, sporty and a bit sensitive and comes from a good girls prep school. Lots of friends go to GL. Both schools are within 30 min from us. We loved the energetic atmosphere at LU, but worried that it sits on A4 and doesn't have sports fields on site. We felt that LU was making an effort to "win" us; GL didn't. Does it mean that GL's approach to teaching will be the same - take what we offer, but we will not push you further? Any opinion will help!

That's a nice decision to have! I have a daughter in Year 8 at LU and she absolutely loves it and is extremely happy there. We also felt that LU made a real effort to show my daughter that they wanted her there (she also had other offers but we didn't apply to G & L as neither of us liked it). Both are excellent schools so I don't think you can go far wrong with either but I cannot praise LU highly enough and my daughter really enjoys being in a co-ed school - the boys bring a different dynamic to the classroom and they tend not to take life as seriously as some of the girls do, so that makes for a more relaxed atmosphere. They do work them hard but nothing unmanageable and all students are encouraged to take part in extra-curricular activities. Sport is excellent there - dd isn't sporty but has friends who are - and tbh it's not been a big deal at all they have to travel by coach to the playing fields. It was a good way in Year 7 for dd to make new friends as they often end up sitting with different people on the journey. I have heard people on MN say that you need to be quite tough to cope at LU but in my experience, this is not the case. Dd has a range of friends - some quite shy, some quite geeky, some quite extrovert - and what I love about the school is that kids can be themselves and be accepted for that. As long as you are friendly and nice to people, no-one cares what you look like, enjoy doing or where you live (and I'm not sure the same is true of G & L). There are a few girls in dd's form who are 'silly and annoying' (read: giggly and like showing off) but you will find those in any school. Good luck with your decision making - my vote would go to LU every time.

Thank you FoxesAreFabulous! We have also noticed that there are a lot of parents, who are really enthusiastic about LU, but we have not heard anything as enthusiastic from GL parents so far. Couple of GL parents were complaining about girls being cliquey and partying too much.
Perhaps there are some happy GL parents here? Would love to hear from you! There are must be many reasons why the school is so popular.

Hi - I'm a happy G&L parent! Not sure why there aren't more of us around as there normally seem to be loads. It's a great school- not cliquey at all, not a general party culture. I think you must have been talking to someone with a particular experience of that?

What I've found is that it's full of energetic, lively, bright girls who don't take life too seriously. I'm not surprised the school wasn't trying to win you over- when we applied we were struck by how little sales pitch seemed to be coming from G&L compared to the other schools we looked at. For us that was in itself a big selling point.

The other thing is I have heard of some girls finding Latymer quite full on - I think it suits quite strong characters. There are lots of feisty girls at Godolphin too, but the less confident ones do thrive. It's really a lovely school.

Also what you say about the teaching- absolutely not the case. One of the fantastic things is the lack of pressure, but they certainly don't leave them to languish. There's a confidence that the girls will work hard and do well, but if there are any problems they are totally on the case.

Hi OP

We were faced with the same choice and finally decided on LU.

I loved both schools but my daughter is coming from the state sector and we felt LU was more down to earth. Nearly 50% of LU come from state schools and at G&L it's 25%. G&L seemed geared for prep school girls to thrive but LU felt more inclusive. Even at the level of sport G&L is all hockey, netball and tennis where prep kids who've grown up with great sports facilities will thrive but LU is all that plus swimming, water polo, athletics etc. The variety better suits our daughter.

We also found LU courted us where as G&L really did not. I preferred the LU attitude that acknowledged there is a hard choice to make rather than assuming we would choose them.

It was a hard choice though. I spoke to parents who are very happy with both schools. I thought both had nice atmospheres. I took a lot of comfort from the idea that there can be no wrong choice when choosing between those two.