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Secondary education

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

When parents are slagging off the local comp...

779 replies

Everyoneafter3 · 17/04/2017 08:43

I've posted before about my concerns over the local secondary, which, thanks to comments on this board and an excellent recent Ofsted, are very much allayed. I had a very good read of school newsletters etc and am much happier. Dd1 (Y4) is musically gifted and will also audition for a specialist music school.

The area in which we live is very affluent: many children round here go to fee-paying independent schools. These dc are going to school and telling my dd (and others) that the local secondary is rubbish ("my mum and dad say..."). One particularly stupid parent has said at home that "no child of mind will set foot in x school" which of course is coming back home with our dd.

Dd1 has now got it into her head that the local school is terrible, that she's really upset to go to not a good school, that she wishes we weren't poor (we're not! But no, we can't afford independent school fees without having to sacrifice other stuff we prioritise as a family). She's been researching exam results and all sorts.

For our part we've said well look at any local school she'd like to, although as we live across the road from the school in question it'd be unlikely that she'd get in.

I'm heartily sick of parents telling their dc how awful the local school is. It's simply not fair. My dc won't receive a 'lesser' education. They aren't going to a 'rubbish' school. If this continues I'm tempted to speak to their current primary school tbh. What else can I do? I've told dd to not listen, we've looked at the school website, talked about results (!) but I'm at a loss.

OP posts:
BoboChic · 21/04/2017 18:54

I respond to requests, goodbyestranger. More fool those who ask for assistance! 8/8 applicants I helped this year have Oxbridge offers though I very much doubt they will (all) fulfill them!

goodbyestranger · 21/04/2017 19:02

My bad then Bobo. As of last year you had 0 over I don't know how many years. What made the dramatic difference do you suppose? I mean, that's a huge turnaround.

goodbyestranger · 21/04/2017 19:02

For which subjects incidentally?

BoboChic · 21/04/2017 19:04

They are British, goodbye, doing A-levels or IB. Mostly Economics and NatSci.

goodbyestranger · 21/04/2017 19:05

So all Cambridge?

BoboChic · 21/04/2017 19:07

Yes. TBH they are far less clever than the French applicants I have helped - but the hit rate is fabulous ;)

Clavinova · 21/04/2017 19:08

Alyosha -
There are sets of very clever boys at King's College Wimbledon and Hampton who didn't sit the exam for Tiffin boys.

Posters on the 11 plus exam forum do say that at least 44 places were offered from the waiting list for HBS in 2013/14 - so half of the girls in the top 93 were choosing to go elsewhere.

However I still think you are wrong about the size of the year groups for NLCS and HBS - HBS doesn't have a much larger sixth form - certainly not 40 more girls in year 13 as you are suggesting.
DfE performance tables have the following year group stats as:
2013 - NLCS 115 HBS 118
2014 - NLCS 112 HBS 117
2015 stats don't seem to be there.
2016 - NLCS 118 HBS 126
These figures don't match the schools' websites exactly as HBS state 123 girls sat A levels in 2016 but HBS have obviously included the previous year's gap year/reappliers in their destinations list whereas NCLS have listed them separately (there were at least 15 from 2015). Plus NLCS mention a number of art students not included. Therefore the destinations lists seem unreliable and a similar number from both schools have Oxbridge places.
Why do you think that HBS gets better results? NLCS mentions 5 girls obtaining maximum points in the IB in 2016 - only 150 students (out of 60000) worldwide achieved this.

Also, earlier in the thread you surmised that the majority of girls at HBS apply to Oxbridge every year but the links to the Oxford and Cambridge admissions stats show that only 52 girls from HBS applied to Oxbridge in 2015, so less than 50% applied.

Redactio · 21/04/2017 19:10

Bobo:
I find the choice of the phrase "far less clever" interesting. This implies that the IQ of the English is lower than the French. Is that what you meant to say?

BoboChic · 21/04/2017 19:13

No, it doesn't imply that. It implies that the bar for international applicants is set a lot higher than for British applicants. Why not? I have no issue with that,

goodbyestranger · 21/04/2017 19:21

What help do you give Bobo?

cowgirlsareforever · 21/04/2017 19:22

What kind of university did you go to BoboChic? French, English, Oxbridge, RG, former Poly?

BoboChic · 21/04/2017 19:25

The only help I give is response to requests. I don't try to help anyone - people ask (on the basis of help already given).

BoboChic · 21/04/2017 19:27

I went to Bristol and did an MBA.

cowgirlsareforever · 21/04/2017 19:29

University or Polytechnic Bobo?

goodbyestranger · 21/04/2017 19:29

I thought you said UWE previously or am I wrong about that too?

Not that it matters.

So is your help of substance or not?

Ontopofthesunset · 21/04/2017 19:30

I suspect Alyosha doesn't have any children currently at school in London, so doesn't actually have the 'anecdata' we all have from our various experiences.

No boys in my older son's state primary school class sat the Tiffin exam whereas at least 8 of them sat for various private schools. Can't remember the girls' stats but I think only two tried Tiffin Girls and about five tried private schools, including those two. There are many clever children all over London who do not apply to grammar schools but whose parents, for whatever reasons, are only considering private secondaries. There are, naturally, a very large number of very clever children who go to non-selective state secondaries too.

Alyosha · 21/04/2017 19:33

Clavinova - HBS takes a further 50 girls in 6th form.

I've got no idea how large the NLCS sixth form is, and I don't think the figures you are using are reliable due to resits etc. 11+ forum also think the 6th form at NLCS is smaller.

For IB - I don't think HBS offer this? Or do they.

Why couldn't you academically leverage having a job for 2 years? Or caring? If you were applying for medicine, or economics either could be leveraged very effectively.

Ontop - I think HBS girls are in the top 0.5/1% as we currently understand it. There is no way on earth to accurately measure the "real" top 1%, but as we currently measure it (SATs, CATs, NVR, VR), they will be the top of the top. Potentially even the top 0.5%.

User615 - well quite, which is why lots (44) choose other schools for their DCs. Most private schools will see a lot more movement after offer day than that, btw. I'm just pointing out to some incredulous posters that it's not inconceivable that someone might choose the state sector over the independent sector.

And, of course, not all applicants at private secondary schools went to private primaries...

cowgirlsareforever · 21/04/2017 19:34

It doesn't matter if it was the Polytechnic. It's just that I have a genuine interest in this subject and the provenance of the advice.

Alyosha · 21/04/2017 19:38

You're right ontop, however I can recreate my own experience from 17 years ago by using 11+ forums, and it seems things are pretty similar.

Lots of people viewing HBS as a free NLCS/HBS/Habs equivalent
Tiffin Boys/Girls still drawing lots of kids from local indy prep schools.

I also know anecdotally of a lot of parents who are saving for school fees - but only if their child doesn't get into a grammar. Maybe they'll have saved up enough that they won't care!

goodbyestranger · 21/04/2017 19:39

Well I'm curious too cowgirls but additional extra help is a bit of a cheat on the part of applicants. On the other hand if the advice isn't substantive then Bobo can't claim credit.

Ontopofthesunset · 21/04/2017 19:41

Nobody has ever denied that many people choose the state sector over the private sector. I think some of us are just taking issue with your bold assertions earlier that the majority private school applicants really wanted grammar schools and that private schools like NLCS were just a back up for HBS. For some people, yes. But for very many parents of very clever children, grammar schools just aren't on the radar at all.

You keep insisting, in the face of logical inference, that all the entrants at HBS will be in the top 1% of ability. Of course they won't. Some will be.

user7214743615 · 21/04/2017 19:41

Potentially even the top 0.5%.

So why don't they all get straight A stars? How do you reconcile their grades with your claim that they are top 0.5%?

I don't think even HBS itself claims that its girls are top 0.5% according to CATs etc.

BoboChic · 21/04/2017 19:42

What is UWE?

goodbyestranger · 21/04/2017 19:46

The University of the West of England ie Bristol Poly. I thought that's where you said you went (or perhaps it was another poster who said it, possibly incorrectly) as opposed to the University of Bristol. Not that it matters.

BoboChic · 21/04/2017 19:47

I don't know anything about UWE. I went to Bristol University and Insead.