Woldingham/Roedean/Mayfield/

[CurlUpWithAGoodBook]

Can anyone talk me through some of the above in terms of:

• percentage of foreign pupils and whether they are from many different countries (and not from one dominant country)
• percentage of day vs flexi vs weekly vs full boarding
• general vibe of the school
• setting: what subjects and starting when
• MFL : what choices? What provision for children who already speak one of the MFLs fairly fluently?
• any USP??

Appreciate not all questions can be answered but wanted to put this out there!

My DD is a Y9 day pupil at Woldingham. In years 7 and 8 there were probably 20/60 boarders. This year there are c40/90 boarders. I think about 2/3rds of the boarders are girls from overseas. There is a fairly large Asian contingent - mainly but not exclusively HK, but also a quite a few from Mexico and Spain, as well as Australia, Italy, Switzerland. Some of the UK borders may go home for some weekends, and there will be some girls who board a couple of nights a week that aren’t included in these numbers. Not sure about the MFL situation, sorry.

Setting started after the first term. They set for Maths, and stream for English/humanities ie the same set for each of these subjects. In Y7 they do a carousel of MFL and after a bit pick 2 to continue, and they are then set for these also. The USP of the school is the fantastic all round education -good academics, great drama and music, good sports facilities, very nurturing.

Thanks Merlot! If you have a bright cgikd (but prone to not rising to full potential), will Wold provide an environment to push? That is my one worry. Otherwise loove the school!

It’s a bit hard to say, as my DD is B/C sets for most things, but they regularly review sets, moving girls up and down so that they are appropriately challenged/supported, and I know they run extension/ G&T activities in some subjects. They aren’t a hot house but clearly they are keen to get the best grades out of the girls as possible as it enhances the reputation of the school. As you get towards GCSEs/6th form increasing numbers board, I think because the workload piles up considerably. My DD is very happy there.

Does it have to be boarding?

@merlottime Is your dd still at Woldingham? If so, what are your thoughts on the new head? If dd left Woldingham, why did she opt to leave and where did she go (if it doesn't "out" her....) Your responses above were all really solid.....

@StopAtTheRedLight (I’ve name changed) yes, my DD is now in Year 12. It’s really hard to say about the new head, as we have not in our year group had a single opportunity to meet him in person yet, obviously in part due to lockdown. Everything he has sent out seems good and communications are regular. I had an initial worry that he may be slightly more overtly religious, and that this may make the school less inclusive for those of no/other faith’s, but I think this has now been toned down a bit. I think on the plus side given the age of his DDs he is likely to stick around for a while - in retrospect it feels like Woldingham was used as a stepping stone by Alex Hutchinson for her benefit, but not necessarily that of the Woldingham community as she stayed for a relatively short length of time.