80% bursary at Godolphin & Latymer or Tiffins girls school?

[Piggy456]

Hi ... looking for some opinions and advice. My DD has got some great news from GL. She passed the exams and we have secured an 80% bursary for the duration of the school years.

If she manages to get into Tiffins girls school (free) Which would you send her too and why ?

We live about in between the two schools so travel either is not an issue ( I chose the schools based on realistic distance and travel ) and academics.

Any advice would be most welcome. My DD likes both and is a confident person, likes sport and music.

I still think west London is cooler than Kingston

I really don't think anyone should be basing their school choice on how 'cool' the area it is in seems! And I would hesitate to describe that particular bit of Hammersmith as cool in any case! Have you ever been to King Street? It's roughly on a par with Hounslow for the cool factor.

Good luck to you too, Piggy.

Heliophilous . Think you have a point. Knowing both areas well, I would say that Kingston seems more happening and 'buzzy' (not sure that cool applies to either area though) than Hammersmith by quite some distance. Lots of young people in Kingston, partly because of the local uni.

Having grown up in the next door town to Kingston and gone to school in Hammersmith (G&L) I agree that Hammersmith is cooler. Not perhaps for itself but for it's proximity to life and buzz. I now live in C London which I put down to the early influence of the contrast between life in a Middlesex/Surrey suburb and being in the thick of things.

Not that one should choose a school on coolness. I wasn't cool then and I'm certainly not now. But I liked the sense that I was closer to where things were at.

I also grew up very close to Kingston and went to school in Hammersmith! I honestly don't think Hammersmith is cooler, just more central (which can be sort of exciting in a way). Kingston is actually rather nice to wander around these days - it definitely has nicer shops than King Street!

OMG...Kingston cool. No way. And I speak as someone old enough to remember The Three Fishes in the days when pubs did not check 13 year olds for ID.

Primark and TKMaxx in King Street go a long way to meeting teenage demands for retail therapy. Plus there is Westfield, full of G&L and LU pupils whenever there is a half day. I was always very impressed at how G&L pupils manage to adapt their uniforms so that on the tube they looked as if they were heading for junior advertising jobs rather than for school.

I don't think Hammersmith OR Kingston are particularly cool, just to be completely clear!!

@Heliophilous you have successfully offended all of Hammersmith with your comparison to Hounslow . We definitely won't choose a school on whether the high street is "cool" or "buzzy" but based instead on commute times and how much we like the school. I'm obviously biased towards my borough .

Sorry! I do think there are nice bits of Hammersmith! But King Street is not one of them.

I am not going to be choosing based on coolness either.

I would lean towards G&L in your shoes because of the ease of the school run, and therefore the greater potential to loaf with your mates on a journey home you have plenty of time for. Even if that loafing is in Kng Street (though it's a very good Primark, and there's a Kiko)

If you're based in H&F, OP, I would agree that G&L would be the better option. I don't think the journey to Tiffin Girls would be very easy at all in comparison. Plus you would be freeing up a super-selective place for a girl who hasn't got the luxury of a private school bursary .

Potentially freeing up a place

Oh if you are H&F I’d go G&L all the way. Girls do go there from all over but there is a concentration around W London. Local friends are so important. I didn’t have that at G&L because my commute was so long. It was definitely an issue - no local friends when you want to meet up at the weekend. Particularly as you get older and more independent.

Piggy Can your DD do a taster day at school? I can’t comment on the particular schools but thought I could chip in with some experience of state and Indy in my family.

Things the Indy does better in our experience:

Better food, more of it, better organised lunch times with sittings and staff eating in dining room.

Better healthcare, nurses fantastic at assessing and treating minor ailments (maybe because it’s boarding and day?). Local state can’t give a paracetamol.

Calmer. Calmer in class. Smaller school with more quiet spaces and calm activities at break and lunch (may not matter to your DD but great for my DC).

Better singing and music. The state school has great music groups too but relies more on teaching arranged by parents I think.

Exercise and sport- much more on offer for everyone and just more PE in the timetable.

Can teach off national curriculum.

Homework better planned and teachers reply to emails from DC if clarification needed.

Fewer supply teachers.

Loads of high quality clubs and activities. We are spending much less money on extracurricular stuff for DC in Indy than we did on DC in state. You may find you will claw back some of the 5k in doing less.

My nephews are at SS grammer my SIL gets frustrated that they feel they are bad at subjects that they aren’t best at when actually they are good.

Does the bursary cover trips? We told our DS that he couldn’t go on expensive trips. He looked at website and noticed that few people go on the exotic trips. We just couldn’t afford expensive trips on top of fees whereas the DC that went to state did do school skiing etc. So far he doesn’t mind and there are plenty of families that have same approach as us.

Piggy- ‘what questions do we ask on tours’- today we went back to g and l on a decider tour- my q’s were all surpassed by this amazing dad who asked the year 11 girl to sit down briefly with the 5 of us on the tour (3adults and 2 kids) and give us as honestly as possible the things that she wished could have been better at the school. He asked so politely and calmly that she gave us a straight answer. After a gazillion tours where all pupils tell you the school is great/ no bullying/ everyone loves it etc etc we finally got a fantastic open answer to a q.
I ask all the usual normally- pastoral care, streaming subjects, how many per class/how long are they in same class/ how much homework/ mobile phone policy/ drus policy/ what languages. Sports for the less sporty kids. Anyhow, all beaten hands down by the dad today. Well done him.

Princess - what was her answer?!

Many thanks FreeNiki

DD has worked consistently hard and I feel has made her own luck. She is also fortunate (?) to have rather unfashionable and uncool parents, to the extent that Hammersmith, Kingston and Hounslow will look awesome.

Thanks AnotherNewt, its always good to be able travel to and back from school with friends.

Whats a Kiko ? ( I did mention I'm rather unfashionable and uncool)

Letbygones-she said the sport was stronger than the music although that seemed to be changing with a new head of music. Also that she had had trouble with friendship groups in her class that she was in the whole of her first and second year and had all her classes with. She said it had resolved since then but it had been tough to be stuck in that class

Kiko is a make-up shop. Not particularly expensive. Italian brand, fairly new to UK. Popular at the moment.

Also that she had had trouble with friendship groups in her class that she was in the whole of her first and second year and had all her classes with. Think that is quite a common issue that girls have generally, TBQH, whichever school they're at!!

We were once shown around a school by a girl who when DH asked what her experience had been said, “I don’t know why they asked me to show people around. I have been really unhappy. I have clinical depression and I’m on medication. Some of the girls have been horrible to me but some have been ok.”

We always ask, “what have you liked best? What could have been better?” Of course I suspect most kids are wise enough to pick something not too bad unlike the poor girl above.

Thanks ReelingLush18, we are in Richmond with a 30-40 min (door to school) journey to either school.

You are absolutely right about potentially freeing up a space at a super selective.

Thanks again Backingvocals.

I have since found out a few girls from the area local area (walking distance) and a few more (bus distance) albeit from different year groups.

Many thanks Chillywhippet for your comparisons and insights.

Tiffins is a fantastic school, but we get a similar message from some current parents from Tiffins, detailing the exact issues you have raised.