Super Comp/Leafy Comp - what are they?

[Kirari]

I often hear those words on the net. I understand they are not academically selective like grammar. What exactly are they? Comps with good results? Full of middle class families? Location? I recognise some like that but not quite sure if they are those so-called 'super comps'. Are Lady Margaret, Holland Park, Twyford etc considered to be one of them?? Can you name any of them as an example?

Leafy = ‘not Inner city”. Or a way of saying ‘few disadvantaged families’, perhaps. Or yes, ‘middle class’. It isn’t an official category.

I don’t know what you mean by Super Comp. On MN ‘super selective ‘ means a selective school (Grammar) that takes the top scores in the 11+, irrespective of other criteria, and usually outside a full Grammar system. There is no distance criteria and children from miles around compete for places. At other Grammars which are not super-selective, they take everyone who passes the 11+, roughly the top 30% of ability.

I was going to say What Tammy said.

Yesterday I read someone mention the super comp their dc is at. I assumed it just meant they really liked it

"Leafy comp" I think just means a comp in a middle class area. It may or may not be getting results better than you would expect from its intake.

A "super school" is a very large school (e.g. DC's school which will have 480 DC per year once at full capacity). So I presume a super comp is a very large comprehensive?

I'd interpret 'super comp' as somewhere with good progress/attainment by comp standards (so likely a skewed intake too). 'Leafy' in a more suburban, leafy area and without major behaviour issues etc (a pleasant sort of school).

I'm guessing but I'd say a super-comp is a large, well run school - possibly an "exam factory", but certainly with a strong reputation for good discipline and good results. It may not be in a leafy area - it may have even been a renowned sink-school in the past - but if so it will have been turned around by a super-head and it's reputation will now be such that it will be driving up house prices locally as more middle class families move closer. Depending on where it is in that process it might still be very comprehensive, with lots of students from under-privileged backgrounds.

p.s. Maybe somewhere like Holland Park School?

I believe Ashcroft Academy in Wandsworth would be regarded as a Super Comp, albeit it's an academy. Large school in an urban area, mixed social and ethnic intake, dedicted teachers and head, amazing results and great progress scores across the board

A Leafy Comp would be in an affluent surburban area or in the home counties. Similar results as a Super Comp but less of a social mix so possibly not as impressive on paper taking into account the intake?

Thank you all for taking time to clear my dizzy head.

I don't normally hear 'Super Comp'. Like someone said I must have read the word somewhere on MN but pretty much that's all. I do hear 'Leafy Comp' quite often though.

DS had a chance to get in both Ashcroft and Twyford (and also Graveney) as he was successful to all the selective entries. We chose Twyford. I hope it's regarded as good as Ashcroft like *thesunalwaysshines' described!

DS scored high enough for Graveney so I am pretty sure he would have got in if we put the school as our first choice. We liked the school but DH didn't like the area where the school is located. In the end, we eliminated it from our list mainly due to the distance but also the location.

Ashcroft was the nearest among the schools we considered. Good results, nice clean buildings, prob good teaching. But felt it was too rigid and tight in attitude. No sure if we made a right choice after reading thesunalwaysshines's post!

A 'leafy' example could be Coombe Girls.

Twyford, the CofE school? Slightly lower progress scores than Ashcroft but pretty similar statistics-wise. It's important to choose a school that feels right, though.

Hmmm. DS scored high for Tiffin too. But again we eliminated it from our list due to the distance and also DS strongly preferred co-ed. It was a gamble to pick Twyford as we don't know anyone whose DCs go there. No one at DS's school goes there. It seems to be strict but not like army which I felt for Ashcroft. Lots of extra-curricular opportunities were its appearing point.

As we chose to eliminate some supposed to be good schools from our list even though DS had a fat chance to get in, I think I am trying to persuade myself that our choice was right.

We also turned down a scholarship at an independent school for Twyford...

Fuck me! @RedSkyAtNight 480 kids PER YEAR??! That is truly insane.

What is that? 16 form entry??!! That's the most enormous school I've ever heard of!

I've heard very good things about Twyford, but I probably wouldn't regard either it or Lady Margaret School as Super Comps. That's not to say they aren't good schools but, going back to your original query, I wouldn't define them as such according to Skyblueglassgreen's excellent description.

The strictness at Ashcroft isn't for everyone, but the results speak for themselves (maybe need they to be strict to get the results taking into account their intake?). Look at the school's Oxbridge entrants last year - they compare to, if not beat, a lot of selective indies in South/South West London.

@soup It's a 2 campus school so "only" 240 DC per year at each campus. But yes it is (or will be, the population at the 2nd campus is still ramping up) huge.
For the DC, for the majority of the time it might as well be 2 schools. The main differences are at the school management level - there is a common set of teaching strategy, lesson planning,more teachers to share ideas plus a smaller set of functions such as school managers, admin, finance staff etc than would be expected in 2 schools of similar size. Plus the campuses share facilities such as performing arts rooms, climbing wall etc rather than duplicate.
I suspect we'll see many more "super schools" in the future as clearly running them this way allows various cost savings.

Twyford is a strictly religiously selective school though so a completely different category to any other you have mentioned. I know several religious families who didn’t get in because they attended the wrong sort of church - Methodist or not mainstream CofE.

Guardian article about super schools
www.theguardian.com/education/2015/oct/27/supersize-schools-too-big-add-places-pupils

What on Earth is the matter with the area around Graveney? LOL you must be the only family to turn down a selective place there on those grounds!

Your DS will do OK. You seem to have pursued every possible selective option, across miles and miles of London. Relax and stop fretting.

Agreed! Twyford, Graveney and Ashcroft are all excellent schools, albeit different. A motivated DC (with an equally motivated parent behind them!) will do just as well and get the same GSCE grades at any of those schools. Some families actively avoid church schools, some avoid 'super comps', and others don't like selective. It's horses for courses!

RedSkyAtNight, thank you for the clear explanation and the article! Wow, I didn't know such schools exist.

We don't really go to a church. But DS is at a C of E primary so is familiar with the religious events/celebrations and enjoys them (just had a lovely Easter service at school a few days ago) so he should be fine with attending another C of E school (I hope).

Tammy We didn't explore everywhere in London, only SW, all within an hour journey (prob apart from Graveney, I can't remember how long it took us to get there now). Zero idea in the North and East. But I heard there are lots of great schools in the North.

thesunalwaysshines, we thought Twyford would be the best choice for DS, though we don't really know much about the school. I hear good things sometimes, but all stories are from someone who doesn't attend the school, and the school is rarely talked about on MN.

But at least for now I understand Twyford is not a super comp!

I thought you had to get a reference from a vicar for Twyford confirming regular church attendance?

reup, luckily we didn't need that. We do actually go to a church but not regular enough (less than once a month...) so there was no way we could get a reference from a vicar...