Scholarship at Putney High or Godolphin & Latymer

[Summertime2]

DD has been luck enough to be offered an academic scholarship at Putney High and a place at Godolphin. I am struggling to help her choose between the schools. They are both an easy 25 min journey.

She is extremely sporty, hardworking but quite anxious and puts a lot of pressure on herself. I would like her to be in a kind environment without too much pressure if possible.

The financial aspect of the scholarship, while fantastic, would not be a deciding factor on its own, it's more important that she is happy.

Can anyone with experience of either school advise?

Hi Summertime. I ha e a DD who very much wants to go to G&L. She says she gets “good vibes.” We’re going to go for it, I think, over PHS and SPGS, as well as another school, similar to PHS where she was offered a scholarship. The scholarship was only worth 5% though.
Wealso live between PHS and G&L but there are more buses to Hammersmith than to Putney. If it’s GCSE results that interest you, G&L was 98% A*-A (96% where the numerical grades applied) so little difference with SPGS, whereas PHS was 92% and this is an all time high for them. However, I sense both schools are in an upward trajectory and the differences are very marginal.
Also, I think G&L feels like more of a “London” school, PHS more like a local high? G&L will get girls from all over due to tube proximity, where PHS girls are likely to be drawn more from Putney, Barnes, Wandsworth etc. But beyond that, no idea really!

Hi, I agree with Que0. I have one at Latymer Upper, (so like G&L, it’s more central) and another at PHS. I can’t comment on the general feel of G&L though knowing other girls there it does very much feel more ‘London’ with children coming from far and wide whereas at PHS most girls live locally (Fulham, Putney, Wimbledon). PHS has been a very nurturing environment for my DD and she has to date never experienced any signs of pressure or anxiety and she is about to sit her gcse’s. They support and guide them very well. She also has some really lovely friendship groups but that can be unpredictable anywhere. If she loves sport then PHS is very suited also. Hope this helps ?

The atmosphere at G&L is lovely.
The pastoral care is great; sport, music and drama ensure the girls are always busy. Academics as alluded to above.
The (relatively) new head is incredibly engaged.

In my experience G&L is very aware that the girls may be anxious and put pressure on themselves. They are incredibly prepped for it and seem to go out of their way not to add any pressure. It also feels like a kind school, with minimal bitchiness. We’ve been really pleased with it.

Thanks so much for the insights. It sounds like either school would be fantastic. An unexpected luxury to have this choice! I guess it comes down to marginally better academic results vs a scholarship which could either provide support or actually make DD feel more under pressure to continue to do well.

Does she have a preference ?

I wish she did! She's always liked both, it's been pretty straightforward to narrow it down to these 2 but now she is stuck. I didn't see any info from Godolphin on an offer holders visit but we will go back to Putney next week.

Daughter in Year 7 at G&L. She's super sporty and very happy there. Pastoral care has been excellent and so far doesn't seem to be too much pressure academically. She couldn't be happier! She didn't know anyone coming into the school and they make a real effort to assimilate the girls and mix them up between forms and houses. The head is amazing and obviously as a vision for the school. She herself has school age girls and is aware of the pressures of secondary school in London.

We did attend an offers holders day last year when we were deciding between G&L and another school so I would contact the bursar if you want to have another look. It was very helpful to see the school again on the offers holders side of things and made it very clear that this was the right school to choose over the other.

Thanks so much Livingwiththree, that's very helpful. Do they do gymnastics at Godolphin? I think it's quite a major thing at Putney.

Yes.

Hi sorry to jump in but does anyone have any idea of how quickly (if at all) the G & L waitlist moves. My DD is on the waitlist and it’s rather an anxious wait. She has an offer from Ibstock but doesn’t want to go co-Ed. We only applied for 3 private schools (PHS rejected her) as had thought she would be going state to LMS in Parsons Green as she’s at a state primary that mostly feeds into LMS. She is still likely to get a place there ( we are a local church family) but due to recent family changes we are now veering to private school for her. Any advice gratefully received please.

All over SW London the waiting lists will probably move on Friday afternoon, this is because many parents bring their paperwork and cheques to the holders open days happening today and tomorrow in schools so apart from those choosing between state and private the acceptance lists will be more firm by Friday. Also if a registrar knows you are really keen and will take the place and write the cheque immediately they may want to keep you on side as they know you have to write a cheque to another school by Monday lunchtime. For anyone on a WL and really keen make sure the registrar knows how quickly you can act and also how keen you are to know by early Monday morning latest if you have a space.

A lot of schools don't ever go to waiting lists. They are not true waiting lists often. They soften the blow for prep school heads. Many schools will keep places free and expect to fill them in the future families moving from abroad or year 9 entry.

I do believe schools have waitlists and do go to them though it is very unpredictable each year. I have a few friend’s children who were offered from the waitlist over the past years. It would help to know where they are positioned but some schools are more transparent than others on this.

Anyone tried to find out from G&L where their daughter is placed on the waitlist? Would be really helpful in managing expectations

The registrar at G & L said that the waitlist hadn’t been ranked on Monday but don’t know if that would have changed by now....

Toomuchpressure169 are you also waiting for the waitlist at G & L? My daughter is resigned to not getting a place but I’m (perhaps naively) still hoping....

ancient - I don’t think the G&L waitlist is very many girls at all, unlike some schools who put almost everyone on their wl. For instance, one teacher who used to work at SPGS told me that they only put 10 on their wl and he said thattheses days, G&L won’t be many more than that because it’s results have really improved in recent years (not that they were exactly dire to begin with). Of course, schools over offer too, but I think it’s worth you hanging in there until Friday.
There are a few offer-holders visits going on this week. I think the last is in Fri morning. I know a couple of girls who may go to other schools for all kinds of reasons, so I wouldn’t give up yet. If your DD is in the wl it means she’s passed the entry requirements, but it’s a numbers game unfortunately. Good luck

ancient - yes we’re on the G&L waitlist. She’s really happy to say yes to PHS though, it’s me that for many reasons, mainly locality I’d prefer G&L though we feel very fortunate to be in this position. Just wish we had a gauge of where we are on the list so can finally put it all to bed!

Anyone waiting for Wimbledon High? Just heard of a waitlist girl who has been offered so things starting to move.

Hi 1ndig0 and Toomuch thanks for your replies / messages - I’ll keep the faith with G & L! Funny thing is the longer you have to wait the mire you start to like / attach to the other school ( in my case IPS) so not comparable at all .. now my complicating factor is that as IPS is co-Ed I could send my younger son there too in due course .... decisions decisions...