Please tell me about KGS

[jkhj]

Dear all, I would really appreciate some insight into KGS.

My dd has an offer at KGS and although we all are very keen there are some reservations.

Dd is from a state school, enjoys gymnastics and swimming, not competitively though. She loves music and plays the Volin and piano well, although we have not worked through many grades yet. She is also used to being in the top end of her class academically and I'm a little concerned it may lower her confidence, especially as many of the children will have prep school backgrounds.

How do KGS set children for maths and other subjects, class size, amount of homework especially y7 and any general feedback would be appreciated.

She also has an academic scholarship at Radnor house, place at st Catherine's and waiting list Leh (all of which are closer to us).

Thank you

[IrrationalAnthem]

They won’t always be 11 and being in Kingston is great for teens. they can all get there easily and meet up for cinema, food, shopping etc weekends/holidays. It’s an urban school, but that’s what I love about it.

[allyoudoiscriticise]

We like the urban location too. The kids go into Kingston after school and public transport options are plentiful. Couldn't think of anything worse than being stuck on a school bus for 7 years or having just one transport option when things go wrong. As many do say. Also, it's been convenient to get to talks, plays etc in the evening. It's been one of the best things about the school as far we are concerned.

The kids are always at the sports fields in Thames Ditton

[amidaiwas]

ime there really isn't a huge amount of "running around kingston after school" - the lure of the bentall centre wears thin very quickly.

Mine are usually in some kind of after school activity, or sport at Ditton - and head straight home.

What is good is when they have something on at school at say 6pm (eg a concert) they can stay in school for a bit, head into kingston for something to eat and then back to school. No rushing home and then back again.

[Normalisboring]

My dc is in yr7 at KGS and absolutely thriving. Phone use is only an issue in as far as they don’t want to be on it all the time and get frustrated by those that do, but then again, there are plenty of clubs to entertain at lunchtime. We have apps to monitor the phone use and as for WhatsApp, which was mentioned somewhere, the school have made it perfectly clear that they don’t advocate it being used, after all, it does have a16+ rating. We have been really impressed with the pastoral support and the general ‘family like’ attitude of the staff. There are always going to be areas that are less good, wherever you go, but we are very happy with our experience so far. If there are concerns, the Head is super approachable, his own daughter finished her a-levels at KGS in July so he gets it. Perhaps it would be worth as,I get for a meeting. You are paying a lot of money, so definitely worth raising any issues.