St Paul's Girls - Distance from home

[Squakle]

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who currently has DDs at SPGS or who has applied recently ...

We went to the open day today, absolutely loved it. However, it would be a long journey from home, around 70-75 minutes.

Does anyone know:
a) How strictly they apply the 50 minute rule? Would we even be allowed to apply?

b) What it a long commute actually like, for anyone whose dd does it? How late are they typically getting home? Is there time for homework? How often do they actually have late nights? Do you feel isolated from the other parents? Do they have to travel a lot to fit in with any social life/friends? Basically, is it worth the journey?

To answer questions in advance:
No, there is zero chance of us being able to move closer.
Yes, we have also looked at closer schools and will apply, it's just that SPGS is our favourite.

Thanks for any advice.

Yes totally agree that exam results alone are not a useful stat....

Sorry, I should have maybe given a bit more context. Both dd's dad and I are teachers; we're very familiar with the various tests, value added scores etc.

The school with great cocurricular is not a good academic school by any measurement. It had a nice, friendly atmosphere, lovely grounds, and a great cocurricular offering, but just wasn't catering to the higher academic level. It's charging £6k a term. It's had one Oxbridge starter in the past three years. DD loved it while visiting, but I think it's questionable whether it'll make the shortlist.

She has another year to go before applications, so this year we've thrown the net quite wide to get a good picture of what's available. In time for next year when we'll choose a few to actually apply to. We don't want to overburden her with entrance exams at dozens of schools!

30% grades 7-9 is the same as a good comp. Personally, I'd consider it for a child that's bright but more grades 6-7. If a child is more of a potentially straight 9's, then the school in question probably won't have sufficient numbers of very bright kids to even have a top top set for every subject.

Given that it's 1 very long tube journey, are you in E or NE London? Have you considered Forest School? Or do you really really don't want a co-ed place?

You don't need to take dozens
Just take the Common Entrance Exam if you really don't know where to send her.

Is she very bright? Or just average?

It seems from what you've said is all you really care about is exam grades ....

Send her to an "academic" school in D you like. Bit she'll have to be bright, very bright to compete and keep up with with the other very bright girls in the top selective schools. And that may mean tutoring for entrance exams and beyond.

If that's really what's best for your DD then go for it. But, a bright child will do well in most schools. "Academic" or otherwise.

But common entrance is at 13+
And totally irrelevant to London girls’ day school entry

If you can afford St. Paul’s, I’m assuming you can afford boarding. Would that be better than a 3 hour round trip commute a day?

I don't think SPGS does boarding, does it? If you're open to boarding, and want a top girls' school, then St Mary's in Ascot would fit the bill.

0010001, I don't think a teacher would consider SPGS for an average child knowing it achieves 98% or so grades 7-9 at GCSE.

Yes, we're out on the arse end of the Central Line. We've looked at Forest, Bancroft's, and Chigwell. Annoyingly, all are a much longer and more convoluted journey by public transport than the relatively short as the crow flies distance would make you think (we're on the Hainault branch).

We know Forest quite well because dd took swimming lessons there and has some a couple of other clubs through which we met a few pupils and parents.

Co-ed isn't an absolute deal breaker, although we would strongly favour single sex. Obviously Forest is diamond structure, so better than fully co-ed from our pov.

Of those three relatively local ones, we quite like Bancroft's. Probably won't apply for the other two. MFL (and ancient language) provision is one of our top priorities - one of the things I absolutely fell in love with at SPGS.

We don't want to go full boarding yet; it might be a possibility in higher years but she's not ready for it yet. I think we'd be prepared to consider flexi-boarding (say, 2 nights/week) from age 11, but that would still tie us to somewhere close enough to commute on the other days so doesn't broaden the pool massively.

One of the options we discussed was to send her to a day school from 11, and possibly move to boarding age 13 if the day school wasn't working out, but to be honest that didn't strike anyone as ideal and if at all possible we'd prefer her to be able to settle somewhere 11 - 18.

In terms of whether a bright child will do well anywhere, my experience is that it depends a lot on the individual child. Some will succeed despite every disadvantage, and I've certainly taught a few of those in my time. But others really only flourish in the right environment and need an academic community to bounce ideas off, remain motivated (possibly against peer pressure) ...

I honestly can't say for sure, at age 9, how dd would do long-term in a school that didn't really push her academically, but I'd prefer not to experiment on her to find out!

I don't think it's fair to say we only care about exam grades. Precisely why I started this thread is that the whole package at SPGS, academic and cocurricular, impressed us very much. Certainly the academic element is key, but by no means the only consideration.

Well, one tube doesn't sound that bad even if takes takes forever. At least she'll get a chance to sit down and read/revise. It sounds like it's worth seeing if you can apply and if she's offered a place and take it from there. Shame you can't move areas.

MFL (and ancient language) provision is one of our top priorities - one of the things I absolutely fell in love with at SPGS.

I have to tell you, DD absolutely adored the MFL course with the linguistics and tasters of languages. This was one of the things that swung it for me too. There doesn't seem to be anything like it anywhere else, state or private.

@00100001 I think you might be missing the point here. You say look at added value. What if you have a child who will be predicted to get mainly A*s or 9s at GSCE from the start? How do you add value then? It is quite hard to do unless you have a big enough pool of similar children so that you aren't just catering to a few outliers.

DD did the tours yesterday at SPGS and said it was v interesting to hear the range of different things prospective parents wanted to know. She had one woman with a DD in Y5 who was mainly asking about what it was like to be at the school and whether it would suit her DD's personality (DD thought yes based on what she heard), but then other people were asking stuff like 'what should my daughter say in the interview to get in'!! Which is all kinds of nuts.

DD did the tours yesterday at SPGS and said it was v interesting to hear the range of different things prospective parents wanted to know.

Ha ha. We had two lovely Year 8s (UIV) who chatted away to us all the way around, although they clearly wanted to stay and play in the VR suite for longer. We asked them about what the food was like, how many clubs they actually did, quite a lot about transition from primary, what they particularly enjoyed in MIV and lots more. Thankfully they didn't seem to mind the inquisition!

@epanoui

OP hasn't said if her child is academically bright. I'm assuming she's an average child. And things like added value would be of use in that case.

I'm assuming she's an average child.

This is a strange assumption, given that she seems to be aiming for two highly selective schools. I'm not sure that many average children bother to try for them.

Well, considering the majority of children are average.... And that OP hasn't actually answered the question...

It's fair to assume the child isn't academically gifted.

She may well be.

But it's a better/more realistic assumption than the child being amongst the top brightest children, as all we have to go on is the OP chose academical selective schools. Loads of parents think their kid will be pushed and do better in a selective school. But that isn't always the case. They may need extra tuition and/or support whilst struggling to get high grades that just aren't achievable.

To be honest I’d put an application in and see what happens. Without taking away from your DD both Paul’s and city and really hard to get into and super selective. I would therefore apply and then decide. Subject to your DD resilience etc, these tests are not for everyone

Your The east end of the central line, are you super that is just 70 mins? I would have thought quite a bit more

My daughters went to SPGS. It was quite a long commute as we lived far away in London. My girls still love their school! It is an impressive school as girls are encourage to do anything they want. It is an academic school because the girls are brilliant, and uber motivated to do well in all areas be it academic subjects, to sports, music, art drama, etc.
Lots of people make comments about pressured environment, posh this and that but it is always people that don't have a clue about the school.
If you can, try and send your daughter there. It's an amazing school and I'm sure your daughter will love it!

The school is amazing for the right girl. But if you are outside the boundary I don’t think you will be able to apply.

We moved.

Given the OP and husband are teachers and prepared to consider such a long journey my working assumption is that OP DD is super smart.
I would apply if you love the school but do be prepared there aren’t lots of girls from the east side of London. I agree City is a natural stopping point. Also have you looked at Wycombe Abbey, a fabulous boarding school also with top flight results.

Some of the extra curriculars that my girls did: choirs, opera singing and musical theatre singing, drama including putting a play at the Fringe in Edinburgh Festival, dissection society, flute, oboe, piano, organ, lacrosse, rowing in water and indoors, art exhibitions, debating society, mixed drama and choirs with the boys' School SPS, sporting competitions, every single academic competition you can think off (maths, biology, chemistry, physics, etc), Chinese calligraphy, etc.

Umm, yeah, I wouldn't push my child to sit entrance exams I thought she could only pass with extensive coaching to get into a school where she'd struggle to keep up.

She's academically bright. Not a genius, I'm not thinking of completing any university applications for her just yet, but bright enough that I think she stands a reasonable chance. Her father works in a highly selective boys' school so we're aware of the sort of standard she needs to be working at.

We've done the journey a couple of times. It's 70-75 minutes door to door, slightly longer if she walked at both ends rather than took a bus from the station.

@Epanoui
one woman with a DD in Y5 who was mainly asking about what it was like to be at the school and whether it would suit her DD's personality
I'm almost certain that was me! 😂
I was on my own and was lucky enough to be toured with 2 fabulous girls who let me ask all the questions I'd never dare ask the staff. I figure the admissions process has to be trusted to select the right children so there's no point trying to get insider info on interview angles! I will have to go back again though with DD and pay more attention to the official stuff next time.
Anyway, even it was not your DD who showed me around I'd like to say a massive thank you to all the girls that gave up their Saturdays and led tours. Meeting current pupils, especially such enthusiastic ones, is the best bit