SW London girls independent/grammars thread 2020

[autumnnightsaredrawingin]

Last year, there were two amazing threads which were super helpful about exactly this, so I wanted to start a thread for girls due to start September 2020. If anyone from last year wants to contribute please do!

We have narrowed our choices down to 5, sadly not in the right postcode for Tiffin, and decided not to do the Sutton grammars.

So, she will be doing PHS, WHS, LEH, SHS and Woldingham. Also registered for Emanuel but we may pull that one.

Agree may be difficult to introduce another sport at a good level.

Of the girls schools. Surbiton probably offers the widest range, including one of the best programmes for girls' football in the area, as well as hockey.

A few SW London co ed schools offer a very good level of competitive football for girls and girls and boys do train together in many sports.

Personally, I think all schools should get to a point where girls are offered the opportunity to do the same sport as boys. It's great that LEH swapped rounders for cricket. About time!

But I don't know of a school in the area that offers girls' rugby, so it's definitely best to assume that a DD would have to get their rugby outside of school.

Well we have accepted place at FHSS.

Info regards to A level dip this was addressed at open day.
Because they do so well at gcse level they find a lot of their top academic girls have chance to go to Westminster (& another which we forgot)
Co-ed seems to be a big reason.
They are opening a new 6th form centre in September and plan on increasing numbers to 150 (from 100) across lower & upper.
They are also tabling the idea of co-ed but not on cards for this year.
So they have quite a small six form (currently less than 100)

Girls invited back end of June to meet their classmates & teachers (84 in year across 4 forms)
PTA also does 2nd hand uniform sale - as school promotes recycling & reuse to avoid unnecessary landfill/waste.

If the school is very strong in a particular sport then it might not be as much in music or academic and vice versa so its hard to have all boxes ticked at very high level. What we found out now that we are in yr7 is if you want to be particularly good at something, the outside school clubs, schools, orchestras are still better. For example, my daughter finds much better opportunities and better training at her county swimming club with constant gala, county competitions (although she swims 5 hrs/week at school and loves it and doesnt take it for granted, the school pool is amazing). Similar to music, some amazing, top Orchestras, music schools are usually not with these top independent day schools, for example my daughter has opportunities with her school including chamber still she doesnt feel she is stretched as much there, not mentioning various other hobbies (Eg. chess). So basically there is no magic school formula for everything. For us now I am asking my daughter to drop some of her activities as the better she wants to progress with them the more time and effort and devotion she needs to spend on each. She needs to practise at least 30mins for each instrument everyday to keep up at above grade 8 level or swim about an hour a day to progress etc...there needs to be time to chill and read, she tries to find time to read and still reads alot but I am sure this wont last long. So may be from next year she could be able to decide what to drop and what to focus.

Thanks for all the information on sports, I’m not holding my breath for rugby to be available at any school!

After a lot of reflection, DD has said she wants to go to LEH. We’ve accepted the offer and released WHS.

Hi @revolutionofourtimes.

I have been mostly lurking on this great chat since I came across it late-January when I was panicking about interviews and generally all things 11+!

Depending on where you live and what level of rugby your DD is at, Harlequins Rugby Club might be worth a look - www.quins.co.uk

That's great news @RevolutionofourTime!

We absolutely love LEH, if it lived closer we would be grabbing it with both hands and not looking back. The personal touches have been incredible and my dd already feels so at home there. She's finally decided all-girls is what she wants, so we've (sadly as I love it) have probably crossed LU off the list. So it's now between G&L and LEH. G&L is much closer - 10mins drive or 20-30mins walk/bus. Which makes me feel G&L is the better option but LEH has won our hearts so decision still pending!

Any G&L parents: can you tell me about the sports culture there? I feel like we've been shown around by a number of girls who 'weren't into sport' ... my dd is v keen on sports and will be desperate to be in teams, however she may not be A team material. What's the culture like about team sports and taking part in sports in the school, from year 7 upwards? I know there are meant to be opportunities for everyone to play fixtures, even if they're in the E team, but I want to make sure that there's not a culture of not bothering to take part (or sport being uncool) if you're not in the A team. I just want dd to keep her enthusiasm whatever her ability level. LEH seems super sporty, just want to make sure G&L is similar.

Congratulations @tiggermummy70 and @RevolutionofOurTime on your excellent choices.

We went to the PHS offer fair thing this week and it totally confirmed our decision that it’s the right school for her, she, and I are very excited now.

Good luck to all those still on WLs, I have EVERYTHING crossed for you. Hopefully most people will now have released places and WLs will start to move...

G&L is immensely sporty. My DD is one of the non-sporty ones (she probably showed you around!) but if anything I think the sporty ones are the majority, certainly in the early years. What’s great is that it’s very inclusive without diminishing the ones with real talent. It’s important to go with gut feeling, but if sportiness is a specific worry then you should be fine- your DD sounds well suited. Good luck with your decision!

@givemesomewineplease missed your message. At least it’s now narrowed down to 2. best of luck deciding. You have two amazing schools, and she will be great at either of them. G&L is mega sporty so I’ve heard from friends. Xx

Oh fab, thanks @Mulberry10 and @Autumnnightsaredrawingin ... that's what I had thought but my husband had a 'source' (probably ill-informed!) who implied otherwise. I remember last year someone posted a link to the London girls schools fixtures calendar, so I might try to find that.

@givemesomewineplease there’s a G&L Sport Twitter account which might give you some insight too

G&L wins national awards for sport in terms of participation and excellence. Kids of national finals. It’s a big hitter in terms of sports and deffo look at @GandLSport on Twitter. There are A-F teams for KS3 which allow loads of kids a chance to compete.

From G&L website
London’s No.1 Independent School for Sports! 14.02.2020
We are delighted to announce that we have just been named as the No. 1 Independent Sports School in London and 9th in the country by the publication School Sport Magazine!

School Sport Magazine’s exclusive top 100 independent sports schools of the year list

Hi, just thought I’d send this which was linked on the G&L website if any use to imminent decisions!

Sorry that link looks blurred on my phone for some reason, but if you go in the G&L website, scroll down to “News” and then scroll to the right to the article about them being named Independent School of the Year, there is a link to the Times Patent Power table on that. Also, you can read in the next article about how they were assessed as No 1 school for sports in London.
If in need of any other accolades, they are also joint top performing school in the world for IB . I think that article will be there too.

It is great to read that most of you have made your decisions ( Congratulations!) and narrowed down your choices.
DD was pretty clear it was LEH for her but seems to be swaying towards LU after the info evening and the Head's tour.
She seems excited about the commute on the tube for LU (we are not so sure) and just needs to rethink co-ed or all girls.

Many thanks for finding out the information on FHSS @tiggermummy70. Really appreciate your help. Have sent you a message on the FHSS specific thread.

We have the Surbiton deadline coming up on Monday so will have to make a decision imminently (whether or not we have heard anything back re the FHSS WL). Surbiton looks like a great school, with a very wide range of opportunities, great A level results, and TES Awards for Sport and Creativity. @Frostyskies1223 - thanks so much for your advice on SHS, which has been a great help. The offer holders' day was very impressive too. DD has a drama scholarship offer elsewhere so we now need to decide between these two offers. Good luck to all those making decisions and to everyone on WLs.

Just wondering if anyone's had any luck with offers from the waitlist?

Hi all, to the parents of Ibstock place. I was wondering if you could give me anymore insight of the school. Do they go on many trips through the year? Thank you in advance.

Hi @Sully113. None of the schools whose WLs DD is on have started to make offers from the WL yet. I last spoke to each of the Registrars this morning. Our decision deadline is Monday at 12 o'clock so it would seem that we are going to have to make our decision without knowing about any of the WL places. Do hope you are having better luck!

Hi @Sass22. I know many parents of kids at Ibstock and they all seem very happy with the school. Also friends of one of my DSs have done very well there at GCSE. I'm afraid I can't answer your specific question about trips. Good luck.

@BlitheSpirit Nothing for us yet either, I'm hoping Monday.

My DD got a WL place a couple of years ago but I don't think anything started to move until after the state school offers came out which won't be until late Monday afternoon this year.

No I’m on 2 waiting lists but haven’t heard anything yet-they say nothing has moved and it’ll be Monday before anything starts to happen..

Sass22 There are not as many trips as some other senior schools at Ibstock. Most are optional:
Ski trip - Years 7-10 (yearly)
Ardeche - Year 8 only

Various sports tours and choir tours throughout the year but only from Year 8 onwards. Plus language trips to various European cities between Years 9 - sixth form.

I think the only trip my DD ‘had’ to go on was a Latin trip to Fishbourne! The others are optional. They are very well run and always great fun!

We really love the school and have found it to be very friendly indeed. The kids all seem very happy there. The quality of drama and music is exceptional and the teachers work extremely hard. They get to know every single child very well and the ‘Growth Mindset’ aspect enables every child to learn at a very individual level.

We have not been disappointed with our choice so far and DD has grown in confidence so much since she joined.

Hope this helps?

We have finally made a decision and have chosen Godolphin, so will release our LEH place. Good luck to those of you on waiting lists, hope they start to move soon.