I think there’s such a need in SW London for schools with an ethos of catering for the more “average” child academically. Let’s face it, most of us are average! If you look at the charts for standardised IQ, 60% of us fall between 90-110, yet you wouldn’t think it when you look at the schools around here.
So I think when RH started, people thought “at last, a school to cater for a glaring gap in the market.” But when I visited, 5 years ago, I got the impression that this school was aiming to be a mini KHS if given half a chance. It’s founders came from the business world and the marketing was quite slick.
I think the mistake they used to make was to offer to the top x% and then be quite snooty to those on the waiting list. This approach failed, because realistically, the top x% were just holding out for the tried and tested “higher tier” schools, most of which offer in mid Feb. When RH inevitably went back to the middle / lower end of the exam cohort - those who they should really have been marketing to - they often found it was too late as they’d accepted elsewhere.
Of course it a challenge for any newer, smaller school to compete against the likes of LEH, KGS or even SHS. But what they seem to be doing now in largely over-offering and putting pressure on parents to accept much earlier than other schools, seems to be a tactical response to the failures if their previous admission process.
If you look at St Catherine’s school opposite, they used to have a more realistic understanding of their target market. They had no delusions that they were a mini LEH, nor did they want to be. So they made firm offers to the “middle ground” and these girls took the places, while the higher performers, who were always using this school as a back up, went to LEH etc.
Unfortunately, with the change in head, ST Cs looks like it’s ethos is changing. No more catering for SEN. Girls who would have been offered places years ago, now being rejected.
Where will it all end?