Holland Park Sixth Form - thoughts?

[reigate21177]

Hi! Any parents out there with experience of Holland Park Sixth Form? My daughter has just received a conditional offer and is really delighted. She is currently at a very small friendly school, who would like her to stay for 6th Form. I don't know what would be best, though it's her decision. I have heard it can be quite severe at Holland Park - is that true? She wants to study maths and sciences at A Level and they seem to be pretty good on that front . Any words of wisdom or experience would be hugely appreciated - thank you!

I think it really depends on a lot of things.

Holland Park is huge, and unless your child is one of the chosen few, it's really easy for a student to get lost among the masses. If they are the sort of students who don't really need a school support structure (for example because you can afford to buy in your own, if your DD needs counselling or tutors or advice), then HP might be fine for them.

If they are used to a smaller school, and are looking for something which is a bit more nurturing, then HP really isn't for them - HP don't do pastoral care at all, and their super-strict approach will stress a lot of kids out.

The teachers, for the most part, are great, but they don't really have any power, and a lot of them are very young. The leadership team is the group that matters, and ordinary parents don't really have any easy access to them, so if there's any problems, there's not really a path to resolve anything.

Which exact A-levels is your DD thinking of doing?

Just putting the @ in @reigate21177 so you get notified of this answer, otherwise I'm not sure you will see it!

@Trinovantes thank you so much for your really helpful reply. She wants to do Maths, Physics and Chemistry A Level. I think she was quite wowed by the facilities (pool and gym) as her current school while lovely is v small and doesn’t have anything like that. She really wants to go (if she gets the grades of course) but I am just worried that she might find going from a small friendly environment where the teachers treat the pupils almost as equals to a disciplinarian regime. She’s not a rebellious type and she is hard working but ... anyway thank you so much for taking the time to send me such a detailed reply. I’m going to share it with her. Much appreciated ! Ps do you have a child at the school ?