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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Brighton Girls / Roedean / Mayfield

25 replies

Ploughingthrough · 25/06/2020 02:31

Hi there. I am looking for recent opinions on independent girls schools in Brighton and East Sussex. For year 7 entry, although if Brighton Girls perhaps from year 5. For a bright (but not exceptional), sporty girl that I feel would thrive in an all-girls secondary school. For context, she's currently in an international private school and we are moving back to the Brighton area in a year.

I have friends that went through Brighton Girls and loved it, but it was a long time ago now so I am looking for any up-to-date experiences. Very interested in Roedean and have had a cursory look at Mayfield.

Grateful for any recent experiences.

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Original poster

Ploughingthrough · 25/06/2020 09:17

Oh also Burgess Hill girls if anyone has any recent experience.

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Kinlocrhum · 25/06/2020 23:43

My best friend has a daughter at Mayfield. They adore the school. Fab academically, but good pastoral support. Certainly not a hot house. Great sports, fab equestrian facilities.

Original poster

Ploughingthrough · 26/06/2020 01:04

Thanks Kinlocrhum I do not want a hot house - just a nurturing school that has the capacity to cater for academic children where necessary, and have good sports. I will take a closer look at Mayfield.

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HollowTalk · 26/06/2020 10:41

Wasn't Roedean used as the setting for Mallory Towers?

Original poster

Ploughingthrough · 26/06/2020 11:03

HollowTalk was it?!! I didn't know that but DD will definitely choose it if that's the case! ;-)

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HollowTalk · 26/06/2020 12:14

Oh I'm so sorry, I'm wrong! Apparently this is what happened: The series is based on a girls' boarding school that Blyton's daughter attended, Benenden School, which relocated during the war to the Cornish seaside.

Kinlocrhum · 26/06/2020 12:51

Benenden may also be with a look. It's now taking day boarders I think. Or are you looking at boarding?

Original poster

Ploughingthrough · 27/06/2020 01:18

We're not looking for boarding - just a day place. I think Benenden will be a little far from us - Mayfield is probably the outer limit for our commute for her.

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leopardandspots · 27/06/2020 07:40

We had offers for DD from Mayfield and Roedean -we went for Roedean in the end.We are very happy with it. Both schools seemed great but we felt the atmosphere at Roedean, partly due to the buildings ,staff and location was very uplifting and inspiring.

Original poster

Ploughingthrough · 27/06/2020 08:46

leopardandspots thanks so much I am very taken with what I know of Roedean so far so good to hear your dd is enjoying it. Are you local or does she board? If she is a day girl does she find this fine?

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tarouni2020 · 02/07/2020 05:46

I would say the remote learning of the Summer term at Roedean was a great one, the staffs and students were engaged in live lessons.

Original poster

Ploughingthrough · 02/07/2020 06:58

that's great to know tarouni2020 thank you. DD is very drawn to Roedean (as am I, I think she'd love it) but she hasn't been able to visit this summer as planned as we've not been able to come home. We hope to make a visit around December time.
Is it quite international? This would be a plus point for us - DD is used to being in international school in Asia and having a diverse friendship group.

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tarouni2020 · 02/07/2020 09:55

@Ploughingthrough
Roedean is a lovely school with nice people there. The day girls and weekly boarders are mainly locals. The nationalities of full boarders are quite diverse from Asia, Spain, Germany, South Africa etc... wish you can visit the school soon in Sept!

Corblimbea · 12/07/2020 12:44

I have a friend with a daughter at Brighton Girls. They are really happy and say the new Head is great, and the school is friendly

Bored2death2020 · 13/07/2020 23:04

Original poster

Ploughingthrough · 14/07/2020 12:10

Corblimbea thank you, that is great to know. I am attracted to the fees at Brighton Girls as they are much more affordable than the others. I don't want to make my decision by fees only but it is a consideration.

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dalrympy · 16/07/2020 23:45

DD is at Brighton girls and I can't really fault it. It's very down to earth and they seem to bring out the best in the girls.

Have been excellent with the remote learning too.

Roedean didn't appeal to me as I wanted DD to have local friends. They also very aggressively recruited for the last few years and it felt a bit desperate. I think they wanted local kids as it has a reputation of being overseas kids dominated.

Original poster

Ploughingthrough · 17/07/2020 04:38

Thanks so much dalrympy can I ask, did your DD join in the prep school or at year 7?

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dalrympy · 18/07/2020 23:38

@Ploughingthrough she joined at year 7

Glendora · 23/07/2020 21:45

Good to hear positive things about Brighton Girls. I’d only read negative stuff about it (on here and other local forums) - about poor pastoral care and disengaged staff. Sounds like that’s no longer the case?

dalrympy · 23/07/2020 22:37

@Glendora I read that too. It seemed to boil down to mostly being one particular disgruntled poster who slated it on any thread it came up on.

Our experience has been good there.

MarmiteCrumpet25 · 24/07/2020 18:07

Is Brighton Girls Brighton and Hove High School? What happened to the Hove part?

Starling123 · 14/08/2020 13:54

Hello there, I have two daughters at Roedean who absolutely love it there. Head has been there from 2003 and has transformed it - contrary to the above comments, I can tell you that many local girls, inc my DDs, attend - they have a wide network of friends.
I'm sorry to say that I've not heard great things from my friends that chose for their daughter/s to stay on from prep at BGS, with many girls moving from BGS prep to Roedean to start in Y7. However, choosing a school is yours, and your daughter's personal choice - do go and visit on open days and make your own mind up. Good luck with whatever school you choose !

Original poster

Ploughingthrough · 14/08/2020 14:01

MarmiteCrumpet25 Yes same school. I believe they had a re-brand and changed the name to Brighton Girls!

Starling123 thank you so much for your comment. As I've said upthread I'm very drawn to Roedean so it's good to hear that your DDs have local friends and love school. We are looking forward to open days (if we can ever travel again!). We had plans to visit around October time, before our final move next summer but that travel plan is looking unlikely now....

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perrymason · 15/08/2020 09:27

We are at Brighton Girls and absolutely love it.
My daughter was the quiet shy one at back of class - great kind teachers have made her confidence grow and she is now doing so
much better academically.
New head fantastic and the way she dealt with pandemic in her first year at school was faultless - not just in terms of 100% teacher faced online learning immediately but in holding it all together and making sure the girls were all ok.
Know girls at Roedean too who love it but need to add that more than one have joined her year group from Roedean so it goes both ways, and I think probably just depends on the child.

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