KEHS v Sutton Girls v EHS

[hoping2016]

We are considering the above school for our daughter, I'd like some advice in terms of the culture of each school, homework levels, general pros and cons please. If you have any advice I would be most grateful!!

We are in Sutton, so location wise Sutton Girls is the most convenient however I believe the pace of learning is very fast and whilst dd has scored hopefully enough to get in she is not at the higher end of possible scores.

Many thanks!!

My daughter went to KEHS. She also had an offer from Sutton (and she scored towards the bottom - I wouldn’t worry too much about that). She’s now at Bishop Veseys for sixth form along with quite a few girls from Sutton Girls!

I sometimes wonder if we made the right decision due to the cost. I’m sure she’d have been happy at either school. Both are probably also quite pressured at GCSE stage - something that I think is quite prevalent in girls schools, as the girls take it all very seriously and it gets quite intense. At KEHS the girls do really support and help each other though - that’s a definite pro.

Dd loved the first 3 years. There are loads of extra curricular clubs at lunch and after school and they also go off curriculum a lot for trips and special topic days - this is a major difference to the grammar schools I think (my son is at a grammar). The smaller year group makes it quite close knit too.

On the downside, a lot of girls come from preps so my daughter felt a bit disadvantaged and behind in year 7/8 and lacked confidence. This improved by year 10.

Years 10 and 11 were stressful and pressured but I guess they are elsewhere too. I did feel like the fun had gone out of school a bit. They get amazing GCSE results because they really challenge the girls to excel - but that isn’t always an easy process.

Ultimately dd decided to move for a mixed environment in sixth form. She also wanted a more down to earth normal place, as we’re not wealthy and she felt KEHS was a bit of a bubble.

Thank you so much for your thoughts! Very useful to understand the views of parents that have/have had dd at these schools schools!

Was the homework manageable with the commute from sutton? Do you feel by going to Kehs girls are more 'polished'/come across more confident, which would be a big plus when it comes to the world of work?

We live the other side of Birmingham so that was one of the reasons for choosing KEHS. She's got a longer commute now, but it's been fine. However, bear in mind KEHS finishes at 4 so she'll be back much later with the commute too. We're finding dd gets back earlier now from BV than she did from KEHS, despite it being much further.

In terms of homework, KEHS give a lot but they don't tend to give it in the holidays, which is nice.

We're probably not the right people to ask about 'polish'! Dd is proud of the fact that she's sounding more brummy and less 'private school' now! She's reasonably confident at presenting, but I'm not sure there's any difference between her and the other girls she's meeting at BV now to be honest.

My friend had DDs at KEHS and removed both at 6th form. Not because of the school which she thought was wonderful but because of the hot house environment created by other DDs and their parents.

@Dancingdreamer that was our experience too. It seemed to really ramp up in year 10. Dd had really lovely friends, but I recall her best friend worrying about her mocks because she’d have to have a tutor for any subject she didn’t get a 9 in!

Dd has heard that her best friends At KEHS now spend every lunchtime doing Maths whilst she’s enjoying very sociable lunch times at BV. It’s such a shame.

That's very interesting dancingdreamer and crazy crofter!! We would like an environment in which our dd can reach her potential, without a lot of pressure (obviously some pressure is inevitable) either from the school, other parents or peers.

Does anyone know if sutton girls is pressurised? I would be grateful to hear any further views.

Many Thanks 😊

Dancing dreamer, out of interest where did your friends dds move to?