Sir William Perkins School - SWPS - PROS and CONS

[diverse]

My daughter has received an offer from SWPS and we are very pleased. She has other offers and is also on the wait list for Francis Holland SS. Since we are not in the area we haven't had the opportunity to connect with any parents of currents students there.
I would be very grateful for an honest response about the level of pastoral care and the school moral ethos. This seems to be excellent, but how does it compare with other schools which have outstanding pastoral care and spiritual teachings such as FHSS?
Also how are issues like bullying handled?
How does the wellbeing room work - is it drop in at any time?
Is there a clickiness between the girls?
How do the long days work when travelling, what proportion of girls stay for the after school clubs?
What is the multicultural mix like and are the girls from very wealthy backgrounds or entitled?
It feel like such a big decision and really want to make the right choice and feels even more difficult as we haven't been able to visit any of the schools!
Thank you so much.

I have a DD at the school. It is very down to earth, multi-cultural and socially mixed - many families are sacrificing a lot for their girls to attend (50% of the intake is from state primaries, which was a big plus for us)

The girls are very supportive of each other, and in our experience there doesn't appear to be much cliqueyness. They look after the girls very well from a well-being perspective (eg they have reduced to 9 GCSEs, to reduce stress, as they don't believe you need any more than that - and I believe they are right)

Online school has been fab. Clubs all take place before the buses leave at 5pm. It's more grammar-schooly than polished, and it is cool to be clever. We are very pleased with it - it's just what we were looking for - it's a great, down to earth environment for kids to learn in

Wellbeing room is open all the time, and there is even a pug that pops in every now and then to say hi!

My daughter has an offer too, coming from state education. We are local and hear nothing but great things about the school and the pastoral care from the community. Can’t wait for her to start.

We are considering SWPS for our daughter next year. All the above sound really positive. We would probably move nearer the school if she got a place and are really for her to have local friends. I see there is quite an extensive bus network. Do the majority of girls travel on the school bus? Or is there a mix with some v local/ on public transport to Shepperton/ Chertset/ Weybridge and surrounding areas?

It’s really nice to hear these positive reviews. It seems no one has anything negative to say about the school!
@hamper555 Are there any weaknesses at all?
How do the teachers connect with the pupils?

Diverse, did you decide on SWIPS in the end?

thestringcheesemassacre - Yes we did and are very excited!
Feels a bit anxious about not knowing anyone.
What about you?

My top tip from a fair few years ago (hopefully not out of date) is that John Lewis sell a skirt of the correct colour that is cheaper and better quality than the one in the uniform shop!!

Oh Diverse we are feeling anxious too but excited. None of the girls in our primary are going there. Hopefully they will be able to have some get to you know you events not on zoom. It did sound like some hockey days or something in august. Are you local ish?

Thanks Random, I’ve heard that about John Lewis

The skirt is a kilt, so think the JL recommendation may relate to the old uniform

www.alleycatz.co.uk/p/3565/SIR-WILLIAM-PERKINSS-SKIRT

😢

Shame I hope the quilt is better quality than the old skirt!!!

Hi @thestringcheesemassacre we are also feeling anxious!
We are not local and are planning the journey to make it work.
Our Dd also has none coming from her primary. There is apparently a welcome party in June. So that should be really nice for the girls.

2 of My friends have dd's there. One in the first year of GCSE's. The other just started, year 7. Both very happy.

Last year, even with covid, the welcoming was very well organised. My friends dd who came from a local school and knew no one felt settled and there was loads of girl chats and parents fantastic WhatsApp group.

We chose SWPS as I only heard good things about it, while there were a few negatives to other schools for us. I like the fact it's very down to earth and the head has a great 'can do' attitude

Starlily is your daughter starting this year or is she already there?

Diverse - my hockey mad daughter is thrilled with all the hockey training on the PE timetable

hello, im not a parent but a student there. i personally have had many friendship issues, and the whole lockdown situation hasn’t made it any better. im moving to another school in September, because im not really happy there, and I’ve been there almost 3 years and still haven’t settled in. also if it’s far away from you, all the girls tend to live around the chertsey/ weybridge area, and i live around an hour away from there so not very convenient to meet up with the girls. i hope this helps, make sure it’s the right fit for your daughter before sending her there. good luck and well done for getting in the school to your daughter x

So sorry to hear that helpful. Hope you settle quickly in your new school.

Clearly it hugely depends on the intake for each individual year.

My friends dd who started in September, so is year 7, is the only girl who lives in chertsey, none from Weybridge either, all the others girls live miles away.

So clearly it is very very different each individual year.

Hi @diverse,

How has your daughter got on this year?

We have just received an offer in the post this morning and are very excited.

We also aren't local and the journey will be long on the school coaches. How has your dd found the journey?

Hello trying,

My daughter started there last September in year 7 and has absolutely loved it so far. She likes the pace of the work and the inclusiveness of the teachers. It has exceeded our expectations.

We are local so she gets the train, but lots of her friends get the coaches they put on and they travel in from quite far, they leave at 4.45 so prep and after school clubs all completed by then.

Hope this helps

Thanks @thestringcheesemassacre
I think we would try the train as likely to be quicker than the coach but she may be the only one on that route. Do you find your dd friends are quite dispersed and a challenge to catch up with out of school?

My 3 DDs went to SWPS and they were all happy with it.

The school day is actually quite short for an independent school, ending at 3.35pm. School coaches leave at 5pm so many stay for clubs and prep, but plenty leave straight after school to catch the train or local bus or parents.

There are girls who are from wealthy backgrounds and those whose parents struggle to scrape together the fees. My girls were friends with both.

It's multicultural.

Have you been invited to the school production that is coming up this term. That might give you a flavour of the school.

incase any one still considering, my experienced been very poor with this school.

1. School management/ teachers disorganised, with poor facilities and out of date technical education. Took month of emails just to obtain microsoft office cloud login! Others, even free schools offer automatically at start.

1. It’s extra curriculum clubs are very limited for private school

1. Cases of bullying that are ignored

1. This year I know many parents so disappointed and withdrawn

1. If any parent decided to withdraw despite giving them almost 3 months notice they fail to write a letter then love to use their debt collector friends to charge extra fee and refuse to respond! i’m sure there’s a scam going on.

1. The standard of education is very poor, my daughter found it Mickey mouse, easy education compared to the new school which was many times higher.

1. During covid lock down totally inconsiderate and expected full payment without even any home schooling at start!

1. For private school poor, impractical and dengerous facilities for parking

I’m sure it was a good school in the past but this year I know many parents very disappointed and withdraw this year, do not waste your time, money and risk daughters education.

This school seems like a scam and after your money together with their debt collector racket. It is really average free school and DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMENDED. I’m sure there’s proper private quality schools in other places far better worth considering.

My youngest will start at SWPS in September. Perfect fit for her! We chose this school over LEH and SHS for the simple reason that SWPS gets better grades when it comes to English Lang/Literature at both GCSE and A-Level. Have a look at the 2021 results for yourself if you don't believe.... This is her talent. Not many schools can match this track record...

As for the above posts criticising the school well to be honest show me a school where there isn't bullying, some issue with a teacher(s), lousy parking. And students will always have personal + academic issues to deal with. That's part of life experience and growing up.

Plenty of happy and successful girls at SWPS and if you are strong in the arts this is the place to be imho.

2020 and 2021 were teacher assessed grades - not to suggest that they're not worthwhile for the pupils who got those grades, but it's worth looking back at 2019, when the last set of actual public examinations was sat by pupils, for a more useful data source.

While SWPS did have a notably higher proportion of A* / A grades for A-level English Literature in 2019, LEH outperforms SWPS in GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature quite comfortably - and SWPS has a longer tail of grades 6, 5, 4, and even a 3.