DAO (Dame Alice Owens) v City boys

[Schoolflapper]

So I know this is a nice decision to have to make but I’m still tormented (to the point of going a bit mad...). DS has an academic place at DAO/Dame Alice Owens judging by his ranking. He also has an offer from City plus one other north London private. The journey is fine to all of them, there are no siblings in the mix, the money is saved but really is an issue in that it really should go to a million other things including pension. My question is: if I send him to DAO am I compromising on the academic side at all? Are the children in the selective intake challenged? When it comes to the university and A level results (impressive) are the people who went right the way through the school well represented in those top results? I’d always just assumed DAO was brilliant academically but now it comes to having a choice (which we hadn’t expected at the start of all this) I’m second guessing and wondering if there could be some flaw in the ‘dream ticket’ I so much want to grab. Any thoughts especially from people who’ve children have got to the exam stage at DAO?

I've just watched the headteachers video .. and I,m shocked to be honest .. she seemed so uncaring , and basically said if your child is not very bright and they have any SEN needs .. we are not the right school !, go and look elsewhere does that not go against Equal opportunities and educational policy....if they get any government funding it should be withdrawn . So of course their results are good it only takes the very bright and the children who have parents who can afford private music lessons and the so on .. quite upset me

Hi @New21 and @Schoolflapper! Like so many others, we too had a comparable dilemma, in our case in 2010. In the end, we chose Henrietta Barnett over North London Collegiate and Latymer. We did not apply to Dame Alice as this would have meant moving house (again!).

Our reasons were travel safety-energy-time-convenience and what our daughter felt about the different schools' respective cultures. We would do the same again. ... And the funds saved have simply gone towards her higher education; she is now headed overseas for her PhD.

Dame Alice has a good record for supporting students on its most academic track. It also benefits from being considered a state school and a 'comprehensive' (!) for Uni admissions, when Unis are making decisions 'contextually'.

I work with schools and am happy for you to PM me if you wish.

Eh? That's not how contextual admissions work as far as I understand them. They look at the economic mix and the academic attainment of a particular school - if the student body is made up a high % of PP pupils and performs far lower than the national average, then an applicant may be eligible for a contextual offer.

Neither of which is remotely true of DAO, which weirdly actually has a lower proportion of children on FSM than an independent with a good bursary pot.

Or do I misunderstand it? I don't work with schools at all like you @JBX2013 so this is just what I've gleaned but I'd be interested if I've totally missed the point.

Hi @PatienceVirtue! I should have offered more detail to make this clearer.

You are quite right: a rational formula is used, with the specific approach of each Uni being reviewed periodically, as well as being informed by updated statistical socio-economic measures.

But there is also a belief that, beyond this, wider 'contextual' criteria are applied. Imagine three candidates for the last spot on a very competitive course: if it's DAO vs. Henrietta Barnett vs. Habs Girls, then the decision favours the DAO applicant where there is otherwise little to choose between applicants. There will be many strong applicants in this position for the most prestigious courses and the selective schools I know will tell you this is relevant. Broad eleven plus success puts a pupil, such as @Schoolflapper's son, on this track. Take Cambridge Classics (3 year course): something like 130+ candidates out of 170 are considered strong, suitable for that particular course and so worthy of an offer. How do they then narrow this list of 135+ down to 90 actual offers?

I think this is very true. My husband works for a university and he does say that in recent years top universities would favour children from low income and also from non private schools. But, having said that I know private schools also get children in top universities and courses.
What @JBX2013 is saying.

EleniT

You make a good point when you say Unis will favour a child from a low income/socio economic household over one from a middle class household when there is little to choose between them as far as grades are concerned. That is because they know how disadvantaged those kids are and how hard they had to work to get those grades(Not saying Middle and upper class kids don't work hard btw). Grammar schools know this all too well hence why there are so little kids on fsm in them.

JBX2013

When it comes to the selection of Non private school pupils, University admission officers know the difference between your run of the mill comprehensive and a selective comp in a leafy area like DAO.

DAO has more in common with independents in the North London/Hertfordshire area than it does comprehensives. These are the Fsm numbers of the 4 grammars in North London compared to DAO

Henrietta Barnet 1.9%
QE Boys 2.0%
St Michael's Catholic Grammar 3.7%
The Latymer School 4.2%

DAO 3.6%

So basically DAO has roughly the same number of pupils on FSM as a double selective grammar school like St Michael's. DAO is a comprehensive in name only.

www.whtimes.co.uk/news/dame-alice-owens-racism-protest-7970784