Westminster, Cheltenham Ladies' College, Sevenoaks, Charterhouse, Shrewsbury, Rugby, and Caterham for 16+

[user38501]

Hi!

DD is interested in attending boarding school for sixth form. DH and I both attended boarding school from a young age so we're supportive of the idea and we've looked around online to see what would be good fits. We prefer coed but DD liked CLC's website so we shortlisted it too and we'd prefer a school with good academic results and teachers, as we're overseas applicants who've already put her in a pretty good public school (what you Brits call state school) and don't want to pay an exorbitant amount of money for her to not get at least fairly good marks.

DD is fairly bright (test results put her in 99th percentile of her state and 95th percentile of her highly academic school) but not a genius. Regular level classes are fairly easy for her to get As but she needs to work hard to get good grades in honors/advanced classes. She needs a bit of a push sometimes (usually comes when her friends get good grades and she'll get more motivated) She's not super sporty but plays hockey and runs track so she wouldn't be opposed to doing sports. She's not extremely outgoing and has a bit of social anxiety and a fear of saying or doing things that will embarrass her to it can be a bit hard to get her out of her shell. However, her friends have told her she comes off as outgoing when they first meet her, so I suppose there's that. She also loves creative writing and reading and wants to study law in university.

We don't have a preference between IB and A levels or regarding location. We are concerned about full boarding at some schools because we've heard that a lot of them get away with saying they have plenty of full boarding students but still empty out on weekends and we don't want her to be alone on Saturday nights. We don't mind this if it's at a school near/in London (i.e. Westminster) because we have relatives there but it's going to be a problem with schools farther away. We want a school with strong academic results, which the schools we've shortlisted seem to have, good pastoral care, and just a nice environment overall.

Any knowledge on the schools we're looking at and if you think they'd fit her, your personal thoughts on them, recommendations for other schools she'd do well in, etc are highly appreciated!

There's a recent thread on Sevenoaks that gives a really good sense of the school. Big boarding intake for sixth form, and lots are international boarders, so I doubt they disappear off at weekends.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4170283-Sevenoaks-School-or-Caterham

[quote pigeonnier]There's a recent thread on Sevenoaks that gives a really good sense of the school. Big boarding intake for sixth form, and lots are international boarders, so I doubt they disappear off at weekends.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4170283-Sevenoaks-School-or-Caterham[/quote]
thank you so much!

Also Sevenoaks has trains to Victoria so she could visit family in Westminster pretty easily.

Shrewsbury has a high percentage of full boarders and Saturday school means that weekends are busy.

@Biscuitsneeded

Also Sevenoaks has trains to Victoria so she could visit family in Westminster pretty easily.

haha i mean westminster as example of a school we wouldn't mind emptying out on weekends bc it's in london where she could stay with relatives but yes sevenoaks is also good for proximity

Shrewsbury is mostly boarding but I don't know that it pushes academically. A friend of mine's son went for the sixth form and was quite lazy and needed pushing and his A level results were very disappointing. It might be a different story with a more motivated sixth former.

Have a good dig into the Good Schools guide to get the basic feel of schools, and then try and talk to as many parents as possible.

CLC has quite a robust reputation, certainly
academic, but check how many full boarders. Sherborne girls might be worth a look - has a nicer rep for pastoral, and is academic. Sherborne is heavily boarding, but you are absolutely right you have to drill into what that means at weekends.

Rugby has a good all round rep, Its not super academic, but solid - the Arnold scholars give it a bit of social variety. Oundle similar-ish but bit more academic.

As well as Sevenoaks (very international) you could look at Christ’s Hospital in Sussex, close to London but full boarding, academic and a broad range of kids because of heavy scholarship programme - but lots of international kids too.

Westminster is v academic, but to thrive, especially as a girl, I think you need to be very robust - also it really is almost a weekly boarding school, it’s so empty at weekends.

Shrewsbury would not be as academic as the other schools you’ve shortlisted. It’s OK if you are in the area, but otherwise you can find better elsewhere. If you are interested in schools like this that are a little more paired back and ordinary that the major public schools, then somewhere like Dauntseys in Wiltshire is a more impressive example.

Hope that helps

Shrewsbury is pretty academic compared to many schools! It's consistently the second independent school in the county on results and the one that is top is a highly selective mostly international school which isn't afraid to ask those not making the grade to leave.

Shrewsbury is more 'all-round' than that and isn't as selective, 55% entrance exam average, so there will be more academic variety than more selective schools, particularly many of those down south where there is possibly a higher demand for places so a higher entrance exam benchmark. That'll be reflected in the results but doesn't mean there isn't academic stretch for all.

I know many who have done very well there but, like any school, the pupils need to put the work in, grades can't be bought. I would expect lots of intervention for a lazy student however, but they still can't do it for them. It must be very frustrating to be giving a child an opportunity like that and they waste it. I know people disappointed with results from other independent schools too but in some cases the children were not particularly academic and the parents seemed to have unrealistic expectations (string of A's) because they were paying. It's not just about exam results but they're obviously important.

Good luck choosing. If you have family in London I think you're better off going for somewhere within an hour or so of them to make visiting easier.

I don't know if partyattheplace's dd attended Westminster but sixth form was full boarding at sixth form when DD was there five years ago and I dont think it has changed. The school took girls from other boarding schools or from overseas. Anyway with Saturday morning school and Saturday afternoon sports fixtures, and obviously homework, there was not a lot of weekend left.

DD used to go in on a Sunday for brunch, then study with some of her friends and then they would head off out late Sunday afternoon for noodles or something. DS too often used to visit boarding friends and one full boader friend often stayed with us.

littlemisslozza if you check out the results table for Shropshire the Shrewsbury High School usually pips Shrewsbury School to second place..

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/compare-schools?for=16to18&orderby=ks5.0.TALLPPEGRD_ALEV_1618&orderdir=asc

@MrPickles73 oh yes, sorry, it has in the past. Hate to say it though but sadly SHS seems to be going through some struggles at the moment and Shrewsbury is attracting girls so much that they have applied to build a fifth house for them. The two things are probably linked!

@MrPickles73 I think I was just thinking of co-ed as girls only isn't on my radar having boys 😂

littlemisslozza fair enough. If you said independent co-ed schools you'd be correct ;-).

I'm curious what you think SHS's struggles are? I'm aware of turfing out small boys and rationalising to one site - is there anything else?? Many thanks.

@MrPickles73 numbers. There used be 60-70 girls in most years 20 years ago, now down to 30-40ish in some. Don't think they all have to sit an entrance exam anymore either which may affect standards? The restructuring is almost certainly due to finances. I hope they can make it work once they only have one site though, just a shame it's had to happen.

littlemisslozza correct. There is a competitive market for all girls schools around Shrewsbury and ironically no all boys schools. Co-ed schools seem to have a swamped the market. I wonder if with the recent issue re teens and abuse / consent etc. whether that will put the ball back in the all girls school court?

@MrPickles73 It will be interesting to see. Having been to both all girls and co-ed myself I personally preferred co-ed because I like having friends of both sexes. I remember some of the girls left the girls school to join co-ed sixth form and quite a few didn't seem to know how to behave around the opposite sex. Boys were a novelty! Probably just ones without brothers and not all of them. Meanwhile lots of us had mixed sex groups of platonic friends. I can't see that segregating the sexes would teach girls and boys to get along better, but I realise there are separate arguments for some girls and single sex schools, with regard to STEM for example. Wouldn't be my choice if I had girls though and I think the popularity of girls at Shrewsbury since they changed to co-ed shows that I'm not alone. FWIW I wouldn't want my boys at a boy's only school either.

Thank you so much to everybody who's responded!

After reading through your responses and doing some further research, we're down to Westminster, CLC, Sevenoaks, Charterhouse, and Rugby.

If anyone has had any personal experiences with sixth form or the sixth form admissions process at any of those schools, their thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Treat Westminster as a long shot. The numbers applying are high.

A lot depends on pretty unpredictable things. The demand for individual subjects, as the school will want to balance boys and girls, and a desire to have girls who will contribute to school life (drama, music, debating, sport) and in the classroom. Obviously being very very clever helps, but DS, who was in one of the lower A level maths sets (but is now taking a maths heavy PhD in the US) still had a class which was one third girls, suggesting that academics is not everything.

DD, who is dyslexic so did not expect to get a place, enjoyed the exam and was pleased to have finished the maths paper (I understand the exams are about problem solving as much as actual knowledge so more maths challenge?) and was then pleased to get an interview which she again enjoyed. Given the numbers involved she felt getting on the waitlist was an accomplishment, but obviously even happier when that translated into a place.

She had a fantastic two years, and was very involved in the wider aspects of school life. I am not sure she got better grades than if she had stayed where she was, but her horizons were broadened and she gained confidence and ambition, which has served her well at University.

If your daughter is offered a place, she should consider it seriously. Westminster sixth form is quite a special experience.

Thank you so much for your response!

Re Rugby - It looks like they're going to offer both A-Levels and IB from this year (2021). DD is applying for entry next year (2022). Anyone know what effect this will have on the teaching, class sizes, or how the cohorts will be split between A-Levels and IB? DD is worried this might mean they won't offer "less popular subjects" because there might be insufficient demand due to the split but DH and I don't really think that will be a problem. Can anyone offer any insight on this?

I think you should have a good read about the sexual predation issues at Westminster - it was one of the 4 London schools that attracted a lot of attention when the scandal first broke.

Would your daughter be the right age for the first cohort of girls at Winchester? It is a very academic school.

@Londonmummy66

I think you should have a good read about the sexual predation issues at Westminster - it was one of the 4 London schools that attracted a lot of attention when the scandal first broke.

Would your daughter be the right age for the first cohort of girls at Winchester? It is a very academic school.

Re Westminster, we haven't heard of that and we'll definitely look into that.

Re Winchester, she'll be the right age but as far as we know, they're only offering day places for girls in 2022 and she'd have to board.