North London State Secondaries (Girls)

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I would love opinions from parents with daughters at Camden, Parli, St Marylebone, UCL, Grey Coats, Haverstock. We have a waiting list half-chance with some of these and a decent go at some. She's a medium ability kid who's shy and sporty.

Daughter went to Parli - loved it, she’s just started La Swap. I do rate the school highly, both teaching and pastoral care. They’ve always kept in touch however small the issue / feedback was. It’s a large school so easy to find your kind of friends. I love the area, they do make use of Hampstead Heath.
Son started UCL ( mixed school hence including my view of it) last year and what a disappointment. Lots of his friends went there so he chose it too but it was not suited. Communication was non existent. Serious bullying raised multiple times with not even one email back with response - no solution, no support, etc. after a few months of struggle I removed him and got a place on Marylebone Boys which has been a wonderful choice, very professional and supportive with very good academic results, I feel it’s very underestimated! We love it, it’d be my first choice.
We’ve got a few friends with daughters in Marylebone Girls and they all love it, pretty academic though.
I’d skip LSU.
Equally we have a few friends with kids at Haverstock, they are all pretty positive and say it is on the up and improving. I’m on a fence. Think it might suit some but I’d go and have a look around, it wasn’t for us.
No personal experience of CSG.
Hope this helps!

OVMV2 That is really helpful, especially about UCL and Parliament Hill. I should've said Girls/Mixed, as I'm open to mixed. I do like how Parli is right on the Heath and really useful to know that the school uses it. Getting such mixed information about Camden School for Girls.

My dd is at grey coats and loves it. She's made some great friends and had great pastoral care through lockdown. Feel free to ask any questions.

I have had lots of friends children go through Marylebone and loved it and done really well. The only thing is the two friends whose children had SEN did not get much support at all.

CSG is fine. I think it suits my daughter better than our other options but there have been occasions where we wish she’d been at Parliament. If we had our time again would we have chosen Parliament? Who knows.

It’s difficult to find parents who don’t rave about CSG so maybe I’m just difficult to please. I think individual teachers and support staff may be great, lovely in fact, but there is something about the ethos that means it’s quite old fashioned in terms of care and parent liaison. Saying that the girls that are at the school seem to be nice on the whole. There doesn’t seem to be a cool girl gang in my daughters year. They seem
Pretty hot on sorting out bullying and bad behaviour.

My daughter finds the work hard and she was ( surprisingly) an A band student. There seems to be a lot more homework than at Parli.

In other words add Parli to your list but there are reasons we are sticking with CSG.

Proximity and ease of journey was really important to us so that’s something to think about too. I’m not sure I’d set my child up for a long or complicated journey for any of the schools.

Id love to know what else you e heard about CSG. I know parents were t happy about the first lockdown learning but my DDs experience the following academic year was great. I know one parent who removed their DD and another whose a bit meh about it but I can’t actually move for parents of CSG girls who rave about it.

Also very interested in some of these schools. Can you tell me what you mean by old-fashioned, @DDCSG? And about the occasions you wished she'd been at Parli?

Hmmm, difficult to explain but I suppose I mean that pastoral care is well meaning but not particularly easy to access. Too many barriers. Accessing that was the times we thought she should be at Parli as it’s transparent there. Although I’ve heard from other parents that girls in need of serious help at CSG have got it no problem.

And in lockdown part of me wanted her to be at Parli in nice new buildings where the windows opened and they could be on the Heath. CSG was a lot more hardcore on their covid precautions, they had to be, the space is different. I think CSG made the right call though and hopefully it’s not a situation that will be replicated so nothing to worry about.

But saying that CSG seem to be no nonsense about bullying.

Parli’s intro to year 7 was pitched perfectly, very friendly. CSG was an elderly workbook containing unreadable font (dyslexia anyone?!) and dark reading!

CSG seems to be a lovely school but I don’t get the hype but maybe I will over time. DD has friends at Parli and AB too and they all arm happy, particularly those at CSG. There was a spate of slapping and bullying at AB that I think, hope, would have been called out at CSG but maybe it would take a parent to complain and I don’t think the AB parents I know did.

All the schools are nice for kids slowly getting their independence, going to the cafe on the Heath or down to Camden. I do wonder if the children who come to CSG from farther afield (music places/moving post sibling) get the full experience.

*particuarly those at Parli. Freudian !

Individual teachers and pastoral staff at CSG are amazing. I hope the new head takes a lead from them.

Parli had an Ofsted last week, I know it’s not the be all, but should prove interesting.

Can anyone tell me about EGA? We were gonna go csg, EGA then parli as daughter not keen on parli but heard some rumours about EGA yesterday but we loved it on the open eve

I can only go on ten weeks of direct experience but I am seeing a red flag flying for certain children at CSG, and it may well be the same shade of red at other schools. It’s a flag that can ensnare sporty kids and others who are keen to join extracurricular clubs.

Turns out that certain lunchtime activities have limited places and you need to be fast/determined to snag one. I suspect there is a choice being made between eating properly and participating fully. A sandwich from home would help but I’m not convinced this is what everyone is doing. If you have a girl who is already (or is potentially) lunch-hesitant be aware that the scenario of a day spent trampolining at lunch time, doing PE for 1.5 hours and then football or running after school without having eaten a meal is all too viable.

Personally, we, and particularly DD, are very happy she is there. The unexpected extra support she needed at school was offered immediately. We pay subs for two different sports activities each week at clubs which are outside of and unrelated to the school.

Our friends at AB and at Haverstock are content at their schools too.

Yes, yes Green. How can a girls school do sports during the already short lunchtime period and leave no room, or suggest little importance, to lunch? My DD would love trampolining but she also likes food and a rest! It would be easy for a child with a burgeoning food problem to take in a pack lunch, dumping it, and do sports instead. And tbh I don’t know that my DD isn’t doing that. She says she’s eaten lunch and doesn’t do the sports clubs but how would I know? The school are really bad at communicating with parents.

Maybe another example of my idea of “old fashioned”, keep the parents at arms le goth and don’t anticipate mental health issues.

It’s interesting “seeing” these things close up as you sort of hear on the grapevine that it’s that sort of school. You don’t really understand until you’re there.

DD is content, has lovely friends, is challenged academically and is given high expectations.

I think CSG suits the clever, confident girls the most. Those with SEN or who are less able struggle. Those who are quiet also seem to struggle more. My girls have emerged as very confident, clever, feminist girls from there, but they aren't 100% fans I don't think.

I think if your child is musical or into theatre or art, again, they will be happy there. I can't see how a sporty girl would be happy there as the sport is limited.

My dd said she wished she'd gone to AB.

I've only heard good things about Marylebone from friends whose children have gone there.

AB seems to be facing allegations of bullying at the moment - I'm not sure I'd send a girl there. (I have a boy there).

I've a daughter in Yr10 at Parliament Hill and a daughter about to join.

There's a lot of very honest interesting feedback from CSG mums. Basically there is a reputational pull towards from a section of (trendy middle class) parents and the holy grail of their intriguing selection policies, so much that I knew 3 people who bought houses to be within catchment area - and 2 of them subsequently removed their kids (one to AB and one to Parli) and the other's daughter has big issues with partying etc. I don't wish to add anything to their more informed comments but I had no interest in looking at it for my daughter next year, merely checked out AB as I have an irrational like of it (although their recent open day was very messy!). Instead I'll feedback on Parli.

My oldest has some great friends, had absolutely no bullying in her 4 1/2 years, feels well supported by the staff and we've had very few problems. The new buildings are fully open and outstanding, with great outdoor areas and the heath on it's doorstep. She's happy and achieving well (i think that's their catchphrase!) and there is not another school i'd consider putting ahead of it for my youngest. Yes, there were issues over covid, but no more than any other school.

Oh - and re the Oftsed - it was only a one day inspection that I believe (for Primaries anyway) that Good Schools are given - it will be interesting if it's decided to then run a full Ofsted (longer inspection if the Inspectors reveal it has the potential to move up or down) - personally i'd be surprised if it doesn't get a full inspection to be considered Excellent - it might not be at that stage yet, but it's on it's way up, as shown by their Exam results last year.

@SamBee1
What are your thoughts on security at the gates of Parli? I know of a girl who pulled out of the school last year having just joined. There were a few issues that made them deeply uncomfortable, but one of them was being freaked out by the policing of the gates/entrances, this was a great surprise as it hadn’t been mentioned at all at the open day (and I wasn’t aware of it either despite also having visited the school in 2019).

[quote GreenAndSpringy]@SamBee1
What are your thoughts on security at the gates of Parli? I know of a girl who pulled out of the school last year having just joined. There were a few issues that made them deeply uncomfortable, but one of them was being freaked out by the policing of the gates/entrances, this was a great surprise as it hadn’t been mentioned at all at the open day (and I wasn’t aware of it either despite also having visited the school in 2019).[/quote]
@GreenAndSpringy - in what way?

It's never been an issue or mentioned? I'm really surprised to hear that? The school is a lot more secure than most i've seen, and this is the first i've heard of it. Because it backs on the heath it has really secure gates, the front has modern, call phone technology. The only issues i've ever heard of are the handful of anti-vaxxers who targetted loads of schools having a mini demo outside the gates last month.

There have been issues with 'cycle by' mobile thefts - but there are 3 secondary schools back to back (along with LSU and William Ellis) and it's a known issue that at the end of the day the first thing the kids do is bring out their phones - so a few had their phones taken, but with frequent reminding to be vigilant that seems to have died down.

Would be interested to know what the issues are and then I can ask my daughter?

@SamBee1
I understand the surprise was finding out the level of security at the gates. It was described to me as there being police stationed at the entrance, but I don’t know if this was about actual police or security guards.

[quote GreenAndSpringy]@SamBee1
What are your thoughts on security at the gates of Parli? I know of a girl who pulled out of the school last year having just joined. There were a few issues that made them deeply uncomfortable, but one of them was being freaked out by the policing of the gates/entrances, this was a great surprise as it hadn’t been mentioned at all at the open day (and I wasn’t aware of it either despite also having visited the school in 2019).[/quote]
Most big London secondaries have police at the gates at chucking out time, i think? In the local area Burghley certainly do, and LSU/Ellis/Parli obviously do too.

The policing is very light touch - whenever I've seen them in action they're chatting and joking with students and just generally keeping an eye on things, presumably with the dual purpose of discouraging students from messing around and getting in the way of the traffic (a big issue on the nasty five-way junction outside Burghley) but also to reduce the risk of students being victims of crime.

There's usually a senior teacher or two strategically positioned near the gates or at the bus stops, for similar reasons.

It's certainly nothing that's unique to Parli, and I would view it as a positive rather than a negative, in terms of trying to ensure a safe environment for students.

[quote GreenAndSpringy]@SamBee1
I understand the surprise was finding out the level of security at the gates. It was described to me as there being police stationed at the entrance, but I don’t know if this was about actual police or security guards.[/quote]
@GreenAndSpringy - oh - ok you mean overly secure?! I assumed you meant the other way. My understanding is that Parli and Ellis share a community officer (who pops into the Year 6 introductions) but honestly my daughter has never felt like being imprisoned or anything like that! Lots of reasons why security has been increased - i.e. perhaps you're talking about in the aftermath of this next door: www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/crime/woman-armed-with-knife-attacks-pupil-and-staff-at-william-3568544

As @Effzeh mentioned no, I don't find it too over the top, I definitely see it as a positive, as does my daughter!

Thank you @SamBee1 & @Effzeh
I was curious about what had been meant, and this makes it clearer.
It’s certainly an example of what in a school might be attractive to one family but a deterrent to another. I have no opinion either way but I do get how much of a surprise this can be to families (and there are plenty of us) who do not have contemporary experience with big schools.