Westminster Vs Kings - urgent advice appreciated !

[smartpoppy]

Hello All,

My DD has received an offer for KCS sixth form and we need to accept by tomorrow 5 pm. Tomorrow is also when the Westminster results are expected. Assuming she gets an offer from Westminster and assuming that fees aren't really a consideration (they are! but lets go with the assumption that we should be able to manage) any advice on which would be a better choice? I know its important to match the school to DDs personality and see if the school fits so here are some data points:

She is already at a very good independent secondary currently but wants to move since she thinks it's not academic enough. Her gut feeling is that Kings is a little more academic than her previous school but is not 'that much of an upgrade'. She has her heart set on Engineering/Pure Maths/STEM at Oxbridge and wants to maximise her chances. Super bright (top of her class; predicted 9s at GCSEs in her subjects), super competitive but not sporty or the drama type at all. We think in this respect Westminster probably fits the bill better. But, on the other hand a 45 min commute daily (she's not boarding) as opposed to 10 mins by bus to KCS, Saturday school and a few concerning reports on 'Everyone's invited' has left her (and us) a bit confused. Another point worth mentioning is that she will have 3-4 of her current friends joining KCS (none of them made it to the interview stage at Westminster) so we think it might be easier for her to settle down in a new environment. She says it should not be a factor since she is making a 'fresh start' anyway and is confident she will make new friends wherever she goes. According to her, whether one school (over the other) will help her achieve her full academic potential should be the only consideration.

So as you can see, there are frantic debates going on at home. We will be happy with whatever she chooses but was wondering if anyone who faced similar issues or has a DS/DD at either school would be able give us their honest opinion to help us reach a decision.

Many thanks in advance.

@WorkingItOutAsIGo thank you.

www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-oxbridge-files-which-schools-get-the-most-pupils-in

The Oxbridge Files. Which schools get the most pupils in?

Oxford and Cambridge have released figures showing how many offers they gave to pupils from schools in the 2020 UCAS application cycle. We have combined the figures in this table. It shows how well state grammars and sixth-form colleges compete with independent schools. Over the years, both universities have roughly doubled the proportion of pupils from state schools: 67 per cent, up from 52 per cent in 2000. Of the 80 schools, 35 are independent, 22 grammar, 15 sixth-form colleges, seven comprehensives or academies, and one is a further education college. (Schools are ranked by offers received, then by offer-to-application ratio. If schools received fewer than three offers from one university, this number has been discounted due to UCAS’s disclosure control.)

Congrats to your daughter on her achievement. My daughter, who is now at Cambridge, said Westminster prepared her well for university.

Well done to your daughter and good luck with the decision. What stood out for me in your posts is that while you are possibly wary of choosing W, it sounds as though that's where your daughter really wants to go.

Just on a cautionary note. If Oxbridge is your goal, then you need to know that is is becoming ever harder to be accepted there from the big name independent schools. My DD went to Cambridge from Westminster so I have no axe to grind. However there were lots of very unhappy parents of very bright pupils who didn’t get offers and I heard a lot of complaining and blaming the school. I believe last year KCS parents were very unhappy about university offers too.

That's true. In this state school biased environment, sometimes it's better to be a BIG FISH in a small pond.

I don't agree with the point about Oxbridge at all. Westminster regularly gets 70+ pupils into Oxbridge. It does this by selecting very bright and motivated pupils and then providing really excellent education and focused work on university applications and interviews- it offers much more in this regard than a state school could or should. Universities are aware of this and try to take it into account to some extent in interviewing but that fact is that going to this sort of school is still a massive advantage, which you can see reflected in the results.

If parents are disgruntled that their kid didn't get in and are complaining and blaming the school, they should remind themselves that there are far more kids clever enough to go to Oxbridge than there are places, that paying fees doesn't guarantee you a place and perhaps another kid did better on the day. And I say that as an OW who went to Oxford.

www.ft.com/content/bbb7fe58-0908-4f8e-bb1a-081a42a045b7
A pertinent article.

That is about a school in Wales