Sir William Perkins Query

[Dhatrader]

Hi All,

Our daughter got an offer letter for Sir William Perkins, which we are delighted with. We are moving from abroad, and given we are not familiar with UK 11+ cirriculum, we are very relieved that our eldest has a footing into the school system.

I have read a lot of review on the forums, and by all accounts it is a very down-to-earth school where girls get a solid foundation to succeed in life. Personally, this is a very important aspect for me, as i want my daughter to have strong pastoral care, as it will provide the baseline for her education. If anyone could provide additional perspectives on the following, it would be appreciated:

1. Can anyone share experiences of how they have felt about the school in the past few years?
2. It is difficult to ascertain academic performance sitting abroad, as A Levels is the only reference point. How do you think the school balances this aspect and is it becoming more academic with peer schools?
3. How has the school fared in coping with the continued uncertainity of COVID?
4. Where do most families live? In Chertsey or in sorrounding areas such as Weybridge, Esher, Cobham or Oxshott?

Responses would be much appreciated.

Because it’s a term’s notice usually for all private schools?

Exactly - I am not sure why some people think the contract they signed doesn't apply to them 🤷🏼‍♀️

@miuk you sound like a troll. Your so called dds review is so full of inaccuracies it's kind of funny. SWPS has many clubs that run every day after school and during lunch. The maths results at SWPS has been equal to or higher that GHS in recent years and they are famously competitive. Either your dd was clueless or you've just made stuff up. You talk about getting o-levels but your grammar is peculiar. You seem to be attempting to disguise who you are but pretending to be foreign. Weird. Just weird.

All private schools require 1 full term notice and will chase you for not paying. You are at fault. Not the school. Why in heaven's name should current parents subsidise you not giving enough notice.

Miuk, perhaps SWPS was not a good option for your daughter and maybe the grammar school would have been a better option in Year 7 if you feel so strongly about how good the school is?!
I am glad she got into the grammar school at year 10, SWPS obviously did something well!! SOCS is a great way to book into a wide variety of clubs and perhaps this was not utilised correctly. I hope her new school gets the same academic results as SWPS (depending on what exam boards they sit) but from our perspective I have one daughter attending Oxford University and 2 others heading in the same trajectory and that is down to the excellent and dedicated teaching staff. The newly appointed Headmistress will undoubtedly be another asset to the school.
I hope your daughter achieves such success. On top of that our daughters are decent and respectful human beings with a strong moral compass.
I have to agree with the 2 previous posts, the majority of our cohort are very happy with the school and their children thrive there. We are in a very privileged position to be able to accommodate sending our daughters there and choosing it above other more academic schools because of its all encompassing ethos.
So good luck for the future, read any contract that you sign (particularly if it involves finances as debt collectors will insist on payment if you do not comply with any signed agreements) and for the majority of families, SWPS will always be a great school despite your negative experiences/comments. Take care. ❤

Glad to hear you had a positive experience at SWPS. I know many parents withdrawing and recently heard parents taking legal action for bullying by pupils and some staff whilst at school. Even stories of older girls bringing alcohol and vapes to school to offer younger students. Glad I withdrew quickly, shocking!

@miuk frankly you sound unhinged or like you have a vendetta. Nothing you are saying reflects anyone else's experience of the school. You seem fixated on the fact that they like every other independent school expects you to honour your contract. You seem to think you shouldn't have to.

and you sound uniformed. It reflects my experience

But Niko, I think from your previous post you are another person who thinks the contract doesn't apply to you?

Bit of a pattern here. The smugs and those whose children have suffered from a heartless business which has no right to be entrusted with our kids. Sure its gone alright for you, but that's no reason to give blanket condemnation to those for whom is has not. Your observations on my circumstances are ignorant and your attitude unbecoming from a parent of this esteemed establishment

@Niko1234 have you name changed?

@Niko1234 or are you agreeing with @miuk ?
The point is @miuk is complaining because the school is holding them to the contract just as every other independent school would. It's not a valid complaint that @miuk felt 2 months was enough notice. The notice period is one clear term. That is standard. Why would people arbitrarily decide what they think is fair then complain when the school demands payment? Some people seem to think rules don't apply to them.

@pocketvenuss / @Howlongtillwegetthere You keep talking about contracts, did you read and understand my messages fully 😊. Yes, I read but didn't see it in SWPS contract that they can lie, cheat and fraud parents for extra payments to serve their greed!

You missed the talk about bullying going on in the school, the use of vaping and alcohol, and legal action for breach of contract for bullying that caused mental issues.

You both seem so uninformed about what's really going on in the school under the surface and what some girls and parents experienced, this is so inconsiderate. Good luck with your future at SWPS.

How is requiring you to pay the whole term notice 'cheating ' you of anything. You said you decided that 2 months was enough but that they wanted the whole term. The whole term is the standard notice period. It's not up to you ti 'decide' what you want to pay. Why are you arguing this

@miuk as for gaping. Yep. It goes on. Like it does in EVERY OTHER SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY. From our experience bullying is minimal. Certainly less than other schools we have friends in. You may have had an unfortunate experience but it's not typical of everyone else's experience. As for the contractual notice period. You just seem strangely unable to accept that you are the one who is being unreasonable. Organisations holding you to the contract to pay one while term fee is not 'cheating' you. You are the one who seems to want to cheat.

I think this thread has probably now been exhausted.
For those girls who have not enjoyed their SWPS experience then it is the right thing to move them and settle any outstanding debts as per contracts. I really hope they are happy in their new environment and that you have closure on your experience, for your own sanity.
It must also be recognised that for the majority of students (despite all the aforementioned issues that go on in ALL schools), they are happy and thriving at the school and over the last 300 yrs (nearly) SWPS has produced highly functioning, successful individuals and will most probably continue to do so over the next 300 yrs as frustrating as this may be for some people to acknowledge.
I hope all our girls reach their potential no matter which school they attend and I wish them all the best. 💕

Sir William Perkins's School is not worth paying the yearly school fees. My child spent a very short time of her school life at the school before we decided to take her out. Many things that were of concern were brought to our attention at a very early stage.

I would urge you to read a few reviews before considering applying and paying for the school - not just from mum's net. Neither the governing body nor the head has your daughter's best interest at heart. For them it is your £20,000 that is the most important and as soon as they have the money, you feel that you can't let go. The school will do more mental health damage to your daughter than any good - luckily we got out of there very quickly but my daughter is still finding it difficult to process what has happened to her there and I would like to save you the headache and heart break.

One lesson I've learnt, albeit a bit too late, is to use the internet to read reviews, ask questions and most importantly, go with your 6th sense.

gibe yourself a pat on the back for taking action immediately. I wish I had done that too but foolishly I kept going to the end. I must say that now that my daughter is far more maturer she often says, SWPS experience I now was not normal, she is in a lovely school where they practice what they preach, the whole nurturing ethos is very much evident in everything they do. It was a tough experience for her , especially mentally, not a pleasant school. Some parents will come out defending the school and their daughters would have had a good experience, maybe they had deeper pockets, but it really is a school where if yours and you child’s face fits they’ll be fine. If you as a parent get the slightest inkling something is wrong just go, otherwise every small thing your child does they will pick at point out and make you feel that your child is a misfit. Some of the teachers in charge, unfortunately mainly female have a lot to answer for. Good luck to you and your child hope she does well and is happy wherever you chose to put her. X

25% of girls got straight 9-8. You think that's bad?

Just to join the debate.
Some other schools are highly selective, I know as we refused places in those schools for my daughters. My eldest daughter is now at Oxford University and my middle daughter just got all top grades in her GCSEs, all thanks to the dedication of the teaching staff at SWPS. The GCSE results are higher than those in 2019, pre pandemic; I am so proud of the year 11s for their amazing achievements. Also look at the exam boards and the subjects taken, Tiffins sit state GCSEs, SWPS sit iGCSEs and other exam boards.
If you are going to compare schools it has to be done on a like for like basis and if you send your child to a highly selective school then it is expected they get the better results as all the children are well above the national average.

Lastly, be very careful about what you post as if it is not factually correct it can be damaging. Now that your daughter is happy elsewhere it maybe time to move on from SWPS as there are so many wonderful and happy children and teachers there and the new headmistress and all the new senior leadership team are very impressive. My 3 daughters are receiving a fabulous education from a well rounded school.

All the best for the future.

Tiffin is one of the most highly selective schools in the country it is a grammar abs is therefore free and people apply from a massive area. Comparing the two is frankly ridiculous. No one is claiming swps is another tiffin or Guildford high. The girls that come in are of a wider range of abilities therefore of course they will not get the sane results. Either you know this but are being ridiculous or you don't know this and should

I don't have any vested interest in this debate - I don't care one iota whether SWPS is well-regarded or not - but you are not comparing like for like in your quoted metrics here.

If you are referring to Tiffin Girls with "85% straight 9-8", I suspect you're referring to their website which, to date, does not refer to 2023 GCSE results. The 85% you allude to appears to be for 2022 results, but it's quite clear that this is 85% of all GCSE grades awarded in 2022 were 8 and 9, NOT 85% of Tiffin girls got a clean sweep of 8s and 9s. Even at the most academic, high-achieving independent schools in that neck of the woods, e.g. King's College Wimbledon, claimed this year that about half (50%) of their Year 11 cohort got a clean sweep of 8 and 9 grades, whereas 89% of all their GCSEs were graded 8 and 9. As I said, these are two very different metrics. To come back to SWPS, 25% of their girls this year got a clean sweep of grades 8 and 9, but 63.2% of all GCSEs taken were awarded grades 8 and 9. This can be seen in the provisional GCSE league table published in The Times on Friday (25 August).

With no disrespect to the staff and girls there, Tiffin Girls actually looks like it under performed this summer in GCSEs according to The Times league table published on Friday. 41.6% of the GCSEs sat were awarded grade 8 and 9: that's over 20% lower than the same metric for SWPS. It doesn't take a mathematician to realise that it cannot be possible for 85% of the Year 11 cohort at Tiffin Girls to have achieved a clean sweep of grades 8 and 9 if only 41.6% of all GCSEs taken were awarded grades 8 and 9.

However, Tiffin Boys marginally comes above SWPS with 62.9% of all GCSEs sat there at grade 8 and 9.

Again, I have no interest in SWPS and its reputation but I am wary when stats are bandied around in a disingenuous fashion.

Just as a postscript to the above, I attach images from The Times provisional school league table based on last week's GCSE results, published on Friday. It is true that Tiffin Boys sits just above SWPS, but Tiffin Girls is far lower down. (The first column refers to number of pupils, the second the total number of entries for GCSE papers, the third the proportion of all grades 8 and 9 awarded and the fourth the proportion of all grades 7, 8 and 9 awarded.) You may need to click on the images to see the whole thing.

All the schools are sending in masses of papers for a marking review, you can't take any results seriously at the moment.