WHS vs KGS vs SHS (with academic scholarship)

[Gigz]

DD got offers from WHS and KGS + SHS offer with academic scholarship, which promises some special extracurricular programme for her right from the year 7. To be honest, the programme description looks intriguing, but not sure how much value it actually adds in real life. Does anyone here has experience with SHS academic scholarship programme and is it any good? Can it be strong enough reason to pick SHS over WHS?
Also to me it looks like WHS is a clear pick over KGS, considering I am not particularly opinionated about girls only vs coed. Would anyone suggest otherwise?

@Gigz , congrats to your dd on her offers. I'm a parent at Surbiton and although my dd joined under the old headmistress they do give out (at offer stage) A LOT of academic scholarships (that also vary in discount). In my dd's class 7 of the 24 dd were academic scholars and then on top of it there were sports/drama/ art, it felt only half the class was paying full fees!
There is a new head now (who has a dd there with at least 1 scholarship) and I am not familiar with the current programme.
For some parents the scholarship makes all the difference in being able to afford a private place so it's great so know it's an option. (St johns leatherhead is another school that gives out lots of scholarships offers but they all tend to be @ 10% which barely covers the bus charge).

Yes, discount is very nice and it is actually quite substantial. However this is not the main factor for our decision. I am trying to gauge if dedicated scholarship programme at SHS can actually make a big difference for my DD comparing to regular WHS experience.

Hi @Gigz, big congrats to your daughter. I don't have academic scholarship information to be honest but 2021 gcse scores for Surbiton looks impressive which makes me think they put so much effort into academics as well as sports and extra curricular activities. What do you think?

2021 GCSES are meaningless as they were awarded by the schools.

WHS has traditionally performed at a higher level than either KGS or SHS by a significant margin.

Surbiton is only mildly selective compared to WHS.

Yes, true, 2021 GCSE are school-awarded. The latest objective results are from 2019.

I am also wondering though, the schools are usually compared by relative performance (e.g. percentage of A grades, for example). By this measure WHS indeed looks much ahead. But, SHS, for example, is much bigger than WHS. And it seems like, let's say, in 2019 75% grades at WHS GCSE were A, which seemingly translates into 64 A grades in absolute terms, if I got the numbers right. At SHS at the same time 41% achieved A, which translates into 73 A* grades. It seems like similar situation is with A-levels and oxbridge grads - while relative numbers are much higher for WHS, absolute numbers look similar.
The takeaway seems to be that the environment is overall more academic in smaller highly selective schools like WHS. However it seems like overall results for academically strong girls are comparable. Not sure thought if this is the right way to look at this.

I have DD at SHS with scholarship who is doing very well.

We also have friends at WHS.

SHS is slightly more relaxed than WHS but we liked this as DD is sensitive and doesn't like a ton of pressure. The school has been wonderful adjusting to her needs. WHS is more serious and there is more work and an expectation to perform. There is a reputation to protect and retain after all. When we visited the girls who showed us round seemed a bit tense and slightly nervy.

WHS is a great school though and I'm sure there are lots of other girls there who aren't tense and nervous but it's those first impressions that you take away with you...

Any of these schools you have offers for would be fantastic. It's a great position to be in!

@AndNowNo - regarding your DD's scholarship - does it include additional lessons/activities/etc. or is it mostly discount + status?

There are scholars lunches each side of half term, sometimes more and talks after school sometimes too. From what I understand there’s an oxbridge group that preps the scholars further up the school.

There are writing clubs and a maths club for those that want to extend themselves further but they are open to everyone but generally they attract the more academic girls.

They do the U.K. maths challenge every year but I think top set of maths are offered entry to that, so not specific to scholars.

There are lots of other competitions scholars can enter, just depends on individual interests. The school is very responsive I’ve found and supportive overall for everything. DD has some quite specific things I won’t go into details about and the school have been amazing. Very very supportive. They are very kind too.