Channing School

[ClaireSage]

Any new news about this school over the past year? Is it still considered a traditional school? Do parents really like the headmistress? Academics great? Sports improving? Student body overall friendly?

How does it compare to the other schools mainly in north london? Similar to FHRP?

Any info would be helpful.

Thank you

Bump

I've heard the new head is good, steam is ramping up.

It has never been a very academic school

@passport123

It has never been a very academic school

I think that depends on how you define “academic”! Sure - not all the girls get straight 9s at GCSEs - but most do extremely well.

Sorry, maybe I should have been clearer. Compared to the others that girls tend to apply to at 4 or 11 it's one of the less academic ones e.g. at 4 many seem to apply to the same four schools - Habs, SHHS, NLCS and Channing - it's much less academic than the other three in that group. Has a fantastic reputation for pastoral care.

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/4516595-aibu-to-expect-dds-girls-school-insta-not-to-link-to-soft-porn

@frazi2345

Interesting. Who is Channing connecting with? What happened?

Check who they are linking to on their Instagram and their Twitter. It might not bother you, but it's worth knowing about.

The new head used to be deputy at DD’s school LEH. I thought she was great - And she was very popular with the students too.

@NeverEverUnreasonable

Check who they are linking to on their Instagram and their Twitter. It might not bother you, but it's worth knowing about.

Would you please elaborate? I have neither social platform and would like to know who they’re linking to

New head very popular with the girls and academics much stronger than they were 10 years ago, about the same results as highgate and shhs now compared to it being a ‘second choice’ not too long ago

We are loving Channing from what
we have seen- it’s now 18 per class in reception and 3 classes

An old Channing girl came to school to talk about body positivity www.channing.co.uk/news/chatting-with-channing-kitty-underhill/. Channing posted on insta about it linking to her account, but (presumably accidentally) linked to her adult account (which includes her modelling what are arguably soft porn images) www.instagram.com/kittyunderhillx/?hl=en rather than to the account for her business speaking to young people about body image www.instagram.com/embodying.you/?hl=en

There was a big and regrettable hoo-ha on here about it, with people jumping to the conclusion that she'd come in to tell Channing girls how to take their clothes off on Insta (not true), criticising her figure and generally being unpleasant. The thread was rightly deleted.

Hi ClaireSage! I don't know if you are still following this.

Our daughter was offered a place at Channing. (Also North London Collegiate, Latymer and Henrietta Barnett, to put it into context.) Channing is less academic but, quite possibly, a bit happier for some girls. Frances Holland (Regent's Park) is a bit more academic.

I would apply to both Channing and FHRP, also one of the more academic ones. We learned a lot about schools and about ourselves through the 11 plus process. And our daughter developed quite a bit, as well. We also considered travel time, safety and convenience. Our final choice was quite different from our first instinct.

What is your thinking now?

I'm really glad to hear the pastoral care is good. I went there when Isabel Raphael was the head teacher and she was appalling. I used to doubt that woman was actually human.

It’s a good school. Depends what you’re looking for. New head is great - much nicer than old one who was fed-up and getting burnt-out. Academically strong, but I think girls who go to NLCS and HB self-select cos they want The Top for academics, but Channing do just fine. They are very strong indeed on music and drama. Not so much on sports. Strong on pastoral care. Anecdotally fewer drug users and drug dealers than Highgate and less use of cosmetics than SHHS. Smaller and more friendly than most. Maths/science traditionally not great, but new Head is on a mission to improve this. Depends what type of fit your daughter is. Channing is great for the more shy girl who is creative. If academics count for everything everything and you don’t necessarily want any of the cool-stuff then you could save alot of money by sending her to HB. NLCS is alot like HB but with school-trips, good sports facilities and bigger grounds.

The new head is not a safe pair of hands imho. She had a major meltdown over some fairly standard graffiti. All style and not much substance.
The PSHE and RSE is all managed by a man. In a girls school. It's also woke as hell.