Chalfont Community College

[Necla]

Hi,

we are moving to Little chalfont and got an offer from Chalfont Community College for our the Year 7 daughter and she is on the waiting List for Amersham School.. Happy for any Information about both of the schools.

Thank you very much

I know both of these schools pretty well, what do you want to know? The main difference between them is size – Chalfont Community College is big (1,500 pupils), which is about about twice the size of Amersham. DS has lots of friends who went to Chalfont, and they seemed happy there.

Academically both are rated 'good' but like all Secondary Moderns there are gaps compared to the local grammar schools, and pupils probably have to be pretty self-motivated to do well. Some of the teaching is brilliant, some less so – which is the same anywhere, I guess. DD2 went to Amersham and did fine. She had a lovely friendship group who seemed to spend a lot of time at our house and are always welcome.

Both these schools are perfectly OK. Better than a good many elsewhere in the country where parents would love these leafy Kane schools! The main difference is size but for some DC a bigger school offers more options and might be better at sport and marginalised subjects. However I think most people like the Chalfonts. Are you in catchment for The Amershsm?

Hi, thank you for the Informations.. we are in the Catchment Area for Amersham, she is on the waiting list but 55 kids in front of her, looks less likely I assume. My DD is very very kind and polite, went to a small private school in London, academically she will do good but the atmosphere is very important for her. I called Chalfont CC to book a tour

That in itself tells you quite a lot about Amersham School. Ten years ago parents tried to avoid it as much as humanly possible. Now, thanks to a dynamic HT and excellent SLT, it is in demand and over-subscribed. Seven years ago they were still struggling to offer 3x science subjects in the Sixth Form, now quite a few pupils take such subjects.

As @TizerorFizz rightly points outs, there are pros and cons of a big school. Chalfonts is a good school and if your DD isn't daunted by its size, I'm sure she'll do just fine there.

@thing47
@Necla

Ive got Harry (Kane) on my mind. Text is such an odd thing!

It might be a bit far and probably impossible to get into, but Pipers Corner is popular for girls. St Mary’s Gerrards Cross is a possibility too but getting a place this late might be difficult.

Alternatively Godstowe prep might have a space. It’s all girls and most stay to 13. You could ask about local private school destinations after y8. State might be film though.

film?? It gets worse. They might be full though at y9 entry.

Hi,
We have a direct experience with CCC - daughter attended year 7 and 8 before we moved away, so can contribute. This is my personal experience so please keep an open mind - very large school so I am sure each child and parent would see it differently.
Average school would be fair to say, now that we have a lot more experience with schools.
Daughter was pretty motivated and did well but I’d say teaching is not great. Pastoral care not great, had issues with bullying and was never taken seriously. It is a large school and teachers are not keeping up with student relations.
We experienced high teacher turnover which was disruptive.
A lot of kids in the area go to grammar/ private so certain population gets in CCC, as one of a very few options in the area. I’d keep an eye on who the friendship group is. Also, kids tend to form cliques and not mix much.
School building is little underwhelming with dingy corridors and worn out looking classrooms. little depressing if you ask me but I understand it might be personal preference so go have a look yourself.
They had a great after school activity choices - not much uptake so a lot cancelled but that’s the part I found positive.
Lunches were apparently very tasty! With average queues.
School is located on the edge of CSP but busses run regularly. Easy walk to the village. But very leafy and pleasant surroundings. Saying that, all of Chalfont areas are.
Hope this helps!

@OMVM2
At 1415 (it’s current size) Chalfonts is not a particularly large school. Lord Williams at Thame is over 2000. Quite a few grammars in Bucks are 1300 on roll and no one thinks they are too big. No school is perfect but in order to offer a good range of subjects and exam types, it is necessary to be larger. The Amersham School is 943 on roll so not twice the size. 50% bigger is more accurate.

in most schools you need to be discerning about friends but often this is not too difficult as similar DC tend to find each other.

If you want to get bullied come to this school and if you want someone to be recessed to you come here.