Barnard Castle, Ripon Grammar?

[MKDmumofflash]

Please does anyone have any personal knowledge of either of these schools?

We're considering our options for a quirky-ish DD, I've read all the Ofsteds, ISI reports, attended open days, googled massively, but I am still struggling to get a 'feel' for them. Is anyone able to share their experiences? Thank you 🙂

We have our DDs name down at Barnard Castle for Sept 2023 entry into Yr 7. My husband's cousin sent her DS there from Yr 7-13 an I had several in depth conversations with her amd other parents in our village prior to attending an open day and deciding to put her name down. A small % of children from our village attend Barney most years.
From what I can gather, and I'm sure you're already aware of, it places a large emphasis on sports and the expectation that every child willingly participates. They mix prep + state incomers for secondary. Excellent pastoral and involvement of 6th formers with the younger kids to act as role models etc. We personally feel that it will be a good fit for our DD however only you can make that decision for your child. She is most excited about having a riding club and that is her main focus 😆.
No experience of Ripon Grammar as it is well out of our area.

Thank you for replying, that's really reassuring that the prep and state children are mixed, and that pastoral care is good.

She's sporty but detests hockey and is disappointed there is no girls rugby, but she loves the idea of the CCF.

We've been for the open day but will arrange another, personal tour in the autumn.

We went for the 1-2-1 open day option which included a good in depth chat with the Headmaster as well as a tour by one of the 6th formers. We will probably go to the General open day in the Autumn as well but would heartily recommend the 1-2-1 option. We felt we got a really good feel for his ethos and liked the interest and conversation he had directly with our DD rather than just focusing on us as parents. I appreciate that there is an element of wanting to win us over but I did genuinely feel that he was interested in her as a person and was good at drawing her out and delving a bit deeper into her likes and dislikes. Our DD was relaxed throughout and adored the 6th former who showed us around. All in all we felt a warmth in the school rather than it being an impersonal generic info meeting.

That sounds really promising. Presumably your friends locally haven't commented on any bullying etc? We don't have anyone near us to ask.

No, that was something I've repeatedly asked friends but they said they never heard of any instances from their children. Of course that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen and teenagers can be pretty mean but I'm reassured that so far I've not heard any instances especially around the journeys to and from school. The whole impression I've got is that if there was any bullying that it would be stamped out pretty quickly however obviously I can't verify that.
It was the pastoral element that really stood out for us to be honest, above everything else. Especially as I'm less than impressed by that aspect in our current state primary.

Oh goodness I'd not even thought about the potential for bullying on the buses! Glad to know anything would be stamped out. Thank you for your replies 🙂

Unfortunately our niece goes to one of the local state schools and the bullying is horrendous on the buses to and from school, frequently gets physical 😔 So that was one of the very direct questions I have asked of everyone I've spoken to.