Dunottar/ Reigate Grammar

[Skulzmulder]

My DD has applied to Dunottar School in Reigate and Reigate Grammar.

She has finished the exams and interviews for Dunottar, and the exam for Reigate Grammar. She has just been invited for an interview for RGS 28th Jan.

I've read some mixed reviews of Dunottar on here. Does anyone have any more recent experiences with the school? How are your children finding it academically? I was really impressed with it when we toured but the fact they did their interviews and exams in October and November and we've had no word on when we might hear about offers seems a bit strange.

How are the children going to RGS finding the homework? And school life in general? I know the first half term they don't get homework. I'm just wondering if it all kind of catches up quite quickly after that.

Lastly, does anyone have any tips for her interview? Is it just basically asking her questions about herself, school, outside interests, or is it more than that? I don't want to stress her out and prep her for the interview, but I'm just wondering if there may be a bit more than standard questions asked.

Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated!

The interview will be quite casual (unless it’s changed in the past year) it was questions like what is your favourite hobby.
RGS is a gorgeous site but we were put off by the boy-heavy atmosphere. In fact it was visiting there thar made DD want all girls. We went in a normal school day and the boys seemed to dominate in the playground, lessons etc. - it seemed aboit 70% boys. I’m sure it wasn’t, but that’s what it seemed. Plus I wasn’t keen on the public graveyard they walk through. no first hand knowledge of Dunottar apart from when I was following this thread I think it was three years ago, they did exploding offers which was unpopular. But from our year they didn’t do it.

My DS has an interview too and has done the Dunottar process - would be good to know when they give out offers.
Does anyone know how many they interview compared to available places at RGS?

This is information I'd like to know as well. Same for Dunottar..

My DD had her interview with RGS yesterday (they contacted again asking us to come to the earlier one), so now it's just all a waiting game!

That is interesting. I didnt feel like it was mostly boys at all when we toured. I think all girls would be great but unfortunately it was all a last minute decision so just picked the closest schools.

I would actually say that Dunottar is more focussed on boys than RGS.
They speak lots about their pastoral care, but whist not having first hand experience, I know the children have no respect for the head of pastoral, and will not listen to him. Although he is leaving to be head of Belmont so it may improve.
I am surprised they didn't let you know when they would be sending out offers. In previous years they have well before RGS, Caterham etc and caused much angst in the local area as parents had to accept prior to hearing from other schools.
The Heads stated aim is to be the number one school in Reigate, which quite frankly ridiculous given the other schools in the area. Hence why they used to send offers out before everyone else.
Not many stay for sixth form - about 1/4 of the gcse year stay, which is low when you look at the other independents.

The site has also had huge development over the last few years and it may have been over developed but without any sports facilities.

I looked at it for both DD and DS. Didn't choose it as felt it was never going to push academically or support pastorally.

I only know 3 (all lockdown entry years so different process to now) kids at Dunottar but they're all happy with pastoral side of things so that really surprises me to hear thst many don't like him. Also didn't know he was leaving so that's good to know!

What sports facilities did you feel were missing? On Saturday the RGS kids were taken to use Dunottar sports facilities as some of their fields were too frozen and the parent volunteers said what couldn't fit indoor facilties were bused over to Dunottar and they had an agreement with them to be able to do that?

Do you know of where I can find stats about who stays for GCSE and A levels? I've tried looking but can't seem to find that information. If it really is that low that is a huge concern.

Dunottar use the facilities at old Reigatians earlswood cricket club, Merstham cricket club, Dorking football club and lots of other venues. They don't have grounds of their own, which mean that they have to fit around other schools and fixtures at those grounds. They don't get first 'pick'. Also the kids spend lots of time getting bussed eveywhere and then bussed back. I know that RGS has their sports ground away from the school site, but they include it in their bus routes so the kids can then just go home rather than another journey back to school.

The numbers for sixth form were based on last inspection -44 across both upper and lower sixth. 22 in a year!

I would be asking lots of questions and also ringing admissions to find out when you will hear.

I chose Dunottar because I didn't want a really academic hothouse pushy environment and I really liked collegiate culture, broad extra curricular, small enough to know every pupil etc. Reality hasn't really lived up to expectations. The Warrior Learner concept is good, but seems to reward the children who are loud about their achievements rather than encourging everyone to develop their skills. There is a worrying bias against girls (ironic for a girls school that went co-ed) with boys getting more sports fixtures for example and fitness training indoors on their football afternoon to save the pitches while the boys continued to train outside. Many teachers don't allow children to go to the toilet during lessons, which I have been repeatedly told is a result of 'boys messing around', but rather than deal with this disrupted behaviour, others are disadvantaged as a result. There was a whole long list of things that girls couldn't wear on non uniform days headed by the dictact that they should 'dress modestly' but when some older girls raised a complaint about this, non-uniform days have just been dropped, which is disappointing for everyone (not to mention astonishing in this era of Everyone's Invited). Whilst I understand that most Headteachers generally have a little of the megalomanic about them, the impression I'm getting from teachers when I've raised issues is that he really doesn't want to listen to them or parent feedback and therefore it has the feeling of a very top down leadership style and a rules for rules sake school operation that is at odds with the modern and forward thinking school that it had the chance to be. The final straw is the withdrawal of a popular GCSE subject, which was my DC 1st choice, with no notice or consultation - just finding on GCSE options evening that it wasn't represented. This has been raised with the school by other parents as well as me, and the response, received two weeks later contains no further information or explanation. Feedback is always met with willingness to find a specific solution for your child, which is good, but never to acknowledge or accept the feedback or attempt to make things better for all.

Thank you for your reply. It is quite worrying really, considering I have a daughter. I don't want her in an atmosphere where she isn't treated as an equal. I did notice with uniforms girls couldn't wear trousers and have to wear tights year round(unless I heard that wrong ) which made me question the policy.

The toilet issue seems to be a common thing across most schools which is ridiculous. I've already had to battle that in primary school.

Would you mind sharing which GCSE subject was done away with?

Trousers are OK, they just don't really encourage it, and ditto tights - socks are OK if they prefer. The uniform policy is, like many other things, rather archaic. It's Photography they've withdrawn, it m remains an option as part of Art, but it seems without the extremely talented teacher and doesn't help as DC doesn't want to do Art, just photography. It's hard to know how many of these things are common to other senior schools of course - without making the leap to another which feels risky at this stage.

In another local school girls are allowed to choose whether trousers or skirt and they have introduced shorts for sport for girls too.
It seems odd that Dunottar have taken this route as they have made football and cricket main sports for girls.
Photography was always so popular as a gcse it's a shame they have withdrawn it, it was something that set them apart from other schools.

Oh, okay. On our tour a member of staff said about only wearing skirts and tights so they must have given out the wrong information. That's slightly better I suppose.

Is RGS the hothouse it has a reputation for? I only know one person there and they are in year 7 so still in the honeymoon period really with only positives to share.

We have recent experience of Dunottar. Head is very odd. Never interacts with parents and shuts himself away in his office looking at spreadsheets as far as I can tell.
head of Pastoral is laughable - look very very deeply about their claims around pastoral care. What gets written in a glossy brochure is very different to the actual reality.
there are some very toxic girl groups at the school in certain year groups that the school can’t seem to get a grip on
agree that uniform is from the Victorian ages. Who wears tights all year?! They also have to wear blazers at all times
Sixth form very undersubscribed. Most most in to Reigate college or if they’re gifted, to the better sixth forms at RGS or Caterham

I’m current parent of three all former or present RGS students and I have mixed feelings.
There are amazing opportunities esp for music & drama. Academically it is clearly good, but lots of homework from year 9 up.
One issue though with the high academic standards - it is so selective and so large that (even if your child is academically good), they will feel they are average or poor because of the very high standards. Not especially great for quiet children and those with lower confidence.
RGS is very good at generating positive PR. Head teacher is like a spin doctor. Relentless messaging about how great the school is and the amazing pastoral care - as a current parent I confirm there is a lot of veneer.
There is definitely a honeymoon period- nearly all year 7 (& to an extent Year 8) parents buy into the PR - us included. Thereafter the bubble tends to burst. Speaking to other parents who have had various issues (from bullying to mental health) some had a really positive response and praise the school. Others have had very poor responses to serious problems. It is a mixed bag - this also aligns with our personal experience.
When a problem arises the outcome is very dependent on the head of year for each year group, who stays with them from yr7 to yr11 - so you are stuck with either a good or bad one! We have had it all - awful (really serious issues not addressed), mediocre and amazing (no problem too small, everything handled sensitively and quickly).
I like that the school is really inclusive- lots of gay and trans students welcomed and accepted by staff and peers.
Problems - these are probably everywhere in secondary schools. Lots of vaping in the toilets. Some boys involved in groups /gangs outside school and the problems spill over into the school day.
We chose RGS for some specific reasons. It is difficult to know what our experience might have been elsewhere. Teenage years are difficult but our children may well have been happier at a smaller, less ‘high achieving’ school.
Hope this helps!

Thank you both for your replies. They've been very helpful. Quite worrying but also confirmed some things I had suspected.

I suppose now we just wait and see what happens and then if offers come in, take a serious look at both schools without the blinders on.

Another current Dunottar parent here. I would say characterisations of the Head as odd and a megalomaniac are spot on. He seems totally disinterested in interacting with pupils and parents. It has been clear on a number of occasions when we have raised issues or provided feedback that senior members of his team do not support the decisions made but do not feel empowered to challenge or that he will listen.

We also chose Dunottar as we didn’t want a pressurised environment and agree the reality has been a real let down. Rather than nurturing and strong on the pastoral, it is a pretty unpleasant place for more introverted kids – bullying is rife (and that includes the teachers…some of them are clearly just there for the power trip), agree re toxic girl groups – some girls were hiding in the library every break and lunchtime to stay out of the line of fire and the head of middle school decided the “solution” was to say anybody not outside would get a detention! We actually really regret our choice but feel making a change halfway through senior school is probably too unsettling. We certainly won’t be staying for sixth form nor have I spoken to anyone in the year group that intends to. It is frustrating that low sixth form take up has not been challenged by United Learning (who owns Dunottar) or the governors as it’s a clear indication of low satisfaction and being at odds with the indeed laughable stated aim to be the number one school in Reigate.

DD is quite bright and we do wish we had opted for somewhere more academically selective – though feedback here on RGS suggests our concerns were valid – she is often bored and unchallenged. Also echo concerns on gender bias – there are only two or three girls in each of the top sets and this has decreased year on year but nobody is interested in looking at what classroom practices are driving that; boys get “better” sports pitches and the specialist cricket and football coaches; very old fashioned attitudes to dress and expected behaviour for girls (trousers are technically allowed but clearly Dunottar thinks this is very progressive of them rather than realising it's something others schools have had in place for two decades!!). While other schools seem more on the ball with gender equality and diversity being (rightly) a priority, Dunottar again feels very behind. Some schools have been quick to react to Andrew Tate and the damaging propaganda being consumed by adolescent boys – Dunottar if anything seems to be encouraging misogyny.

Though not directly impacted, very surprised they dropped Photography – this was definitely always a popular subject and something a bit different that gave Dunottar a rare edge (and pretty sure always achieved top grades – surely something a head wanting to be “number one” might have considered??)

I think I can firmly say OP I wouldn’t recommend Dunottar…but not sure RGS sounds much better. Does anybody have a more positive experience of other schools in the area??

Gosh, this is all quite worrying but very helpful. We need to apply to local schools soon and up till now most of the negative things I’d heard in terms of bullying and culture were re Lingfield and Ardingly so I was leaning more towards RGS or Dunottar. Are Caterham and Worth better than this, or is it just that all senior schools will have these problems and there’s just no way of really avoiding them?!

My DS is in year 8 at Dunottar and is very happy.

Friend has DS at RGS and is unhappy.

I think experience of a school is very personal that said I have heard good things about Woldingham for all girls.

Just to tag onto this thread ,

For those who have been through the whole exam process at Dunottar, how academic challenging is the entrance exam to secure a place ?

We are unexpectedly in a new financial situation , where it is an avenue option for my DD who is a y5 pupil at a local state sch.

She ticks all of the “ warrior attributes “ that the school markets itself for , She is sporty and confident etc but im really unsure if she is at the level academically she needs to .Surely the school want to prioritise the most academic able, despite their sales pitch .

She is now being tutored, but we have only really just started this process .

i will welcome any feedback . many thanks

We were in a similar situation. We didn't even expect to be living here after year 6, so it was all a last minute decision to try.

In September we downloaded the Reigate Grammar practice exams off their website because dunottar don'tgive examples. We had her do those, then found a few older exams for her to do as well. We had one 11+ book and had her look over the nvr stuff. We only had her do about 4 exams, and had her practice writing a 30 minute stort a few times just to get her used to writing and fitting it all in that time frame. That was all we did.

she did her dunottar exam the day after she had finished a week of mock sats at school, and she came home saying it was all fine and there wasnt really anything she hadnt done already at school. And her school is unfortunately about to be rated "needs improvement ", so isn't high achieving in any way and scores below national average.

There is a computer element that is different to school but I don't think you can really tutor much for that.

She was offered a place at both schools. Now we are about to start all over again with our y5 child!

Thank you for your response

Oh wow , that is really impressive , that you and your daughter were so self disciplined with the exam practice .

Congratulations.

So in regards to computer element , do you think that is the verbal reasoning element?

Congratulations, I think if you've got into RGS with so little work your DD will thrive there and risk being bored/not have her full potential met at Dunottar.

Absolutely agree. She will be challenged and stretched at RGS.