Feedback on SPGS

[TwoSpoonsofSugar]

Would love to hear feedback from those with a child currently there. My daughter was offered an 11+ place to start in Y7. We were late entrants in that we had not been considering it but she wanted to have a go and we ended up applying just before the deadline closed. It meant we were too late to get a place on any Open Days so I haven't actually been around the school, met the Head or staff etc.

DD is naturally very academic and self motivated to learn. We didn't tutor for SPGS. By that, I mean not even at home. We are fortunate that the 11+ has been a fairly relaxed process for us. Now I'm torn. She already has an offer from a good private school within easy walking distance. SPGS would be 40 mins on the tube but she says she doesn't mind that. I commute myself for work and worry she'll regret come to regret the commute. Right now, she's able to walk home in less than 30 minutes.

DD would like to go to SPGS. I have asked her why. She says she loves going to school - she does and always has - and she knows it's a great school where she can be surrounded by girls who can keep up. At her current school it is true she isn't stretched. It is supposedly academic but she's been coasting but we've been okay with that so far.

I am worried about the school commute. I am worried that she won't have local friends as girls from SPGS come from all over the place. Equally, I don't want DD to think I've held her back from going to a school she'd prefer. I have stressed that she'd have a commute. That it's unlikely she'd have peers living round the corner to hang out with during school holidays. She says that's fine. SPGS is also more expensive but we could afford it but it means not moving to a bigger house or fancy holidays. I ask myself if the extra cost and sacrifices is worth it? If a girl is bright, wouldn't they do well anywhere? Or is the value of SPGS in its quality of teaching? My own background is that I went to a terrible state school where very little learning was done as class time was too disruptive. SPGS is a whole new world to me and I worry that DD will feel like the poor kid in comparison. We tend to go camping in the UK for our holidays and drive an old car. We live in a smallish house but it means we can budget for SPGS. I don't want DD to go there and suddenly feel she's the poor one. I get that it's all relative and perhaps it's me projecting but it would be nice to know if there are lots of families on modest incomes there too.

We don't anyone else with girls there so it's hard to get real feedback. I have read mixed reviews about girls who thrive. Girls who leave due to the academic pressures.

DD is lovely, kind girl who is naturally academic and enjoys learning. She seems to cope well under pressure. Will there be lots of low key girls like her? Or are they all super confident, competitive alpha types?

Sorry for rambling. In a wobble as you can tell! I don't want to hold her back because of my own insecurities. Like all parents, I want her to be happy and in the right school for her. I'm asking for feedback in the hope it will help guide me in making this decision. All feedback, positive and negative, welcome.

Thank you so much in advance and feel free to PM me! 🙏

What's SPGS?

I can not help with SPGS feedback, but in regards to the commute, yes it makes a big difference to have a school close by, but 40 mins is doable. Esp if it is direct. She could also do some homework or reading during the travel time. We applied to the closest schools to us and they are all 20-30 mins via tube/train. We most likely will go with the one furthest away G&L. It will be 30 mins by bus. I also worry about the travel, but we do not really have a choice, all the schools are 20-30 mins and that is her first choice. Perhaps have her travel during the travel times for schools so she can get an idea of what it would be like.

Go to the Q&A event on 23th to meet the school leaderships and prospective parents, that is an opportunity to know about the school if you missed the open day.

Try to get some existing parent contacts from reallife is also a better way to get information rather than relying on MN posts.

Curious to know what is your local good private school option, is it academically very different from SPGS?

@MrsRickAstley St Paul’s Girls’ School. A private girls school in London, 11+ exam results came out yesterday.

OP, happy for you to pm me, I have two dds there, from a state primary, and they do commute as we’re not local.

I really like fishywater’s post on this thread as a description of a child who will thrive at SPGS, it fits my experience:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4044633-11-What-are-the-schools-looking-for?page=1

“top at primary in everything academic without having to try all that hard”. I don’t think it matters whether a child has been to Prep or state primary. That sums it up perfectly. You see superselective in practice means being able to memorise 30 brand new Latin words easily in one evening and learning 5 new irregular French verbs to write and decline and doing some complex maths quickly (and fitting in your music practice - if you play instruments) after doing a sports/drama club, that kind of child will love those types of school. It is the kind of child who learnt all their timetables in Year 1 over the weekend and never had to practise spellings. The lessons move fast and go into greater depth discussion quickly which suits a certain child. Again, at A level, the syllabus is covered quickly and you move on further to greater depth and reading around the subject, thus Oxbridge entry figures are high too.

Congrats on your DD's offer. That your DD achieved an offer without any extra work is brilliant and speaks to her capabilities. I'm glad the whole process was relaxed for her.

As for families, you will not be the poor ones. There's a range of bursary students to billionaires, it's London. My DD's close friend does leisure activities that we couldn't even come close to affording, but it doesn't matter, they are great friends.

Happy to discuss more with you in private if you want to message me. Good luck.

I'm also curious about your local private school!
If you can afford the fees for SPGS without a bursary then you are not going to be one of the poor families.

Do not hesitate. Just send her there. She will spend 25 of those afternoon commutes reading or doing homework and in the morning 30 or 40 minutes is the same. It is a great advantage that she made it happen, she wishes to go there and is determined. My daughter also got an offer and, if she decides on SPGS as we hope (she does not have strong preferences and had various offers), will start in September. Perhaps they will soon be friends.

Based on your description, it sounds like SPGS is the perfect place for your daughter. As others have said, hard to say without knowing what your loca alternative is. If it is another top 20 school, she might well do just as well there but it does sound like she would thrive at an academic school. She sounds very driven and independent as well, go for it (after visiting the offer holders event as others have pointed out :-) ).

Thanks everyone for posting. Your replies are very helpful.

@HighRopes that description is pretty much DD to a tee.

@LePoppyes indeed our daughters may become friends if they both accept their offers!!

@swgeek I don't want to disclose our local school as it's outing. It's not top in the 30 if you were to rank the Indies by results. But it does have a good reputation and the girls are nice. I have been told it's a good senior school but that the teaching at SPGS is at a different level which may suit DD more.

To those who suggested I attend the holders event, yes we will be doing that.

Thanks again for the responses and PMs. Really helpful.

Our daughters are very happy there. It’s a great school but the clincher for us was the no school uniform, light touch rules environment where the girls are treated like adults. Pink hair, animal head gear, make up and mobiles all welcome. I expect that’s not for everyone but it suits our family bohemian outlook down to a T.

Sorry to hijack your post but I am wondering about the relationship of SPGS and his sister school in China.
I think one site in Chengdu has opened already and another one will open soon. Will the school offer the possibility to girls to spend a year there by any chance? Are there plans to open school in other countries as well?

Let her go there. She has done extremely well academically to pass the 11+ without coaching and it's where she wants to go, the 40 minute commute notwithstanding. Kids travel for secondary education these days and they still make friends who don't like a walk away from home.

live not like!

@blissfullyunaware oh really?? This is not the impression I had when I came to visit the school. I had the impression that most girls were wearing their PE kit. And it did not look like girls wore make up and so on. You have me worried now.

Hello, I have a daughter at SPGS. She absolutely loves it. We live nearly an hour away in total by tube/bus and a short walk both ends and she has quite a few local friends. I would be very surprised if your daughter ends up with no local friends at all. Yes, there are plenty from Chelsea and Kensington etc, but also plenty from SW and north London and probably elsewhere. Plus, they soon get used to taking themselves around London to see friends in other areas and the confidence that brings is really good.

12% of pupils are on bursaries so if you are able to pay the fees from your income your daughter will definitely not be the least well off girl there by some way. I know of some girls whose fees are paid by grandparents too.

Most of DD's friends just seem like normal middle class kids to me. There are some very rich girls but also lots of more normal ones.

DD really thrives on not being the best any more. She was sick of being a constant outlier and really likes being one of the crowd. She came from a not very academic state primary and while she had to do a little catching up at first, things evened out very quickly.

I think it is certainly true that a child capable of gaining entry to one of these very selective schools will do very well at almost any school in terms of grades. The extra stuff comes with being surrounded by people who are just as clever as you or cleverer. The pace is very fast and because they are able to cover the basics quickly, they go above and around and beyond the curriculum. They have time to explore more than just the basics and go off on tangents that interest them. They also have time for absolutely loads of extra-curricular stuff. I think DD joined about ten clubs in her first year but is now more focused on particular things that she has found that she loves.

As well as that, being able to do 11 or 12 GCSEs means they don't have to narrow down what they want to do so early. They are all very capable of doing lots of subjects to this level and the breadth means there is plenty of space in their lives for creative and tech subjects as well as the basics - the school directed courses in things like drama, art history, creative technology etc are really interesting and broad in scope.

I was especially interested in the languages offered (the Year 7 languages/linguistics course is honestly fantastic) and the breadth of available languages to study seemed to me better than any other school curriculum I saw. They can pick from French, German, Russian, Mandarin, Spanish, Italian, Latin and Ancient Greek. Everyone does at least three languages in the early years (2 MFLs and Latin) and they all do at least one language for GCSE. I didn't see either the breadth of choice or the scope to do as many languages anywhere else I looked. It's easy to find schools that offer triple science for those who are that way inclined but not so easy to find schools with rich offerings in humanities, arts and languages which also operate at such a strong academic pace.

I also love that they treat the girls like adults and don't focus on petty rules. This has suited DD down to the ground and I think it really improves the relationships between staff and students. The other thing that I particularly like is the emphasis on doing your own best and not competing with others. I think this makes for a really supportive atmosphere.

Very long, sorry, kept thinking of more things I like about it!

Lots of girls do wear PE kit. Equally, some dye their hair blue and stomp around in DMs. It's all good. It's what's inside your head that counts!

Thanks @BonjourCrisette I was also wondering about the relationship of SPGS and his sister school in China.
I think one site in Chengdu has opened already and another one will open soon. Do you know if the school will offer the possibility to girls to spend a year there by any chance? Are there plans to open school in other countries as well?

I don't think so, to all of those questions. But who knows in future? I think the girls who are studying Mandarin have had some Zoom sessions with children in China. But mine doesn't do Mandarin so I am not sure of the details.

Younger years mostly wear PE kit, as they get older less so. But it’s not so much what they wear, as the general approach - no one is going to tell them off for wearing make up, or having blue hair, or nail polish, or really anything much in terms of appearance. Some things (PE, science) require certain kit to be safe, and need hair tied back, but they don’t have many rules beyond that.

Similarly, there aren’t behaviour points or other reward systems, and detentions are very rare. There isn’t a house system. It’s part of the liberal approach, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but which I really like.

I would tend to choose to go local with a short commute. Remember the trains are increasingly unreliable these days with all the strikes and everything else, so not a good idea when punctuality is important. Also consider the time spent, transport fares, and risk of losing things on the train.

You should find out if SPGS has a school bus that goes to your neighbourhood. I've always been impressed about how well organised they are on issues like these. We considered the school for our DD but decided on a much closer school instead that has worked out very well.

Liam posts a lot about SPGS for someone who doesn't have a daughter there!

I am happy to report that for us, the train strikes haven't been an issue. DD has been late a few times when there were tube strikes with no repercussions whatsoever (only reaction has been 'poor you, hope you're OK' when she has apologised for being late). Transport fares are low for school children with a Zip card. And the only time DD lost anything on the train was on her first or second day when she left a load of sports kit on the tube in a bag. Luckily a kind adult picked it up and dropped it off when he or she got off the tube further along the line and a sensible tube worker contacted the school who rang me (lucky I bothered to sew the name labels in because it would have been quite an expensive bag to lose). We were reunited with the lost bag within a matter of hours and it taught DD a lesson about paying attention to her belongings. She's never lost anything else on the tube since then!

I would personally consider curriculum, ethos, fit for what your daughter would like, and 'feel' of the school above everything else. A commute of an hour or so is absolutely manageable. They get used to it, though they are tired at first - just like they are tired when they first go to nursery or school or whatever. Any step up takes a while to get used to. A commute is a lot to take on but if your child is a good fit for whatever school, the benefits may be worth it if your child actively wants to do it. For us, we had the choice between good local comprehensive, sought after superselective grammar and St Paul's. The ethos/feel and curriculum were what swung it for me (if I had not been so interested in arts/creative/language curriculum, the grammar would have probably been almost as good though nowhere near as good on ethos and atmosphere).

I have a 6th former at SPGS and the 11+ seems like yesterday. In her last year now, with a Uni offer from Cambridge. Go for it. It's a great school and importantly your daughter will be surrounded by like-minded girls of similar ability. For those keeping an eye on Oxbridge offers (which of course is not everything) there were 47 this year out of 117 university applicants. (Not everyone applied to Oxbridge of course). Quite a few to US Ivy League too.

The teaching is patchy. Some excellent teachers, some good, some average, some bad. Girls do well despite the teaching because they are capable and motivated. They are not boffins. They are regular girls. I would say that they are treated like adult, university students from Y7. They are supported with extra lessons, lunchtime surgeries if they feel the need (although most girls do not take advantage of this).

I recommend SPGS while heartedly. PM me if you like.

@BonjourCrisette

With respect, when we visited St Paul's on an open day a few years ago, they seemed very receptive to the issues we raised and seemed to want to help where they could. This wasn't the case for all the schools we visited. It's true that we chose a different school in the end, but we considered St Paul's for a while.

Is the alternative you have academic enough?

@Coronateachingagain

It has worked out very well for us, for the most part.