Clsg or JAGS

[goMN]

Hi, my dd has got offers from both schools. Dh and I like both schools and they are both quite easy to commute to from where we are. I think academically they are both good. Dd is not too sporty so sports facilities is not a consideration for us. We'll attend the offer mornings for both schools but wanted to see if anyone on here had been in a similar situation or had any views on which one is better ? Thanks

What is your journey time to each?

Mine both love clsg.

CLSG/LU dilemma here..
CLSG parents, does the school have a particular academic strength? I.e languages or science? LU seems to be strong in maths, but we are not sure.
Thank you in advance!

CLSG and Jags have quite different vibes? They are both amazing girls schools with amazing results so you have to park that bit of the comparison I think.

CLSG is right in the heart of London so you get a massive catchment area and girls commuting in by tube from every corner of the city and further. It's a very urban campus, and probably not great for sports.

JAGs is v definitely a S London school. School coach service from SE and SW and a fair few come by train/bus. Great campus and facilities.

Plus what did you think of the head teachers and the ethos of the schools?

For us, revisiting once we had the results made our choice (not the same as the one you are facing) very clear - hope the offer holder mornings go well.

Thanks for your replies.

JAGS - I liked the head and the general atmosphere in the school. Facilities were fantastic as well! Very airy and bright classrooms.
City - again impressive head and could feel the london vibe in the school. Not great in terms of school infrastructure but then it is in heart of the city !
Dd is quite shy and I got the feeling that City might suit a more go-getter sort of girl.
You are right that the offer mornings will help . Let's see!

@fabricaabandonada - I think that academically these schools will not be very different. LU is a coed so probably that's a more distinctive feature ?

Thank you goMN!
We are still doing our diligence with these schools. So far, City comes across as a more academic.

BTW, we also got JAGs but it is located considerably further away from us. Sally Huang, JAGs former headmistress is the Head at StPauls boys right now.

Let your daughter choose post the offer holder days

From the limited info that you have given (not a criticism), it sounds like JAGS is marginally preferred by you? What about your DD?

In terms of open spaces versus claustrophobic rooms, then former is a better environment to work in, if all else is equal.
Where do you live? Girls travel from all four corners of London to CLSG due to its central London location, which means meeting friends outside school maybe more challenging. Whereas, JAGS, as pp mentioned, has its pupils travelling from SE London so much more conducive to meet ups and easier to drive between homes, as you don’t need to cross central London.

In terms of sports at JAGS, there many different teams for each sport. For example in my DD’s year, netball had team A-H and hockey A-E due to the number of girls wanting to play

• it doesn’t matter how good you are, if you enjoy it then you get the opportunity to join in.

We have an older DD at CLSG and absolutely love the school!

She started out as a more reserved person and is thriving with confidence now. I'm writing this because I was worried to send my 'shy' DD to city... it has been absolutely fine with lovely girls.

On paper, there's an emphasis on STEM at City but I've spoken to parents of girls who prefer classics / literature and those are just as supported at the school.

Girls travel from many places but DD has a number of friends who live within 3 miles of the school.

Our younger DD is starting in September and we turned down several offers in favour of city (including NLCS).

Many thanks!

Ex City parent here. My honest view is I wouldn’t take up a place with the current head, she is very hands off with the girls and vastly different in this respect to the previous head. Long rambling letters to parents most of which is entirely unnecessary for busy parents to wade through to get to the important points. Much energy seems to have been placed into creating the new junior school to the detriment of ensuring that the infrastructure for the upper school girls is correct (no reliable heating as an example). There has been a massive staff turn since the new head arrived many experienced teachers left and it never seemed that my DD’s year group was prioritised in terms of consistency (3 teachers for one subject in as many terms in her GCSE course as an example). Most of my DD’s year seemed to have a maths tutor during the GCSE years. I think on another thread in the past couple of years a parent commented on the woke culture at the school and I would concur. There was a complete absence of debate for the girls which wasn’t healthy. The lack of sports facilities is not an issue and there’s plenty of opportunities to participate in sport. Positives are that the school is very diverse in terms of social and economic backgrounds.

Thank you Probablynotagain,
very refreshing perspective. We still haven’t made up our mind. Live smack in the middle between these two schools.
LU is a very big school, many mixed reviews, highly desired by candidates though.
We thought of City as having an academic edge. This is news to us. Also, woke culture, ugh..

@fabricaabandonada The academics were very good when DD first started. Great teachers and excellent arts programme which we were keen on. Then it seemed to fall apart, head of lower school left, deputy head who’d been at the school for 20+ years left, then the head left, music department imploded with the head and deputy head of department leaving, etc etc. Obviously the last couple of year’s data has been skewed by covid/no exams but if you look at the most recent Times league table you can see that the A level results are lower than the competitive set but no better than LU. The GCSE results are undoubtedly supplemented by tuition outside of school ( my DD had tuition in 2 sciences and maths at that level and she was by no means alone in that respect, some girls had tutors in more subjects). DD did get excellent results but hand on heart it wasn’t solely down to the school. In one subject during her GCSE years she had no work marked in a term and a half by a teacher who was leaving. The school hadn’t noticed. She also felt there was a lack of wanting to learn by the pupil cohort and there was much low level disruption in class, what seemed like an enormous amount of cover teachers etc. Parental feedback on these matters I have to say was not welcome and none of the parent questionnaire feedback was ever reflected in the output official reports despite a lot of parents saying the same thing. The fee increase (always way above the rate of inflation at the time) was also hidden each year within the governors report which always felt a bit disingenuous.

I am by no means an unhappy ex parent, DD is going great guns in life, but if I was looking at 11+ again, I’m not sure that I would make the same choice after seeing the change. Cohorts and friendship groups always change and are unpredictable, the location of the school won’t but If academics is the thing you are hoping to base your choice on, I’d be looking carefully at the situation particularly staff turnover.

Wow, that might just move the needle for us..

Thank you very much, Probablywoulndntagain!

We will dig some more, but.. Incidentally, LU seems to have abolished GCSEs (long story). That, however, doesn’t turn us off as DD is really good only at a very narrow field and might benefit from being able to focus.

@Probablywouldntagain when did your daughter leave CLSG? Where did she end up studying - and what if I may ask?

@Mrseven sorry but that info would be identifying. Happy to answer any questions about City if it helps.

@yeOldeVictorians - glad to know about your experience in city.. if I may ask , how long is the travel in the tube .. as we have an offer and our first choice but my only worry is travel and on the days of evening clubs , extended school hours + homework schedule once my dd is back home .. she absolutely loves the school and wants to go only to CLSG..

@adhw We're only 2-3 stops away from the Barbican so it's an easy commute.

When we started 11+ we also looked at schools further afield (for us that'd be NLCS) and we've decided against the school because of the 50-odd minute trip.

But if your daughter is very motivated to go to the school she might be happy to travel? I've heard from friends that their kids 'love' the commute with their mates etc, but this might vary on the individual case.

Most clubs are at lunchtime and school finishes generally by 4pm. There's orchestra and possibly music lessons after school.

Regarding staff turnover, our YR 10 daughter hasn't been affected at all and I suppose every parent will relate their personal experience of the school @fabricaabandonada and that might have varied wildly due to the Covid years for example.

@yeOldeVictorians makes sense and I hear the same from other parents too about the commute , they start enjoying it . It's exactly the reverse in our case , NLCS is circa 20min drive from us but Clsg is further away.. I quite liked the buzz in Clsg and so does my daughter , it felt well rounded to me when it comes to academics & music which are key for us ..

I'd agree that there's not much to choose in terms of academics - the data shows that all these schools do very well in terms of results, so would think you are in good hands on that side, with whichever choice you make.

For us , CLSG has been excellent - we moved from an independent local school (through school) in year 7 (currently year 9), and couldn't be happier. Yes, the school is quite academic, but I'd definitely want to make sure to point out there is difference between a high pressure environment and one with high expectations, and I'd personally say CLSG has been the latter for us. And those high expectations don't just apply to the very academic subjects - I feel my daughter has been challenged (in a positive way) in drama, music, DT, art...in nearly every subject really, with the expectation being not always so much on results, but on critical thinking, reasoning and a considered approach to whatever they undertake.

We have a ~50 min commute - initially I expected this to have to put constraints on sports and extra curriculars, but have been surprised by the amount of opportunity there has been - cricket, tennis, athletics, choir, robotics, fencing - these are all after-school activities we've had going on over the last few years. I won't say its easy - typically clubs run for an hour after school, so means getting home at 6/6:15, and then dinner, homework and a lot of topic tests throughout the year means we experience frequent late nights.

In terms of facilities, I find the space has been used quite innovatively - particularly in spaces for musing, drama and other types of performance - and I felt comfortable with what I saw when we first visited. Off course there is a contrast when you see some of the larger (space-wise) schools, where you can see the new £10M library or sports facility, but ultimately it came down to vibe and fit, and CLSG just clicked for us.

We started after the new head joined (only encountered the previous head at the open day), so I have no real reference point of how things were. As far as I am aware, there hasn't been and noticeable staff turnover in our time - however, I've experienced this in my own school days, so appreciate how disruptive this could be, but I have no fear or visible signals (touch wood) that this is likely to occur in the near future.

All the best with your decision - the other schools mentioned in the thread are also fantastic options, so I don't think there is any right choice here - I truly believe that 95% of children and parents are happy with their choices - again most of us don't have another reference point so we buy-in to the vision and immerse ourselves in that environment. All the best, and feel to PM if you have specific questions.

Thank you very much CW! Best regards