Wallington County grammar school v/s Royal Grammar School(RGS) Guildford

[PB1210]

Hello , I wanted to check if anyone can guide me which is a better school in terms of academic and sports facilities like Football. Location/ cost no issue.

Wallington County grammar school v/s
Royal Grammar School(RGS) Guildford

Actually, I see you say money isn’t an issue. We’ll go private. Keep the grammar for a child who can’t afford private fees, that was the intention of grammars. But in answer to your question, absolutely everything about the facilities will be way superior at private since there is just way more cash. So the football opportunities will be better. Ditto academic facilities, like lab space. Academically, pupils gets way more support in a private too, versus a state grammar, or at least that was my personal experience (of state grammar and academic private). It’s not fair, and there are undoubtedly exceptions to this “rule”, but it’s how things go. Ultimately, as a paying customer, you can demand and expect more from the private, for your child. There is no comparison between these two schools as a pp indicates,

@naraguta Do you think RGS is not great academically compared to WCGS specially the amount of fee they charged ? Thanks

Only free if you're smart enough to get in- 😆Loads of private schools out there for wealthy parents with children who are not so academically inclined. From my experience- I was sent to a 40k @ year boarding school- of all my friends (which I have till date) not one has sent any of their kids to private school. Not for lack of funds. I was different and sent my DD to a private school - day school- up until GCSEs. But at the first opportunity-after very successful GCSEs - she did her 6th form at a solid Grammar. The teaching was just so much better. Best move in her case. Private had its good points definitely- but too much effort in pretentious packaging that just seems irrelevant outside of very limited circles. It is a great business model though! But each to their own.😊

"Only free if you're smart enough to get in- 😆Loads of private schools out there for wealthy parents with children who are not so academically inclined."

In the context of OP's 2 school in comparison, is RGS much earsier to get into than WCGS?

If it is and use the difficulty of get into as a measure of "smart" prior entry to school. Then RGS over 50% A* level result definitely shows the power of money compared to WCGS 14% in the latest year?

WGCS is only free if smart enough to get in😆. There are many fee paying schools for less academic children. RGS is one of them. Money doesn't buy everything.

Well if ur statement is true then apprently the money can buy better grades at least.

Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. What are the Progress 8 scores? That's what measures the impact of the teaching on the pupils performance irrespective of ability. There are good private schools don't get me wrong. I went to one. But they're not all el decades just because you're spending a lot of money. My school was full of damaged unhappy kids. I would never do my child the disservice of sending him or her to a school that makes them end up speaking like Jacob Rees Mogg. What a terrible disadvantage in this day and age!

So the national exam results is just marketing?

You state RGS required less "smart" kids to get in compared to WCGS, with worse prior attainment but achieve better GCSE/A level results it is clear it had a better progress 8 for RGS according to your statement.

Don't get me wrong about good or bad on private and state schools, it is not a general topic but specific to these two schools it is difficult to convince your point with the hard facts or evidence.

I don't know anyone who has directly compared RGS to WCGS, simply because of distance/travel time between them. My son is at WCGS, I'm really happy with the school, the pastoral and SEN support he's received has been fantastic, the school is great at communicating, he's settled and happy.

The school don't really offer football at all - they can choose it in games, but the main sport is rugby, which everyone plays to some degree.

The 11 plus is much more challenging than private school entrance exams. The scholarships offered to the very bright kids do no harm in bringing up the league table stats. That's the main reason they're given because it is a business. WGCS it's compulsory to do 4 A levels at 6th form. Some are doing 5. Grammar school kids are naturally academic- way way above average. With other schools you have a more varied set of abilities. Look at stats over periods longer than a year.

Again it is not a general argument on private vs grammar.

I have not knowledge on the difficulty to get into these two schools. But just in the past 10 years WGCS A level result A*-B percentage is worse than RGS every year. So if your claim on grammar kids are naturally way way above RGS than the money seems to work to some extend.

There are indeed lots of independent schools
for children who are not academic but RGS is not one of them.

It is also accessible only to those who are smart enough to get in and it is very over-subscribed.

We must be reading different stats. The one I read says 63% A*/Afrom 543 entries for WGCS at A level in 2022. Also in the government stats says attainment 8 for RGS is 2.7- below the county average. WGCs at 7.4. RGS definitely has an academic bar of entry but the 11 plus is higher. I'm sure RGS does provide a good education but it is not 'better' simply because you spend lots of money. Many things money can't buy. A good education surely tells you that.

Yes you probably read a different RGS? RGS is a private school that government won't publish the attainment 8 or progress 8 scores for it.

And RGS A*/A is 80.9% in 2022

80% for 349 entrants. It would be 100% with any less- they'd do that for the ops. Private schools often hide their stats because it might not justify their clients paying such high fees. We know the game. Same with reports. Often ambiguous and convoluted because they owe parents what they're being paid for. Been in and around private/prep/public schools for years. Went to one. As did my siblings. Sent my daughter to one. Each to their own.

Tell me a statistic between these two schools which are directly comparable and shows WGCS has a better exam result?

You are free to challenge the public figure or publish exam results based on your judgement but if you don't any hard evidence to prove on your claim then it is just merely your supposition.

Before rummaging for stats at this time of night. Is the RGS entrance exam harder than the 11 plus? From both my children's experiences with private school entrance exams definitely not.

I don't know which specic private schools your children experience is.

If your perception that RGS take "less" academic student than WGCS at entrance is true, then clearly RGS provide more value added in terms of academic since it consistently outperform WGCS by some margin in public exams.

On RGS website it says 50% of 349 entrants got A/A - very impressive. WGCS has 63% of 549 entrants- 345 entrants had A/A grades in 2022.

You are wrong, RGS 48.4% is A vs WGCS 27% A

A*/A 80.9 RGS vs WGCS 63%

So 11 plus is harder than your entrance exam as evidently if it wasn't you'd push away your customers.

They are not the same number of entrants. That's the manipulation. You are wrong.

Where is your evidence? If a school is oversubscribed the school can cherry pick regardless private or grammar.

Specifically between these two schools I'm not convinced your saying RGS takes less academic students.

Why does it matter in terms of entrants if use percentage as measurement? RGS has less students to WGCS at sixth form.

If you can't understand the percentages nothing I can do. And it seems you haven't experienced the 11 plus