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

OK if it your own experience then it is fine. Because there is some private school that are easier to get in compared to WCGS. But you also specific saying including RGS in your previous post...

"If the name 'grammar had connotations not associated with academic excellence a fee paying school business would not keep it."

That is nonsense, a lot of top private schools also doesn't have "grammar" in its name, and they don't change their name either.

" This all-boys school for 11 to 18-year-olds combines a traditional, rigorous grammar school ethos "

The quote above from the RGS marketing team is also nonsense I take it. The school clearly promotes the grammar school ethic because of its associations. Your understanding is simply flawed.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_school
Just give urself some education on what it means

I believe you need the education. If not an education. A proper balanced one. Please spare me the snotty remarks. Have a good day 😊

It is a good education indeed to tell how other people think.

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2020/research/private-school-development/#:~:text=and%20emotional%20development-,Private%20school%20education%20may%20damage%20students,and%20emotional%20development%2C%20study%20suggests&text=Privately%20educated%20students%20are%20more,a%20new%20study%20has%20found.

More conceited assumptions 😅

"Our study adds to a growing body of evidence that many of the alleged benefits boasted by private schools are actually a product of their selective intake of students rather than the value that the schools add.
“Parents naturally want the best for their children, but for those who would struggle with the astronomical fees, our message is not to feel guilty – private school is not a necessity.”

This is a broad brush and not specifically to RGS. I'm sure it is a good school. But all from my experience this quote above hits the nail on the head. All have separate experiences tailored to their needs. And thank God for choices. But before projecting any assumptions about 'freebie' schools its always great to have a balanced perspective. Have a great Saturday. 👍🏻

Why aren’t you looking at Wilson/Sutton grammar/Tiffin or has your son already done the 11+ and only passed the first stage wallington

"Our study adds to a growing body of evidence that many of the alleged benefits boasted by private schools are actually a product of their selective intake of students rather than the value that the schools add."

In general the same finding in state selective schools, i.e the grammar school in your mind.

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/why-grammar-schools-are-no-quick-fix-for-englands-social-mobility-problems/
" Parents and policymakers alike tend to be attracted to grammar schools because of their unquestionably high results. However, when you look more closely beyond the raw scores, this becomes significantly less clear. A variety of studies have shown that much of the advantage of grammar schools is explainable by the fact they admit pupils who are high achieving in the first place."

For general view on private schools vs grammar, why not put your thoughts on a separate new thread rather than in this thread specific for these two schools?

i checked the stats and seem RGS has better results than WCGS on paper

By the way I put my kids up to Grammar not because of social mobility but precisely because of personal experience. My siblings and I with top boarding schools both in the UK and in Europe. And from my daughter's experience- not because she didn't achieve good academic grades (that's what got her into Grammar 6th form) -but it fell short in other areas. Ironically- having said that I don't regret it because I believe we made up for the shortfalls. And some of the trips. And of course you can't 'outsource' parenting to strangers. So if the independents can use money to make better their appeal it would inevitably include academics. Grammar is a freebie though as already mentioned back in the thread. Look I really must dash- er..sorry... go. Have a pleasant weekend. 😊

It is perfectly find to have your personal experience to justify why you put your kids to grammar not private or other comprehension.

Again this doesnt mean that you can use it to justify saying WGCS takes more academic inclined student compared to RGS schools, it is simply a claim without any evidence.

Private school exams can be trained for but sometimes aren't standardised, multiple choice tests as was the case when I sat my Verbal Reasoning exam etc. Also all the academic kids in that area (and I knew a LOT of people who applied in that area) chose Sutton Grammar over Wally Boys.

Also if you did the Maths you'd pobably have deduced that top 0.5% means getting in...eg if 4000 people applied, the top 0.5% would be the top 8 people. So yes I got in to all of these...

20, not 8!!

These are choices specific to the individual. My son got all 3 but chose Wallington Boys over Sutton Grammar. Just seemed a better fit for him and he has excelled as I'm sure his counterparts who chose the others also did. Happiness is the ultimate goal I guess.

@naraguta did you had good experience with Wallington County ? Any specific field / area boys preferred to choose for Uni ?

@PreplexJ Do you know where RGS boys land up in terms of uni ? Any idea

No idea, the school website usually have leaver destination and you can check.

In case you haven't found it the RGS website says this

UNIVERSITIES
The School is very proud of its record in securing places at leading universities: over the last six years, on average, 25% of boys have gained a place at Oxford or Cambridge with large numbers also studying at Durham, Exeter, Warwick, Bath, Bristol, Nottingham and the London universities of Imperial, UCL and KCL. Support is also given for those choosing to apply to American Universities or to follow the increasingly popular Degree Apprenticeship route.

There are more detailed tables on the website showing the most popular universities, the most popular courses, and how many did what at and Cambridge.

www.rgsg.co.uk/senior-school/university-beyond/

I get the feeling a lot of private secondaries are quite soft - am I right to feel this way? The state grammars get labelled as exam factories, but perhaps this is just another way of saying they're tough and down to business. Is endless indulgence what a child needs? Who knows!!!

@naraguta, you've been disparaging about the boys who go to RGS Guildford. Why? How do you know that they aren't as bright as those who pass the 11+ for WCGS? Where you live dictates a lot about which options are open to families. When you don't have grammars in your area, private schools are a legitimate choice.

You've clearly had a very bad experience and you decry the abilities of boys you've never met to feel better and even the score with whoever annoyed/hurt you.

And, yes, my DS goes to RGS. He was scoring 120 (scaled score) in his practice SATs (pre-COVID lockdown) and had average CAT scores of >>125. I agree with @Fifthtimelucky that the RGS is not a school that takes non-academic boys. There are plenty of different characters, with different talents and sporting abilities... definitely no cookie-cutter used for the intakes.

@PB1210 RGS uses ISEB, these days, same as Trinity and many other schools... it means you can apply to many schools, but not have to trot around to do lots of different entrance exams and be a scheduling genius to get to all of them. I agree with some of the other posters that you'll know which school is right for your DS when you walk around together. Good luck!

You'll have to forgive me for responding to a couple of the posts about grammar schools and how these were freebies better left for poor kids. Just distasteful arrogance in my opinion. So maybe my response was strong. Similarly the posters had 'clearly' (lol) set out to minimise the achievements of kids they'd never met who had achieved without the props of money from wealthy parents. Although there are wealthy parents with kids at grammar schools who also 'clearly' didn't buy in to the private school option. Anyway I digress. But I do remember these type of attitudes mentionned above were so prevalent among some parents during my boarding school days. My experience with my kids in both grammars was just better. That's all. And that the whole private education brand having been through itwas very much over rated and clearly promoted many false narratives. No apologies for giving an alternative view to the RGS 'love in'. I'm sure I mentioned somewhere that RGS is a good school and each to.their choices. Anyway thought the opening poster was seeking different experiences. Nobody hurt me at boarding school by the way - knew how to after myself. But did see numerous examples of very unhappy kids who just shouldn't have been there.

@naraguta by all means give an alternative view of the school ethos, pastoral care and outcomes. Making judgements about the abilities of the boys in the comparison schools or the financial situations of the parents is not helpful or fair to people who aren't on this thread. Friends of my DS have 2 working parents, in order to afford the fees and there are boys on full bursaries, whose parents aren't wealthy in the slightest.

Great that your DCs had a good experience in Grammar schools and it was better than your own boarding school experience. Just don't be derogatory about boys who worked hard to pass the entrance exams, at a school you didn't choose