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Secondary education

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Ursuline or St Philomena's - difficult choice to make in next few days

2 replies

Lemoncello13 · 10/05/2023 22:04

We are in the very fortunate position of having been allocated Ursuline initially, and have now been offered St Philomenas. We have to decide in the next few days which one to take. We initially placed St Philomenas higher as it is a slightly easier journey. However everyone keeps saying how lucky we are to get Ursuline as it is stronger academically and streams more effectively to ability and therefore gets better results. Does anyone have recent experience of either or both schools? Most interested in things like a) culture, and how supportive the schools are of individual children's needs, b) academic standards and effective setting/streaming to ensure all children are challenged, and c) how well managed/organised the school is (DD needs order and structure, and hates chaos and unpredictability). My impression is that Ursuline is more modern and in touch with the real world, and therefore creates more relevant opportunities for pupils, while St Philomenas comes across as sweet but very old fashioned and maybe out of touch on things like IT and social issues - but my impressions may be totally wrong! Again, very aware how lucky we are, as both are rated as good schools - the dilemma is partly because we've spent the last 2 months getting used to the idea of the allocated school, doing transition events etc, so I'm not sure if we should stick with what DD is now expecting or throw in more changes. Any opinions or advice welcome - thank you.

OP posts:
FranMc · 10/07/2023 20:40

Where did you decide in the end? I went to the Ursuline many years ago and found it very progressive and loved every minute. I’m just starting looking at schools for 2024 for my daughter and at Phil’s is one of the schools we are considering. It’s interesting that I too questioned how much push the more able students get. We’re also looking at wallington high

Cigarettesandbooze · 11/07/2023 21:13

I’d go with St Phil’s any day of the week. Was never hugely impressed by the Ursuline and I don’t think much of the behaviour of many of the girls. The Recent GCSE celebration was cancelled thanks to their poor conduct. Head is uninspiring to say the least although she’s retiring and I think the new head will be more impressive.

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