Waldegrave and Turing House

[Orangebadger]

My DD is yr 5 so we are about to embark on the application process for secondary schools.

While we are not in the catchment for waldegrave, just outside, a neighbour got a place there for '23 intake. DD is not so enthralled with going to a girls school so I imagine between the 2 she would prefer Turing House.

Just looking for parents experiences with these schools. Not so much academically, my DD is bright and I know they both perform really well. But more in terms of pastoral care and how they deal with bullying etc?

They're both great schools. My son is at Turing House, and I have friends with daughters at Waldegrave.

Turing has a strong pastoral team. My son has not been bullied directly, but when another boy made crude remarks about him and one of the girls in his class (outside school - on the bus I think), she was rightly upset and told one of the teachers. They took it seriously. The boy was told to explain to his parents exactly what he had said, and why he was getting a detention (and the parents got a letter too), and a teacher facilitated a meeting where the girl could tell the boy how he had made her feel, and he had to apologise to both of them. I was impressed by that.

... oh, and I only know that because the teacher also phoned me to explain it all. (My son would never have mentioned it otherwise 😁).

@kribbsheet that's good to know about Turing House. I did see on their website a section about pastoral care which looked good. It's always a question of actions rather than words though.

I have heard less favourable things about waldegrave and pastoral care, but this is from a few years back. I know there is a newish head there now so would be good to hear from someone who has a daughter there now.

@kribbsheet on a slightly different note, does Turing House stream students from yr 7?

They do have sets for some subjects like maths & science,. It seems to change from year to year, so I think it depends on the year group size and the spread of ability. They don't make a big deal of it - meaning they don't tell the kids what set they're in - and they overlap them, so may have one or two "top" sets and maybe two middle sets, etc. My son always seems to know he's in a "top" set, but just by noticing rather than being told, if you see what I mean.

One thing I like is that they raise end of year targets when they do well, so always aiming higher.

I've had 3 at Waldegrave. One in Year 11 now. It's excellent academically. All 3 of my DC achieved similar if not better grades to their peers at selective private schools and went to the same universities. They also had the same extra-curriculur opportunities as them. Pastorally you have to be quite tough to survive. Intervention in bullying is cursory to say the least and as long as a student is attending school and not disruptive, then it is mostly overlooked. It's also not a girls' school anymore. They are called students. When my eldest started there it was a stridently feminist school, empowering girls to become successful women. This ethos has disappeared now.

To be clear, Waldegrave is still girls-only in Year 7-11, though there are a small number of boys in the sixth form now.

I guess it must just be easier to call them all "students" rather than navigating the language around girls/ladies, boys/men etc.Turing house refers to everyone as students too.

The Waldegrave website is totally gender neutral.

Not their admissions policy though 😁: https://waldegrave.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/document/2.0-Oversubscription-Criteria-2023-24-Yr-7-final-version-1-Dec.docx-1.pdf

Yes Waldegrave is officially a girls only school until end of Year 11 but they aren't called girls/females anymore.

Turing house is a co-educational school so it makes sense to call everyone students.

My point being that if you are seeking the feminist tour de force that Waldegrave once was, you will find it has changed, a lot.

I speak as a parent with daughters who have been/are at the school.

@senqydrism is this about not challenging the gender ideology stuff?
Or in your view is the school no longer encouraging girls to look at further study in subjects stereotypically favoured for boys ie science/maths?
I'm about to send my DD there.

@senqydrism I had heard some rumblings about a gender neutral stance from Waldegrave. Not really sure what to make of that tbh! I guess it would depends how it's projected onto the students ( dare I say girls!!) and the impact is has on them.

We will have a look at waldegrave but my gut feeling is that our preference will be Turing House.

@SleepyRooster absolutely not. Two different things.

@Orangebadger the school is still an academic powerhouse and I strongly recommend it for that. The school's attitude towards pastoral care/bullying however remains unchanged over many years in my experience. I just pointed out the changes in the school surrounding it being a "girls" school because this may or may not be an issue for parents - I know it is for many current ones, myself included. If I had my time again, I would probably not send my DC there. Despite excelling academically, 2 have ongoing MH issues which are linked to bullying/lack of pastoral care.

I live in Strawberry Hill and all of the kids on our street go to Turing (some have now been through and left for uni). There’s a real mix from strongly academic to not, to SEN and not, and across the board parental feedback is very strong.

@senqydrism You mentioned feminism. Just wondering what you meant exactly by the school no longer being feminist. And hoping you could be specific given first-hand experience? The gender stuff I can counter at home. Other sexist ideologies/policies I may not be able to

Are they going all Co-ed soon? This sounds a bit suspicious. Like you would be neutralising any of those feminist comments to prep for the change. Mark my words.

@senqydrism I'm sorry your DDs have suffered all of that with such little support. I have to say it's what concerned me most with waldegrave and really puts me off. I went to a girls school and was very similar so I don't want my past experience blurring my opinion.

@Coronateachingagain I doubt it. I think it's more the gender neutral stance that influences this than boys coming into the mix throughout the school.

Just come across your thread, OP. were you offered either school?

Our DD has been offered a place at both schools via waiting lists and wondering if anyone has any more recent experience of the schools?

@Lucetw you surely can't have an offer for both. The admissions system only allows you one offer at a time.

Both great schools though, so you can't go wrong. Does your DD want to go to an all-girls school or not?

@kribbsheet We accepted the offer for Turing which was our 2nd choice and now have an offer for Waldegrave. Like @Orangebadger my own experience of an all girls school might be clouding my judgement but our DD would like to go to Waldegrave. Like you say, both great schools!

Probably best to go with your daughter's choice and let her own the decision. I remember being very adamant about my school choice at that age. You can't predict the future but at least if she doesn't enjoy Waldegrave she can't blame you.