London Girls Schools 11+ / SHHS, CLSG, QCL, FHRP

[londonmamas]

Looking for feedback on any of the above schools (SHHS, CLSG, QCL, FHRP).

We have a year 5 daughter and will be doing the dreaded 11+ exams next academic year and are planning to apply to these schools. Anyone got dd there? How are they finding their secondary school experience? We're especially interested in good pastoral care and extra curricular activities in addition to the usual academics. It doesn't have to be the top performing school in terms of academic results but we would definitely like the pastoral care, extra curricular activities and for it to be a happy environment if we are paying fees.

Thanks in advance.

Curve ball but I would add Queenswood to the list. Many many girls travel from north London on the door to door transport.

Extra curricular and pastoral are superb.

Any reason why Channing isn’t on your list?

@DibbleDooDah I like the sound of Queenswood although it might be. A bit far as we are trying to keep the commute short.

@4pluscraziness1 similarly the commute to Channing is not as convenient for us.

Out of your list we very much liked SHHS and CLSG but they are very academic. My DD is very bright but I think very much better being at the top of a less selective school than middle to bottom of an academic one. If pastoral is important then the dynamics of where your daughter sits in her peer group academically can also play a part.

Many girls at Queenswood start as day girls and then add flexi boarding a couple of nights a week as they go up the school to counter the journey. Depending on where you are in London, there’s also the option of getting the train out from Kings Cross to Potters Bar and school have round trip transfers from the station. Many girls do this.

We had the same list (but with channing instead of queens) for our DD who is now in y7. We chose FHRP as we thought it would be more relaxed academically for pretty much the same result at the end.
At the end of one year, I'd say that the amount of work is great, not much homework at all, and DD is thriving academically. However, I find it a bit old fashioned and petty in its never ending rules about uniform etc, slow to tackle social media and friendship issues, and there is a big focus on church attendance, which I think they'd stayed very quiet on in the admissions process.

If you are anywhere near a Met line tube station I would also look at St Helen’s in Northwood, fabulous school.

@cordychanged can you elaborate on the church attendance focus at FHRP?

Yes, they are a Christian school with a strong churchgoing tradition. The girls attend church a lot. Recently there was a service for Ash Wednesday, an Ascension Day service, there are confirmations and holy communion. I have no particular issue with any of this, except I wasn't at all aware of this aspect of the school.
It's a huge part of school life despite, as far as I can see, very few of the girls having any interest.
I've actually checked with a mum who has just been to an open day, in case I was just forgetting, and she has confirmed that they made no mention of it at all. Would I have chosen the school if I'd known? Probably not, tbh. I wonder if that's why they keep it quiet...

Thank you. I've been to FHRP twice for open days and never heard anything about this, either. Do they just walk across the street to St Cyprian's during the school day?

I attended a RC school for a while as one of the very few non-Christians. We were led to mass weekly and I remember the awkwardness of staying behind when everyone else went up to receive communion. I know that many schools around London claim to have a Christian ethos without actually requiring church attendance. Now that I look at their website again, FHRP don't even make that statement. The only hints I can find are that the founder, Francis Holland, was a churchman; and that the school motto, “That our daughters may be as the polished corners of the Temple,” is a passage from the Bible. There is also "[t]here is close liaison with St Cyprian’s Church opposite the school, and services and concerts are regularly held in this fine Ninian Comper building," but I didn't grasp that regular services are compulsory.

DD had been at FHRP for 4 years and ‘regular church attendance’ isn’t recognisable. It is a church school and they have a Christmas service, a couple at Easter (a holy communion/confirmation was incorporated into the last Ash Wednesday day iirc). But that’s about it.

Sorry-should read DD has been there for 4 years

Sorry @sleepwhenidie, that's not my experience.
Yesterday every girl in the school was given gift of a bible from the Gideons. Regardless of personal faith.
Today they all had to write a prayer for the end of term church service. Regardless of personal faith.
Maybe the new headmistress has ramped up the religion, I don't know, but I think a faith school, which is what FHRP clearly is, should advertise itself as such, and not slip it in in secret.

Ok-I totally agree with you. So have just asked DD (she end of y10) about this. Her responses below. She says she ‘didn’t participate much’ with the prayer which was part of harvest festival stuff. Question remains re new head of course

@sleepwhenidie that's so interesting, maybe it was more y7 focussed than my DD had thought... and wow, I really hope that by the end of y10 my daughter has also learnt how to communicate in full sentences with me on whatsapp, I'm so impressed!!! Reflects well on the school 😂

Good luck with your 11+ journey OP. We were fortunate to have a pick from several of these and chose SHHS, in the end mostly based on DD's impression of it at interview/visit days. No regrets - DD has had a great Year 7. Homework has been fairly light, but all kinds of interesting learning has happened - including lots of independent, group-work type things. The school encourages and expects quite a lot of independence from the off. The girls are friendly and enthusiastic - mostly fairly local, but with a mix of backgrounds (cultural/religious/economic). The mixing between girls coming up from the juniors (about a third) and newcomers is handled well, although this does impact the whole friendship-navigation more than maybe some of the other schools. Teachers seem kind and on-it. We have been surprised (and pleased) with the unfussy attitude to uniform. Sport and Music opportunities seem excellent and lots of other extra-curricula stuff going on. Current head is very highly regarded but she is moving on in September, so not sure what effect that may have.

@westernrocknroller - heard the new SHHS head is from G&L

DD1 is joining FHRP in Y7 in Sep. No feedback so far but DD2 is joining SHHS at the same time and FHRP seems to have more comms (in a good way, keeping us up to speed). FHRP seems friendlier, not like they're doing us a favour. FHRP seems to have less girls in a year group also, no other feedback yet.

She is really highly regarded at G&L.

Where did you chose in the end?

OP here, I forgot my login details so had to change my username.

@RedCarBlueCar123 my daughter is in Year 6 now so we ended up applying to Highgate (it’s a bit of a long commute but we like the school), QCL (current favourite option) & FHRP. We wanted to apply to 4 schools but picked these 3 in the end.

The open days helped in making the choice. Ruled out CLSG and SHHS as they both didn’t feel right for our daughter, even though the commute was easy. They both seem like fantastic schools but we couldn’t imagine our daughter at either.

We’ve been in the thick of applications + exams so just catching a breath over xmas.

Thanks for the update OP. Best of luck to your DD!

I'd be curious to know more about your thoughts based on Open Days and in particular why you ruled out certain schools - we'd be looking at similar options in a couple of years.

Londonmamas1 - hello where are you looking at ? We have to chose between queens, fhrp and channing.

My daughter really loved the small, nurturing feeling of FHRP at the open day. We also found it very friendly and the teachers were very enthusiastic and happy to speak about the curriculum in detail. For example, we had extended talks with the geography, history and science teachers and you could tell they were so passionate and thoughtful of both the breadth and depth of what is being taught but also HOW it is being taught e.g. placing historical events in the context of broader social values at the time. Walking around on tour, the students and teachers were all happy, smiling and very relaxed. Our guide had transferred from a different school where she was not happy and said she was so glad that she had as she loves it. My daughter has also been offered places at some other schools that on paper have better overall academic results but we are finding it a tough decision as of course all these schools are wonderful and there is so much more to school life than just academics.

Hi everyone!

Is there anyone on this thread whose DD is at FHRP please? Looking for some authentic feedback please on the school and in particular the curriculum for Year 7/8, any feedback will be helpful, Thankx