WHSG or CCHSG

[lv3112]

Hi Mums,
I'm hoping to find some insight before filling up the CAF form due next week. So our DD has passed the CSSE and is very likely eligible for the Colchester County High School for Girls, but we fell in love with Southend when we went to write the exam at Westcliff and had our hearts set on Westcliff! But now my friends are saying that Colchester County is much higher in the league table, so we should be choosing that, given that DD worked so hard for it. Could anyone please offer some information about how different the schools are, and would we be doing her an injustice if we chose Westcliff instead of Colchester.

My DS is applying to SHSG for A levels , he will also apply to the other grammar schools in the area but SHSG is his first choice. Does anyone have experience of the school as a 6th form entrant?

Help me again, wise mums! I know I'm going to get a lot of flak for this, but here goes. As mentioned above, we chose CCHS as the first option, Westcliff as second and Colchester as third. CCHS because it is supposedly the best among the 3.
Now we started looking for houses in January, looking at places like Rayleigh and Wickford so that DD could commute to either school, but could not finalise anything, mostly because the houses we liked didn't fit our budget. Last week, we went to view a house in Eastwood in Southend because we liked it in the pictures, and we fell in love 😭 It was bang within our budget too. I did a quick search and saw that there is a bus stop 4 minutes away from this house and it's a 55 minute ride to CCHS - the bus stops right in front of the school. So we made an offer on the house, and it was accepted!!
Now as result day looms closer, it looks like DD might get into CCHS after all. I'm worried about sending her on a bus to a school one hour away 😭. I'm considering writing to the council and requesting for a place in Westcliff, which is 20 minutes away from this place, but my friends are shocked at the idea, saying if DD can get into CCHS, why would you want her to go to Westcliff, which is ranked lower.
Frankly, I wouldn't have opted for CCHS if I knew for sure that she would get in. It just felt like the right thing to do at that time.
Please help me put my mind at ease, mums! Would it be unfair to opt for Westcliff if she gets into CCHS? Or should we withdraw the offer on the house and look for something closer to Chelmsford?

If you live in Eastwood, I think it would be daft to choose CCHS instead of Westcliff. In my opinion, a few ranks up the league table is nothing compared to the chance to do extra curriculars after school and having local friends. That said, I’m not sure if you can just call up the council and change options, but others will be better versed in this!

You can't do anything today anyway as the allocations have been made. Just wait until tomorrow (or midnight tonight). She may not even get into CCHS, but if she does you can then ask to be put on the waiting list for Westcliff. But I'd also be hesitant making your school decision on a single house as purchases do fall through (speaking from experience!)

It won't be easy, but I'm hoping there will be options, given that waiting list places keep changing right up to September.
Thanks for pointing out about the curriculars and local friends, that's definitely going to be more enriching than the one hour bus ride. I guess I just wanted to hear that Westcliff is good enough, she'll thrive anywhere 🤷‍♀️

That's true too, although we only have two weeks to decide on the school now. 🤞

Would you even need to move if she gets into CCHS if you’re in east London? I know it’d be a commute but probably not more than the hour from Eastwood and it’d be mostly on the train presumably. Would give you time to find a place too if you wanted to move closer. If she’s scored well enough for an OOC CCHS place she’d do very well there I’m sure. Anyway I’m sure it’ll all work out, good luck tomorrow🤞

"That's true too, although we only have two weeks to decide on the school now. 🤞"

You won't get to "decide" though - if she gets in to CCHS then you wouldn't be automatically on the list for anything else, but you can ask to be put on the Westhill waiting list. It's quite unlikely that you would know within 2 weeks if you would get Westhill instead, though, as most people will accept their place, I would think.

(caveat - I am not in Essex)

Have you looked into the secondary schools if she doesn't get into either grammar school? Belfairs is a good school these days. What's your back up plan ?

I think maybe what OP means is that given their DD’s high score, she’s likely to be offered a waiting list place from Westcliff after 2 weeks, when the schools start going to their waiting lists? If so they’ll have to decide quickly.

If she does get CCHS, I’d take a closer look at the school during the time you have, particularly if you never really thought of it as a possibility before. I’ve heard it’s a fabulous school, and there are some lovely areas around Chelmsford. And it’s much closer to London. You may start needing to go in more often for work, you never know.

Seems v unlikely to me that the bus from Eastwood to CCHS will take an hour. Add a chunk more time on. Buses are slow. I think it would be horrible to go to CCHS and live in Southend (Eastwood is a suburb of Southend). Not a straightforward journey by train. Parents evening, sports events, drama performance, you will be constantly driving back and forth.

I used to commute from Southend to Colchester and it only took an hour on a Sunday morning at about 5am. In peak times it's 90 mins on a good day but can be anything up to 2 hours

She’d actually be going to Chelmsford not Colchester. The title of the thread is a bit confusing now as OP initially was choosing between Westcliff and Colchester (CCHSG) but ended up putting Chelmsford (CCHS) first on their application form.