Wallington County Grammar school

[Sunm]

Hello mums, please could anyone kindly share insights on how good is WCGS. If your son is happy studying there, we have been offered a place and will need to relocate I am looking to hear from mums who have experienced the school and shed some insight so that I can put my mind to rest. Please it will help us big time. Thank you

@Sunm , are you on the website elevenplusexams.co.uk? If you go to the Forum section and look at Surrey you will see the reactions as the offers come out. Well done to your ds on achieving a place.

@tennissquare hi, thank you.. I will try and post there.

My son is there in y9, from my POV it's a great school. The support he's had while there has been exceptional, he's performing well academically and while he's chosen not to get very involved in house activities, there are tons of opportunities for children who want to - music, sport, art, drama, a school-based Scout unit, D of E etc. Extra curricular clubs are compulsory twice a week, but don't last too long.

@RueDeWakening hey, thank you for sharing your experience. We will have to accept the offer soon.

@Time2Run Hey, tbh we didn’t go for open evening. We initially were only targeting Wilson but he didn’t met all the criteria. We can relocate as city will give better job opportunities too 🤞. I should not compare with Wilson but if it is a good school than I can work on relocation as he will be there for good 7 to 8 yrs.

It really is a case of whether it’s a good fit for your son.

If he is naturally very, very bright, not inclined to beat himself up for mistakes and failures, and has kind, supportive parents rather than ‘you will achieve at all costs’ types, then he he is likely to thrive.

If he suffers from anxiety/perfectionism, or has been tutored within an inch of his life to get in, or has insanely pushy parents, or a mix of all three, then you are likely to have problems.

They expect the boys to hit the ground running and to go on doing so. There is homework, a lot of it, from the first day. And it is something of a culture shock to go from being one of the brightest to just being an also-ran. For those who find themselves at the bottom of the cohort it can be immensely disheartening.

If he has been tutored within an inch of his life to get in, and by that I mean for hours a week for years, not an hour a week in Year 5, then you will have to go on tutoring him while he is there if he is to keep up.

If he is a worrier then the atmosphere is not going to be the healthiest because there are a lot of very driven, high achieving, perfectionist pupils with demanding parents. And the school is not shy about insisting on high grades either.

The extra-curriculars are good. If your child can take advantage of them and is not one of the far too many enduring long commutes to get there.

There are some lovely, gifted teachers who genuinely care very much about the boys’ welfare. A high staff turnover though.

In short, for the right boys it can be a great opportunity. Others would be happier and probably achieve more in a less intense environment.

Hi, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

My son was there. Now in yr2 uni. It was the making of him - I don't recognise the description above at all. We found it incredibly caring and not pushy, in fact they would send letters before holidays to say please let the boys relax, they shouldn't be revising or made to work over half terms etc excessively. My son was very much middle of the class and didn't feel pressured to try to keep up although he is a laid back character anyway and we certainly aren't pushy parents. He wasn't sporty before he went there but embraced rugby and really enjoyed that. He has an incredibly close group of friends and speaks with great fondness of his time there. One thing I loved was that they treat them like gentlemen and expect them to behave as such. Wilsons is known for being far more exam focused and less pastoral care.

My DS' experience was not as good. Toxic masculinity in the extreme is the culture in his opinion, and he also had a ridiculously over-controlling Head of Year. He left at the end of Yr11 with a lot of good grades but terrible MH. He's now at a mixed state sixth form getting 3 A stars and much happier.

Hi, by head of year do you mean staff was of controlling behaviour?

Yes. The head of year is a member of middle management staff and is very influential on the culture of a school

We've got a really tough choice to make between WCGS and private offer. Any insight into what the real differences are and what our son would miss out on, including academically, if anything, at WCGS?

Well, depends on the private, but I would say the class sizes are definitely going to be larger at WCGS, and small class sizes are one of the biggest benefits of independent schools, to my mind.

WCGS has good extra-curriculars: a whole assortment of various clubs, and the boys can suggest new ones which are likely to be introduced if there is enough interest; drama productions involving all years; orchestra; rugby, cricket and table tennis; inter-house music and drama competition; Scouts; Duke of Edinburgh; visiting instrumental and drama teachers.

So from that aspect I imagine it could give a lot of private schools a good run for their money. Not all, Whitgift for instance, has amazing extra-curriculars.

Academically, you might find less options and flexibility on choice of options. WCGS does try to give equal weight to arts and humanities, but far less pupils seem to choose them for A Level.

In the earlier years, Food Technology, Politics and Government, Classical Studies, Music, Drama, Art, IT and Design Technology are taught alongside the mainstream subjects. Latin is no longer compulsory. All boys study one language from entry, which can be French, Spanish or Latin. As I recall, the school chooses the language unless you have a particular reason to ask for one, such as a fluent speaker in the family. There is no opportunity to take a second language until the GCSE options, which I think is really too late - a wholly new language is a bit too much of a leap in the dark for GCSE for most pupils.

Options are chosen at the end of Year 8 so it is a three year course, except for the top Maths set, who take the exam at the end of Year 10 if they are ready (by which I mean pretty near guaranteed a 9). The compulsory GCSE subjects are Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English Language and Literature, and Religious Studies. There are four optional subjects, one of which must be a language, one a creative subject, and one, I think, an essay-based subject. They do try to bend over double to give the boys their choice of options but the odd student may have to choose a different fourth subject. By A Level the STEM subjects are much more popular. Girls are admitted to the Sixth Form but I don’t think there are that many - around 30 in each year I’d guess.

Another consideration is space. You may well have more space at your private option. There are 150 boys in each year, and despite lots of new buildings being added to the original inter-war block, it is stuffed to capacity. They are lucky to have the original playing fields and Beddington Park right beside the school to use for cross country, but there is no space in the buildings for lockers or pegs so the boys have to cart everything with them all day. And each year group’s playground Is more of a space between buildings rather than a dedicated play area. They do have a few outdoor table tennis tables for breaktimes.

There is a high staff turnover but this may well be common to London schools. With ridiculous house prices and rents and such a demand for teachers I imagine there’s quite an incentive to move on. The long-term teachers are generally lovely, dedicated, hard-working people.

Communication could be better. There’s a plethora of e-mails about diary dates and pastoral care options but not much option to see a teacher in person. Parents’ Evenings are online, five minutes per subject teacher, and a bit of a bunfight to grab the slots when booking opens. There isn’t an option to speak to the personal tutor. If there’s a problem a parent wishes to discuss I think their initial contact would be by email.

Goodness, that turned out an essay!

I think some might feel my previous post is unduly critical. It is not intended to be. It is my personal opinion and, as the late queen said, recollections may vary! I do not think there is any such thing as a perfect school and not all schools suit all children.
In our case I think it was the best of the available options for our son at the time. It doesn’t mean I think it a perfect fit for him and it doesn’t mean I think it a good option for all the boys who can pass the entrance test.

@CatChant thank you very much for your detailed and very helpful reply!

You've actually touched on some of the things I've been thinking about. I saw reference on the website to a recent school council consultation on lockers but nothing about the outcome - does that mean they are firmly off the cards for now? It's not a huge school so I guess not too far to cart things around but not ideal if they have additional sports kit etc. One other logistical question - which sports activities are off at Old Walcountians and is there always a bus from school to take them there?

On the arts and languages point - we got the impression at open day that whilst non-STEM subjects were less popular, the teachers of those subjects were very engaged and enthusiastic so a child actually choosing those areas might have a chance to shine. But, I had understood that every child would do French or Spanish AND introductory Latin on top? And that things were going in the direction of encouraging 2 languages, not reducing it? If there's a trade-off that has to be made between French, say, and Latin, that's very limiting and a real shame given how fantastic the Latin teacher seems.

The grounds at WCGS are nice and green (one reason for putting WCGS above SGS), even if not as large as South London private options. And being next to the park gives an additional feeling of space. The communications and parent evening arrangements sound much like any school these days, with the online bunfights. But scouring the website, X, LinkedIn etc, there's definitely less information out there about what goes on on the inside than either private schools or even the other grammars (SGS publishes a weekly newsletter which is helpful for the nosey) so it's tricky to get a full picture from the outside.

Another question - how easy is it to build and maintain friendships if you're not local to school? It's not a bad journey for DS (~20 mins on a direct train) but not close enough to meet up much outside of school I imagine.

Like you say, it feels very good given it's a state school with no fees (and academically on par with its private counterparts??). And the extra-curricular, trips etc seem quite extensive. But for a child who might not have a bias towards STEM it would have its limitations. All stuff for us to think over and balance against the undoubted financial pressure of rising fees.

@FinalChoice You are very welcome! But do bear in mind this is my personal experience and opinion, and take it with the necessary pinch of salt!

Lockers; every year new Year 7 parents alarmed at the sight of tiny boys toting heavy bags of books and sports kit, and dragging around outdoor coats, clamour for lockers and every year they’ve been told there is no room. I can’t see that changing. The best they have are cubby holes outside the canteen to stow all their stuff while they are having lunch. Wheeled suitcases are quite a popular option when they are small. When they hit adolescence it is no longer a problem because they grow, a lot. On sports kit, if your son joins, do pick up a second spare set from the secondhand sales because they are always losing them in Year 7 and it gets very expensive.

As far as I know all the main PE and games take place at the school. When my DS played rugby at Old Walcountians it was on a Saturday and for the school teams. And not all home games were at Old Walcountians, some were on the school pitches. It’s just if several teams are playing at the same time there aren’t enough pitches at the school. He did have to get there under his own steam. For away games there are school minibuses.

Yes, you are right, the non-STEM teachers are engaged and enthusiastic, and the school policy is to value the subjects just as highly as STEM. That they are not as popular is not a problem with the teaching, but a reflection, sadly, of a wider societal attitude.

As for the languages, you are probably more up-to-date than I am, and if a move is being made to bring back Latin as a second language in the early years, that is good news indeed. I thought the decision to only offer it as an alternative to French or Spanish very regrettable.

There is a termly newsletter and periodically notifications to parents by email that a boy has earned a commendation or a behaviour point. In my experience they never seem to know why they have a commendation. Every so often we’d get a letter home from the personal tutor if they were particularly pleased about something he’d done.

Many boys travel further than 20 minutes on the train and very few of them are likely to have a classmate from their old schools when they join (if they do, the school asks if you would like to be with them, or not!). It doesn’t seem to be a problem with building friendships at all. I suppose it’s a sign of the times that most of their socialising outside school is by mobile phone or playing computer games together. Most of the cliques seem to head off to Sutton to eat their own bodyweight in fast food at the end of term. Sutton is a sea of dark blue blazers on those days.

I think the STEM bias among the pupils is more likely to be an issue at A Level - if it is an issue. It would certainly guarantee smaller teaching groups for non-STEM subjects than for example, Maths, which the majority of pupils take at A Level. In any case, not everyone stays for Sixth Form. They are all required to have a back-up place at another Sixth Form in case they don’t get the grades to be readmitted to WCGS.

Good luck to your DS whatever you decide!

We are in the same boat. We have decided to take the WCGS offer instead of the private offer (with minimal academic scholarship). Our child loves languages, some humanities and some STEM. So, we feel WCGS would be good for him. We had WCGS on a higher priority than Sutton due to a few reasons (mainly the kid's choice!) but we didn't really want to split hairs.

Thanks a lot for everyone's comments here.

I found this response and felt it connected on a lot of aspects. Like my son is anxious and a bit of a perfectionist. He wasn't tutored heavily, but yes he had an online group lesson he was attending and I was helping him . But we got through wallington and sutton grammar as well as tiffins stage one. But I just want a nurturing and friendly atmosphere than a pressure pot. He also cleared kent with high scores and could try judd . But I don't know :( out of these which is less pressure pot

Wallington Boys is an outstanding school with a family feel to it. The pastoral support is amazing. They really try to make sure the children are well rounded and have balanced lives. Homework is set at 10minutes x year group per day and they are expected to take part in games (sport) and clubs and societies. This happens during school. There are so many opportunities to take part in drama, art, photography, music as well as a variety of sport as well as a variety of outside competitions. Our DS is very happy there.

@Back2bac Congratulations to your son on passing for Wallington and Sutton!

I do stand by what I said before. For the right children WCGS is an excellent opportunity. Others, I think, would be happier in a less intensive environment. And from what I know of the Sutton super-selectives, for both boys and girls, I would say that applies to all of them.

That you are asking whether the environment would suit him already shows you are not one of the insanely pushy achieve-at-all-costs type parents that abound at the Sutton grammars. And it sounds as though he had the bare minimum of tutoring. You are the best judge of whether someone with his personality will thrive there or not, and whether you can counteract his tendency to worry.

For what it’s worth, I’ve always tried to convey to my son that trying to do his best will always be enough for us, regardless of results.

By the way, homework being set at 10 minutes multiplied by the number of the year group is indeed the aim, and a laudable one. Unfortunately, one always seems to run across a couple of teachers who routinely underestimate the amount of time a task will take. The boys learn to make allowances for them!

Again, I am not trying to be unduly critical of WCGS. It has very many strengths, many caring teachers, and to be in a school where academic excellence is valued, rather than something to be hidden for your own safety is an untold gift. But the super-selectives don’t suit all children, including some very, very bright ones.