Wiltshire grammar school. Honest views.

[Beehiveme]

Hi, we went to visit a all girls grammar in the next county last week. We are in a non grammar county. Our daughter is very bright and it's been mentioned to us as a possibility for her.
Honestly on distance it's a bit of a long shot anyway but I was expecting to be wowed.
The reality is I'm not.
It's a long way really, the walk from the train station in the town to school is pretty grotty really and about 20 min from station to school.
Obviously it's selective so great results, but I don't actually think the results differ from the top sets from our local comp.
It was quite run down, facilities actually less impressive than other schools we have looked at.

I don't know if it's actually worth it.
DH and I also had a massive row on way home as I had been pushing for this school and he was really rather unimpressed by school and thought the commute was not appropriate for DD.

The school is in Salisbury. We live just north of Winchester. Our DS is top sets in a Winchester comp but due to age gap DD will not get sibling link and we are not officially catchment. This is why we are looking at all options.

I really want to know others views on this. Local people will know the school without me naming it.
Should we plough ahead with 11+ and small chance. Or will a very able child do just as well in a Hampshire comp???
I want to know if others have felt the same really.

I want to give DD the best possible chances in life and had thought a girls selective would be best?

We have looked at all comps in and around Winchester and all had been impressive with articulate kids showing us around.
Our own son is thriving and claims he has never had any disruption in his classes. He is happy.
We have seen st Swithurns which if we were rich would 100% go for. Sadly we are not!!

So honestly those who have also seen this school. What do you really do think of it?? Is it some amazing educational facility or is it just doing well because it's full of clever girls.

My sons are at the boys’ grammar in Salisbury and I rate it incredibly highly. I never hear people talk about the girls’ school in the same glowing terms. I think Winchester comps are brilliant - I would opt to go there.

I know the school you refer to as I looked round it for myself and sat the 11+ 25 years ago! So I cannot give you any advice on the school itself. But, the commute sounds a pain. This might be worthwhile if you loved the school - but you don’t. It might be worthwhile if you hated your local options - but you dont. I honestly can’t see any reason why you’d apply to this school!

Yes I hear the boys is good, we had never wanted single sex for DS so never viewed BW.
I was rather surprised by the girls school as I was expecting so much more.

I guess I just feel guilty for not giving DD the chance.

Former pupil here from the girls’. BW has an enduringly good rep and deservedly so.

The girls’ one, it’s a mixed bag. Some of the staff are the same as when I was there in the 90s! We know someone who worked there in recent years, it sounded unchanged from when I was there, quite set in their ways about some matters. The worst being their dismissive attitude towards “comprehensive children”. Academically, it was good but no better than the top set of a good comp.

The standards tended to drop significantly in 6th form when it was opened up to more students if they got the required grades.

Years 7-11 were fiercely competitive but none of us really knew what we were competing for. And if you ever got a B for a test we were told it was a failure.

Some things it was and is still good for eg music. The department and provision is more what you’d expect from a private school and that side of it is great. It’s for that reason alone I’d have considered it for mine if we lived closer.

If you’re not blown away by it, and there are places which are easier to get to, I’d gently suggest that looking elsewhere is an idea.

I wasn’t unhappy there, and got some great opportunities but was immeasurably happier when for 6th form I left and went to the place I’d really wanted to go to from primary school in the first place!

Grammar schools have the lowest funding of all. They are almost all run down with poor resources.

On the plus side, there are lots of pupils that travel by train to the school. I see the girls making the walk most morning but, as you say, it is quite a way.

I don't have personal experience of the school but I do know someone who goes to 6th form there and she suffers the same issues as my daughter does at the local comprehensive 6th form, lack of teachers, lessons being cancelled at short notice.

I think if you are not impressed with the facilities or the commute, you would be better sending to a more local school.

The walk from the train station should improve once the road works on Fisherton Street and the river park upgrade is complete.... although it's been going on for ever.
SWG is often over subscribed anyway. If you're not blown away by it I wouldn't bother. But more importantly what did your daughter think?

DD liked and happy to do exams. She didn't like the walk and is worried about having to go to school on a train.
She has enjoyed all school tours though and has certainly enjoyed others more. The school that had the heart and lung dissection going on is her favourite school. 😂
Children can be easily swayed by fun activities!
I really don't know.

Honestly, Winchester comps are great and combined with Peter Symonds are pretty unbeatable. I think the chances of her doing better at SWGS are negligible.

I knew a very bright girl who went there after passing the 13+
commute over an hour
she was constantly tired and didn’t settle/found the atmosphere there unfriendly and competitive. She moved back to a well performing comp.

that is just one person though.

The issue is we have to get into the Winchester schools. We are outside catchment and a lot of houses have been built since DS got in. We will not get a sibling link as age gap is too big ( I had multiple MC).
We will try and may get lucky.

Definitely make your DD trek 20min each way, often in the rain, so you can say she went to a grammar school rather than a (gasp, pearl clutch) 'comp'.

(I've not heard anyone call the Winch schools this in the 20+ years I've lived here. If you live N of Winch you'll know their reputations academic and otherwise.)

Ah ok. Most Hants schools are pretty good, is there any issue with your catchment school if she goes there?

My son is at a Winchester secondary school. I know all about them thank you.
Because of the extensive building on Barton farm we may not get in now.
I am not saying grammar schools are better than any Winchester school.
Also they are comprehensive schools the schools in grammar areas are secondary moderns. I have specifically used the term comprehensive to make it clear what I am asking or not private schools.
I am no snob btw I myself went to Thornden!

I am trying to decide what to do with my own child. Her teacher said she is grammar school material. She goes to a village school where children do apply every year to the Salisbury schools.
I went , I looked and I'm not so sure.
Nobody is insulting any Hampshire school here especially me.

Hants publish a lot of data on school admissions, it’s on their website. I have a feeling the current year 5 is a lowish birth year. You should be able to work out what school you’re most likely to get and what the ‘worst option is.’ Plus potentially other options that you might not have considered.
It sounds like the commute will be over an hour door to door, I would work out exactly how long and include waiting at the train station, which would be over two hours out of your DD’s day. What is that worth to do you? What could/would she be doing instead with that time? What would her day look like with extra-curricular and homework at both options? Check out the progress at the likely options, what difference is there.
We’re Hants, and DD would have definitely been grammar material, not that we have one around here, but she is flourishing at her comp. She has a short walk, which enables her to keep up a variety of hobbies, interests and an active social life in the time she has. It’s idyllic to be frank when I compare it to my long commute, friends scattered all over all over!

What rep does Perrins have now? My knowledge is old, but it used to be talked about in equal terms to the winchester 3.

Do you have a comprehensive school that you would be happy for your DD to attend, that she is pretty much guaranteed to get a place at? (It sounds as though there is a risk of your DD just missing out on a place at the desirable Winchester comps.)

If you do have a good ‘banker’ school, there really is no need to go through the 11 plus process if you are happy with all your other choices.

If you don’t have a ‘banker’ school that you’re happy with, and you would prefer the grammar over your banker school(s), your DD will need to do the 11 plus to hopefully be able to add the grammar to your CAF as a back-up school if she scores well enough.

If the results are no much different than local comprehensive then it is no brainer. It is not worth to commute long distance to a school that doesn't have significantly better results than your local one. Commute time adds to hundreds if hours per year.
Especially that your kids know children in the local school and there are many many threads here about kids having problems to develop friendships

Grammar schools are underfunded as they still exist because they are cheaper to run; the government gives less money per pupil for grammar schools than any other state schools.

It still has an excellent rep locally.

Being in a different town to your friends is quite difficult as a teenager, so do think about that as well (and all the driving you will have to do to parties.

My DD is in a school in the next town for various reasons; she loves it academically and it has worked for her in many ways but even she says she wishes she had more friends locally. It also helps that lots of other kids commute in to it - if she's one of the few doing it that might make it even more difficult.

My daughter attended the school you looked at for yr 7. It was a pretty dire experience and she left, along with a few others from her class. It has a bad reputation locally for the poor mental health of the girls and academia being the priority. Has a new head next year so things may improve. I would avoid it if you have got a good local school, the travel will get too much, especially if she wants to stay for after school activities, then she might be walking to the train on her own in the dark in winter. I feel it is a place to endure in order to get good results, rather than a school to enjoy.

That is so sad. Also what I actually fear.
We did the walk from the station to the school in the rain. It wasn't pleasant and I don't want my daughter doing it alone in the dark.
Was your daughter happier after moving? Any regrets about taking her out?

Absolutely no regrets at all. She returned to her former self soon after. We thought she would thrive there but they just knocked the love of learning and school out of her.

Out of interest where did you move her to @Blewitt ?

I looked at this for my current year 7 and there were discussions about a group of local families getting together a minibus to ease the trains etc.
I personally feel the girls school is not worth the sacrifice of the time every day to commute, the friends being so spread out, and the pressured feel I got from it.
As you say the results aren't much different to upper achievers in state comp.
We are south of Winchester and our neighbours daughter got in (2012 being a big birth year) so I would think there's a good chance if it is a route you decide to go down?
It wasn't for us and our neighbours emigrated so their daughter only did 2 terms, but she wasn't loving it, however Every child is different.