Like every other school one size doesn’t fit all. If your children are sporty,
they provide a good spread of sports, it’s great. If your children are bright they will thrive. One of the big mistakes people make is to push children academically to pass the entrance exam which can result in a stressful experience. Children are accelerated and it does leave some behind.
DS sailed through his entrance exam and to be frank I waited for the problems I’d heard about from some parents, too much homework, emails from staff, advice to attend extra sessions etc, but it never happened.
There was bullying and poor behaviour but no more than any other school and possibly of a different nature.
I certainly don’t look back and remember problems. We breezed through parents evenings. Although DS didn’t always make the top teams in sport he thrived in that side.
DS’s year was a good year socially and there were very few incidents of bullying. They very much looked after each other and DS made some close friendships he still enjoys, despite moving to uni. He also had/has some close friendships who attended RGS. There was rivalry but very friendly associated with sports.
I did experience the parents who felt that because they were paying, they had far more influence than they should have. You are paying for the education not to be able to micromanage the school. This is made clear in the contract you sign. If you don’t read it and the policies (many) that accompany it then you may be disappointed.
You cannot make the experience bespoke.
However, incidents like this show that things go wrong. I think that Doodes would have not lasted as long as he did had he not started just as Covid hit. His behaviour and personality would have emerged far early to both staff and parents if the school had been running normally. In this case the governors may have been able to get rid of him during his probationary period. Certainly 18mnths into his tenure the complaints were flowing. I don’t remember the environment being toxic initially, but he was starting to ruffle feathers by the time DS was leaving. I don’t think it had fully filtered down.
For anyone looking at the school, do your due diligence. Talk to current pupils and parents. We chose it because the pupils we knew were well rounded, polite children with confidence but not arrogant. The school is still producing the same sort of individuals. My DS’s friends are testament to this. It is more than just the education.