Farnborough Hill - New head

[Geoma]

Hi all,
Looking for opinions and views about Farnborough Hill under the new head.

Hello, our dd1 has been at Farnborough Hill for a few years now with dd2 due to start there also, and we’re still very happy with our choice. She has had a great few years so far and is loving it, while also being pushed academically.

The new head is still settling in but seems good so far. Some changes she has made already are to tighten up the rules about mobile phones at school, and to modify the uniform slightly for years10 and 11 (jumper colour). She is musical and gets stuck in playing and singing alongside the girls in their music concerts. She is very friendly and approachable. The rest of the leadership team remains mostly unchanged so there’s a lot of continuity at the top.

@PileOfClothes that is very reassuring to know. We have also decided to take the offer from Farnborough Hill. That’s nice to know that your daughter will be starting in the same year as mine. 😊

Wonderful 😊. I am so sure that your daughter will love it as much as mine does. See you on the hill!

Hi all, I'm seeking comments about the Sixth Form at Farnborough Hill. Thanks x

My DD is at FB 6th form and she’s loving it. Very very small classes (in some A-levels there are 2/3 pupils in a class), great care and teaching. She averaged 7s and 8s on her GCSEs but they’ve rigorous with her A-levels. They believe, she can get As in her A-levels for her chosen UCL course.
As a parent, I love the attention and support she gets. We moved to FB from a “posher” school in Ascot and we don’t regret it one bit.

I have always found Farnborough hill a dreary place. The teachers lied and some gave suspensions for no reason other than forgetting homework. My friend got suspended for saying ‘ I can’t be asked’ at lunchtime to me when I asked her if she was going to the disco. A teacher suspended her because he misheard and then when she explained she was ‘talking back’ or ‘being disruptive’

the teachers lied to me and broke my trust with the school. They locked our phones away when that was the only thing that helped me get through the school day (quick access to my mother) even though she was the only number I had.

instead of smiling at school I’m just depressed and honestly feel like crying half the time.

for open days the handpick the girls who have scolarships or the girls who are rich. The ones with expensive bags and jewlery. The ones with low grades who struggle are forgotten.

every morning when I go to school anxiety bubbles, Farnborough hill isn’t a good school, my parents don’t listen to me, so be the one that does.

As an FH Old Girl (Yr 11 ‘23), I want to say a few things:

• (Contrary to what they preach), the pastoral care is really poor (one of my friends was bullied, bully got told off but once it persisted Pastoral and HoY didn’t want to know).
• Top end pupils aren’t stretched and encouraged to do well in exams, Oxbridge was actually discouraged at our Sixth Form taster day as we got told we wouldn’t get in. Also not much support available if you don’t want to attend a Russell Group uni
• They spend a portion of the Sixth Form Information evening discouraging applications to F6th (even though results there are better and it’s free)
• They don’t encourage critical thinking, particularly with religion

I went to F6th and I couldn’t fault it, the students were so diverse and the teaching was excellent

New head excellent and leagues better than previous one. School is better for the change ..Thankfully now back to an engaging head & approachable ....like Mrs Buckle days.
Under Miss C leadership I think the school atmosphere changed for the worse & she was not popular with the girls ....