Godolphin & Latymer

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Our daughter received an offer for G&L 2025 entry. We’re looking for some insights to the school as we don’t know anyone from there. We are a working and a very low-key family, trying to give kids best education eg. we would spend money carefully, never go on exotic holidays, etc (not because we don’t want it but financially 😅).

DD is academically bright, quite musical but not a music scholar, not sporty but still would take part. The feedback we received from her current school says she’d be better off in an academic school as it’s not easy to keep her engaged otherwise and likes to be stretched. They also said if not challenged she has a tendency to coast along, which I’d agree.
We haven’t applied to SPGS or any grammar schools as we thought they wouldn’t be the right fit for her.

So my question is, given all of the above, wondering if the school is good academically because of their education or girls highly tutored for GCSE and A levels? Are there working families or is it more like Central London affluent families?

We have accepted g&l too. We really liked the girls we met at the open day for offer holders. They were very sparkly and smiley. We went for gut feel as at the end of the day, they are all schools.

@ACavalierDream echo your feelings. G&L girls were simply amazing and very grounded, confident and smart. They had clear ideas on what they wanted to achieve in life and looked very happy in their school. Also the parents and girls I have seen in the open day all seemed to be genuinely nice people that we felt we could connect with. I was really impressed, DD chose another school but would have been very happy with G&L as well. So congratulations to all who accepted the offers. Wishing all the DCs many happy years in their respective schools.

Hi, Anyone on here accepting (or already accepted) an offer from G&L for their DD who live in Putney/Southfields/Wimbledon? We are down to the last two schools and G&L is our favourite but just having a last thought on commute. Would be great to know if any others are planning on using the district line. thanks!

My DD is at D&L. The school understands the parents concern and they always look into the travel direction and put girsl travelling from similar direction into same Form at year 7. This means the gril would at least have another girl to travel with. There are many grils on the westbound district line so I would not be worry at all. 😊

We just accepted a place at G&L and our daughter will be taking the district line from one of the stations you mentioned!

Tiffin Girls or G&L... We have 18 hours to decide now.. Receiving unexpected result, we are struggling to make decision now..

Thanks @ happymumhappygirl - super helpful,
@littleredpot - fantastic news, congratulations on your choice! Expect a travel buddy for your DD, I think we are just about there with our decision.
I've been so impressed by the school and the girls (and with two consecutive years of 11+ I've now seen a fair number of them)!!

We are in Wandsworth and accepted.

Great news!

Do any of the Godolphin parents have any experience of how the school accommodates ADHD or autistic children? Any thoughts on the SEN support?

As a parent of a daughter currently attending Godolphin & Latymer, I feel a duty to offer a candid perspective, especially for those considering the school.
The culture among the current Years 10–12, regrettably, is deeply toxic. A climate of insidious and at times overtly vicious bullying pervades the student body. Girls are openly and regularly nasty to each other within the school and weaponise social media to deride and exclude their peers. In response, a large number of girls self-harm, suffer from eating disorders, and isolate themselves in bathrooms at lunchtime to avoid the ritualised social humiliation practised by a powerful ‘mean girl’ hierarchy.
The pastoral care team, in theory designed to provide support, has in our experience proved either ineffectual or willfully negligent. Reports of bullying are often met with skepticism towards the target rather than urgent inquiry into the behaviour itself. Unless a specific perpetrator is named — a dangerous prospect for many girls who fear escalation — no meaningful action is taken. The result is a culture where cruelty goes unchallenged and vulnerability is punished.
No school is perfect, and adolescence is never easy. But it is impossible to overstate the damage that an environment of indifference to bullying can inflict, not only on individual well-being but on the broader moral character of a community. For us, G&L has tragically failed to live up to its duty of care.
I share this not to sensationalise, but to offer the clear-eyed account I wish I had encountered before enrolling my daughter.

@Rimini I’m so sorry to hear that.. is your daughter ok now? How is she feeling? Are you considering a change…

TBH my daughter didn’t get into G&L, and the only reason I wanted is for the IB program. But to be honest, the most important thing right now for you is your daughter and her mental well-being. I hope you and her are both okay. 💙

I had always wondered why people praise GL for pastoral care so much …..we chose another school but seriously considered it a few years ago. The atmosphere on our look around was very tense and it didn’t feel friendly or positive. Girls schools particularly struggle to manage this kind of toxic bullying unfortunately and social media makes it that much worse .however I do think there are schools that do more than others. I’m sorry to hear your daughter suffered so much. You’re not the only one, I know a few parents that have shared similar stories …. Really hope the school steps up the pastoral care.

@Rimini
That sounds extremely difficult and distressing for your whole family.
Have you got options to move your daughter?
And do you think this is limited to G&L or is it a widespread issue in similar schools?

Pastoral care is GL's main selling point. They need it to differentiate the school from SPGS and LU nearby, and other contenders in the larger area. It seemed nice and we liked the school but in the end didn't choose it as we didn't fully buy the pastoral focus based on similar feedback from friends (though not as intense as @Rimini 's but enough to raise concerns).

Maybe their rejection to my daughter is a blessing in disguise. But I do feel that unfortunately this issue is in a lot of schools in London. I really worry about their mental health by the time they get to year 10 but I hope things will be different or better by then..💙

So sorry to hear all of this happened to your daughter @Rimini and your family has been struggling with this. Thanks for sharing your experience openly.
I am simply shocked to hear this, especially after accepting the offer for our daughter. Don’t want to sound selfish but really hope things started or will start improving especially because the emphasis on pastoral care was the main reason we applied to G&L compared to some other local schools - where we even didn’t want our daughter to sit the exams.

We have a dd there and our experience has been great. G&L squash any bullying in the bud, at least this has been the case in my dd's year (8). I think these issues can happen in any school and some people experience it worst then others. My dd is very happy there and has made many friends. You will find drama anywhere and if you look on here, you will find complaints about every school.

"Pastoral care is GL's main selling point. They need it to differentiate the school from SPGS and LU nearby, and other contenders in the larger area."

I can't really see how these selective schools can do "pastoral care" as selling point, in Mumsnet you would hear some parents from these schools literacy spelling out the almost identical criticisms, and yet another group of parents from the same schools come out saying the opposite.

My DD is going in September. Maybe see you in July!

Yes, agreed. All these schools have the same issues. Our experience is they are very strict on bullying in nip it in the bud, at least in year 7/8. Every case is different though and really depends on your cohort for the bullying. It can happen anywhere.

Wondering if everyone saw the outcome of Philip Culling and what the current parents of the school think about what happened in G&L. It happened over a decade ago and the school would have learnt huge, but frankly quite shocking to see he held such important roles in the school - director of music and a child protection officer. And that the school did not contact the authorities right away upon learning about the case.

Just reading the outcome and it is truly shocking to see what happened in and out of school. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6846ef7ce5a089417c806187/Philip_Culling__Web_Decision.pdf
I also don't understand why the school would have given him such gleaming references when this guy left:
Mr Culling provided no testimonial statements attesting to his character or to his history as a teacher. The panel noted that Mr Culling was provided with a reference when he left the School which rated him as “excellent” in various facets of his role save that his overall confidence and behaviour management skills were rated as “good”. The reference referred to Mr Culling has been a “hugely reliable and talented colleague” and that “he cares deeply and this, coupled with superb subject knowledge and a huge academic ability mean that he has been able to achieve some outstanding academic results over the years”. The referee also commented on Mr Culling’s “quite excellent” management skills. The panel placed little weight on this evidence given the extent of misconduct that the panel has found proven whilst Mr Culling was at the School.”
I really hope G&L learnt from this huge mistake, and other schools do too. You can hire the wrong person and these things can happen anywhere, but the school hasn't done a good job closing the case. Not something I want to hear about when I send my DD to a girls only school..