Queen’s College London - 11+ offer

[Dontknowwhereisit]

Our DD was fortunate enough to get an offer from QCL with an academic scholarship and we are minded to accept this over some more academic schools.

The school seems like a great one, the head is impressive and trawling through MN doesn’t seem to be much negative sentiment around the school, and interested to hear from current parents with DDs at the school and their thoughts…

Is it really a well balanced school which has great pastoral care? How many girls usually join from their prep vs external? What are the clubs like as they seem to rely on these for lunch time activities given the lack of space?

We are also considering our offer with two extra-curricular scholarships.

I agree that the head is very impressive but even more than that, a kind person.

You can check how many girls generally accept places if you go to the QCPS website (e.g. I think last year approximately 16 places were accepted from 36 offers). My impression also is they make sure to split them between the forms as much as possible, but most of the girls are from external schools.

We are also weighing up a place at Queen's with academic and drama scholarships. We love the vibe of the school and seem very good on pastoral care. We have other offers - Channing, FHRP and Forest and are trying to figure out which would be the best one. Our daughter is very into the creative arts especially drama and also does fencing and swimming but isn't sporty per se. Our other daughter goes to Forest so we are keen to get them into the same school for logistical reasons. But, Queen's seems so lovely and a good fit for her.

How much are the scholarships? If you get two how much are those?

Ours are 5% each. Seems they give quite a few anecdotally?

I assume that almost all short listed candidates would have a good chance of scholarships - and suspect they will offer a fair few mainly driven by the fact they over offer a bit in general and girls who get a music scholarship probably will also be getting offers and scholarships from a number of other schools.

I don’t get the impression though that every girl who attends has a scholarship or two though based on our preps historic offers and scholarships (I think it was like 10 offers but 2 scholarships last year with 3 acceptances)

My DD said there were almost 30 girls at the drama scholarship second round, so I wonder how many girls actually were offered a scholarship. Interestingly, the school is not very forthcoming about the number offered, and said that there is 'no set number'.

I was unable to find out how many drama or other scholars there currently are in the year 7, but I will ask at the offer holders event.

Hopeful bump for any current parents who can give some input….

We are heading to an offer holder event next week but would be great to get some current parent views on the school!

Hi, my DD is currently at Queens with an academic scholarship and loves it there. Would definitely recommend the school and happy to answer any questions. Good luck to everyone with their decisions!

That’s great! What is the scholarship programme like and what does it entail? There’s little information on the website and hoping to find out more at the offer holder event. We have narrowed to Forest and Queen’s - our other child is at Forest (prep) and we really like Forest as a school in general but Queen’s (ethos we love) would be a great fit for our daughter and with the scholarships (academic and drama) she might really be able to flourish there but I’m trying to understand how much weight to put to those. Thank you!

It might change every year so do ask at the offer holder event but for DD there has been a scholars’ academic enrichment programme which culminates in the chance to present a portfolio of independent work. It’s given some extra stretch without extra pressure and she’s really enjoyed it.

(Having said that, I don’t think you need to be a scholar to get a rich academic experience at Queens. There are lunchtime academic clubs, lectures, trips, essay competitions etc that are open to everyone).

Thanks so much for the insight! Are there a lot of scholars?

In respect of the wider school - how are you finding the communication and pastoral care? Is it really as supportive and open as the sell it as?

I don’t know the number of scholars I’m afraid but I don’t think there are loads of them.

The emphasis on pastoral definitely isn’t just a sell. They really prioritise wellbeing and it feels like each girl is seen as an individual. I I love that they do things like have a homework-free week in November and take the year sevens on a residential instead of having end of year exams. I prefer this approach to piling on the pressure from day one!

Ah thanks @Zebedee79 - this is great to hear about Queen's and its pastoral care! I have heard that Queen's has more homework than other schools (not a problem just curious!) - how much do they have on average per day/week? Also, what's the phone policy?

Offer accepted today and our DD will be going to QCL.

The offer holder day helped a little more with the questions - great to speak to current QCL parents, and the scholarship info seemed to be a bit clearer about the opportunities. Once again it just felt like the right fit for our DD and she’s super excited to go there.

Still don’t know how much the lunches cost though 😂 I guess we’ll find out in September.

Hi @Zebedee79 , thanks so much for sharing your insights on here, really helps with decision making. Just wondering if you/anyone can share experience of commuting in to central London? We are in East London and do love QCL but concerned about busy-ness of tube and Oxford Circus station and area for a petite Y7. How draining do the younger ones find travelling in? And would we end up accompanying her on journeys for months?!

Sorry for late reply @Max201. I guess you all may have made final decisions now and I hope you’re feeling happy with choices. In case it’s still useful, we were worried about the commute too. For us, DD settled into it really quickly. She was tired in the first term but I think that was more just starting secondary school. Good luck with any final agonising!

Hi all, one of the few still left to make a decision by tonight 🥴 @Zebedee79 @Max201 if you don’t mind me asking whereabouts/ how far out in east will you or do you commute from? Would like to go with QCL but will mean commuting for at least 1year (40-50mins journey each way). Is that crazy / unfair to DD? Also worried what that means socially for her … will she miss out or be excluded from play dates / local friend groups?

Hello, thanks for the reply, great to hear your experience was ok. Happy to say we have accepted QCL!

Sorry I have only just seen this...that commute sounds about the same for us too. Not ideal but we felt the pros outweighed this worry. We shall see come Sept! Ps there are quite a few East Londoners joining QCL this Sept so hopefully that may mitigate a little the playdate issue. Again, we shall see!

Another East London QCL parent here, for Sep 25 entry.