City Girls vs NLCS

[OneBrickEagle]

Please help. We are in lucky position to have 2 above offers. DD is not alpha girl sometimes very quiet and she likes art music reading and dance. Both school have same distance from us.
We are in dilemma any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Great problem. Didn’t apply to NLCS but we are considering CLSG as we loved the ethos. Would IB be a strong differentiating factor for your DD?

I don’t have enough “soft” data points as I know one parent at NLCS and only a few at CLSG. Our DD is very sporty however, so I am sure that will impact our decision heavily. We did collate some basic data at home, for what we as a family consider the “top” girls day schools, if it helps…

% awarded 8 or 9 (= old money A*)

2024 GCSE
CLSG: 83%
G&L: 93%
NLCS: 90%
SPGS: 94%

2024 A Levels
CLSG: 48%: A , 80%: A- A and 97% over B
G&L: 40%: A , 82%: A- A and 96% over B
NLCS: 47%: A , 85%: A- A and 96% over B
SPGS: 61%: A , 89%: A -A grade and 98% over B

Our DD had the same choice last year (as did a lot of her friends) and she went with NLCS. Really her reasoning was mostly based on gut feel: she loved the open green spaces and fields vs the grey of the City buildings. She is not the most sporty person but still preferred that (and has since joined one of the sports squads as there are loads of opportunity to do so across an A, B, C or even D team).

I was also swayed by NLCS but for different reasons: The head is relatively new and absolutely fantastic. High energy, very focused, extremely kind to the girls. It feels like she will take NLCS to even higher levels. Everyone I spoke to raves about her. Their IB is typically #1-#2 in the country so if you ever want that option it is a nice to have.

Congratulations. You can't go wrong with the choice both fantastic schools!

I should also add music is fantastic at NLCS. My DD is very much into art which I think is not a huge focus but she has absolutely found her niche and loves it (she had art scholarships from other schools so that was one area of concern). Other friends are very musical and there is loads going on! And the girls are a real mix but lovely girls. Some alpha types and some really quiet types. They all make their circle of friends and so far are having a lovely time and getting stuck in loads of activities!