Dartford Girls Grammar School vs Orpington Newsteadwood Grammar School

[RockingGirl]

Hi all,

I know people will suggest that this depends on personal circumstances and personal choice, but if I say lets keep the personal circumstances apart, can please someone suggest which one is best from these two and why?

My DC has got option in both the schools and we are unable to decide which one to select. Please suggest if you guys know about them.

How easy is it for DD to travel to each school from your home? Both are in areas that can be tricky for traffic.
I know girls who are very happy at Newstead and those who are not so happy. In general the happier girls had tutoring but not a crazy amount.

We are in Dartford at the moment as tenant and dont mind shifting to Orpington. The main issue is Dartford looks bit old but cheaper and Orpington looks bit new but costly. Unable to make mind.

Both very good schools, NW higher in the league tables if that’s important to you. Lots of girls take the train to both schools so maybe look along the train lines with plan b bus routes at cheaper areas. NW does have a bit of a pressure cooker reputation but I think that could be due to some cultural expectations from the parents rather than the school per se.

Orpington has nicer housing stock and is probably a nicer place to live than Dartford but it will also be a lot more expensive.

My experienced ex senior leadership friend always says you should choose a school for the seven year experience. How do the two sixth forms compare?

Is Dartford Girls IB at sixth form (Dartford boys is) - there is a big difference between IB and A levels, so worth thinking about that now if so..

But five years down the line, there will be neither a guarantee of a place in the sixth form at the current school (wrt entry requirements), nor an obligation to remain.

Looking at each school's curriculum offer for KS3 / KS4, there is an opportunity at Newstead Wood to study a broader range of modern foreign languages, plus Latin, which might be important to the OP's DD. Or it might not. Would that alone be worth moving house for?

Seems pretty unlikely to me that a child with the ability to get in to either of those schools at 11 wouldn't meet the criteria for their 6th forms. Getting in to selective grammar 6th forms is actually rather easier than getting in at 11, because some girls wish to move to mixed environments at 16.

Do we know which is better for Uni? IB or A levels?

It depends… if taking a science degree then there may be content that would have been covered in A level, but not in IB (as more subjects means less time devoted to each one individually), so an element of ‘catching up’ in the first year at uni may be required.. in terms of getting a place at uni, I don’t think unis are particularly fussed (A level vs IB) but I only have a small, anecdotal-type pool of knowledge on that front. Looking at entry requirements on courses in middle tier RG unis for next year, some specify total point score for IB (eg 36) whereas some specify the HL grades (eg 6,6,5), or both (6,6,5 (36)). May be a benefit if applying to one that specifies a total point score, if your HL marks drop, but you have strong SL subject grades, then it may not make too much of a difference; and if one HL grade goes higher, and one goes lower, the overall score will stay the same). Also IB, coursework (Internal Assessment) counts for approx 20 per cent of each overall subject score. But this does mean that important IA deadlines come thick and fast throughout the 18 months. It can be very stressful / high workload.

What will matter more is, which, when the time comes, will your DD decide is best for her? Both Newstead Wood and Dartford Girls' currently offer just A levels, it appears, so unless this changes, if she gets a burning desire to do the IB, then she will have to move after GCSEs.

UK universities are all geared up to making offers for either, along with many other level 3 equivalents, so neither is likely to put her at an advantage or disadvantage from the point of getting offered. But as has already been alluded to, there may be an issue with the IB and science subjects - although the one that I would mention was brought up by DS1's ex at university, who said that she would have loved to be able to take all three of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, as he had, but the IB system only allows for two (and that only by dropping everything from whichever of the six subject areas which the IBO officially considers expendable).

I think perhaps some posters were thinking of Tonbridge Grammar / Dartford Boys, which do offer IB.

DC2 went to NW (now at uni), DC3 there now.

They have/ had to travel there by one train (25 minutes).

I am not sure about the 7 year experience: I see it as a buy in to the 5 year experience. Lots of natural movement for 6th form. Dc1 stayed at his 6th form; dc2 really loved NW but just wanted a change; dc3 a while off.

”I know girls who are very happy at Newstead and those who are not so happy. In general the happier girls had tutoring but not a crazy amount.”

dc2 did not have any tutoring; dc3 neither. I understand on grapevine that quite a lot do, but after 10 years of grammar schools, it feels parental rather than school led - the pressure to be top of the class, not a ‘mere’ 7/10 comes from home rather than school.

School, to their credit, do a lot on mental health, and messages to parents about making sure children have down time.

Which did you decide?

We have finally gone ahead with Newsteadwood.