What would you pick if you could - London CoE or Catholic schools?

[Nkmama15]

Have the opportunity and meet the criteria to apply for two outstanding schools in London - the grey coats hospital school in Westminster and Sacred Heart high school in Hammersmith. Both girls schools and both perform well. grey coats gives ‘posh’ legacy school vibes , excellent university prospects and seems a very feminist school and I liked the head teacher. Sacred Heart is wholesome, performs well, lovely building , traditional, closer to home and seems more down to earth. I’m still scratching my head why people don’t shout about this school and if I’m missing something?! When I mention to people they just stay silent!

what would you pick from what you know of them - what at the pros and cons of them? I really do like both equally . But part of me feels grey coats is probably a strong academic school so why wouldn’t I go for that one?! I really value everyone’s opinions and experiences from these schools .

I don't know the schools so my questions would be...

• what denomination are you?
• how religious are the schools (prayer in lessons, opinions on Science etc)- anybteligious ceremonies expected and is that on fitting with your own faith
• which gives you the better feeling?

I suppose it’s naive to ask if you follow the Catholic faith.

SH isn’t traditional in any sense. It’s pretty progressive. Not my bag but might be what you prefer.

what are the criteria for entry? The nearby boys catholic schools only admit Catholics in effect.

A friend had DC at GC a while back and they had a great time and all did very well. But it’s still an inner city comp.

To be honest.... I'd go for whichever one is easier to get too.
They are quite a distance from each other so it will obviously depend on where you live but look at how easy the commute will be for an 11 year old

Yes we are Catholic but my daughter also has another route to apply into GC which is COe

Yes we fit criteria for SH due to being practicing /feeder school etc but she can also apply to GC due to other criteria . What is it you find progressive about the school ?

We are Catholic . I’m not sure how intense the school and I imagine it’s like a primary which is fairly Catholic would say - pray a lot , celebrate feast days etc etc

I liked the Catholic school - but I’ve only found 1 person on mumsnet that rates it! Haha and 100s who rate GC…

DS is at a West London Catholic school. The most popular girls destination is St Michael’s but they send a couple of girls each to SH and GC and I’ve heard positive reports of both. DS’ school is almost all Catholic so clearly there is usually a Catholic contingent at GC.

If it’s anything like Cardinal Vaughan and oratory you have to go to Mass every week for 2 years to count as a practising Catholic. It’s not enough to be a baptised Catholic or go to a Catholic primary school.

My info might be out of date but I know they were very progressive on trans issues a while ago. One of the pupils had socially transitioned, went by a boys name and wore boys clothes. This at an all girls school.

Advice would be go and stand near the school and look at the students going in or out. You'll get an idea of whether your DC will fit in. In London in particular, this can be crucial

when you go to the government web site
and click on additional information (pupil characteristics for example)
you see that GC scores slightly better on all fronts than SH.
but both schools have impressive numbers.
not sure about daily rules and regulations, i'm not in favor of overly strict atmospheres.

Yes indeed! as mentioned , we meet full criteria for Catholic schools and particularly SH. Indeed you need baptism, preferably when the child is under 3 months , holy communion, weekly attendance. We cover all.
with regards to GC we also meet the criteria on another point in their admissions policy- so this post isn’t about the IF we meet, it’s more the difference between Catholic and COE schools and the vibe between these particular schools.

Forgot to add - we also go to one of SH feeder schools.

Yes ! That’s exactly what I’ve noted- over all it academically better but I’m also after other things. I think both schools are very strict ….

What do you mean by this?

Logically with thousands if the schools in the country, its highly likely that the vast majority of schools will never have been heard of let alone have personal experience of.

But... I think you just want validation that you nearest making the right choice with the Catholic school. If you like it, your DD likes it and all the numbers and reports support it being a good school, it sounds a solid choice.

Yes but also part of me thinking I should try for the best I can , that I have a pretty good chance of getting something like GC which may open up more possibilities as the school as good links outside . The legacy school with more opportunities OR a more wholesome school, closer to home , nearly as good results… the weigh up! Ultimately, I just want her happy!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5429777-good-school-but-child-is-a-minority

some schools have very skewed demographics.

What is the difference in journeys?

I think with church schools , it tends to be very mixed - quite evenly mixed which reflects London… but I agree that depending on the religion determines different demographic. I’ve actually found , with the Catholic school (from the tour, from the people who go there), it’s quite a west London vibe now . GC is COE and very mixed with a big intake from south London - also takes non COE. SH only takes catholics .

it’s something to consider I agree…

Catholic school I would say 30 mins max door to door. COE is prob 45/55 mins door to door.

What transport would she need to use?
I sometimes see Grey Coat girls around Victoria Station which gets VERY busy (as it's trains, tube and buses) and there's frequent cancellations/delays etc. Sometimes evacuations from the station.
Would she be ok with all that at just 11 years old?

We did the trip on the tour and was OK. She wouldn’t need to go to Victoria .

yes for the first year I think it’s tricky but then they find a group to travel with. There a few girls we know going there from our area, si they would prob travel together… failing that… she’s already a wizz on her dads Vespa and i imagine him being over protective would take her time to time!🫠🤣

I just think sometimes London children lose a lot of their spare time with long commutes (including hanging around waiting for buses etc).
If the journey for both is pretty straightforward (ie one bus that's reliable 95% of the time) then you might have to flip a coin to choose.
But to me the one with the easiest commute would be my personal preference.
(also she can't use a vespa until she's 16🤔)

A friend sent her DDs to SH. They thrived and friend loved it. They're an RC family, parents both STEM degrees and careers, liberal views, very strong advocates for women in STEM. All three DDs are now engineers of various stripes.

It's funny how "RC attitudes to science" comes up on threads like these.

I'd like to state for the record thst the RC church is a million light years away from the Bible thumping fundamentalists who think science is satan worship.

The suggestion that there might be a problem wrt science in an RC school comes from a place of ignorance.