Any experience of Colfe’s school

[belleangele]

We are looking into colfes as a potential school for next year for my (currently y6) daughter.

She passed her Bexley and Kent 11plus so grammar schools also in the mix for possible choices.

She is passionate about sports (particularly football, cross country and athletics) so keen to find a school that supports this and offers opportunities.

Colfes seems like a great option but the financial commitment is a big consideration.

For scholarships - both academic and sports - does anyone have experience of what is required to be awarded these? Ie are we talking would need to be a top 180 Bexley 11plus level of academic attainment? Similarly, for sport would this be for children who play at county level or above for their preferred sports to qualify?

We wouldn’t meet criteria for a means tested bursary but full fees wouldn’t be financially viable for us so just trying to scope out what scholarships might look like.

Any info including general experience of the school would be gratefully appreciated, thank you!

Bump

I would not dream of extending myself financially for a place at Colfes if I had the option of a Bexley or Kent grammar within reasonable commuting distance.
Teaching, discipline, etc will be the same at the grammars. Sports provision may not be as good - depends on the grammar. But unless Colfes are offering a huge bursary (around the 100% mark) you will find you can access first class tuition at local clubs for a fraction of the cost of the fees you will have to pay.

Other advantages of the grammar route are that you will have preferential access to top universities which will accept a state school student over a private school student where possible ,you will swerve all of the sanctimonious preaching over “going private” and you may find that your DC finds it easier to find her tribe there.

I’ve recently had a child in each, feel free to DM me
Application deadline for Colfe’s in this Fri though so you need to decide quite quickly

Assuming you are in catchment I think you would be completely bonkers to send your child to Colfes if they could get a place at Dartford Grammar, BGS, chis and Sid or Townley.

Colfes was famous when I was younger as the place you went if your kids weren’t quite bright enough to pass the 11plus!

That reputation doesn’t still hold. There are many with grammar places opting for Colfe’s. I’m sure everyone has their own reasons - commute, class sizes, sport, whatever else. But it’s definitely not an intake of kids not passing Bexley and Kent right now.

Academic scholars will need to write and interview well on top of a very good test score. Athletes attend one or more days set up like a training day for their sport.

Have you been to an open day?

Thanks all for your replies! Definitely helpful to hear your points of view. I thought as well when my daughter passed (and very well for Kent so could go to suoerselective) that we’d give up on colfes. It’s just the sports side and smaller classes and feedback in terms of how children flourish there that has got me thinking of exploring with scholarship options. Especially as sports are so important to my daughter.

Have gone to an open day previously but missed the recent ones unfortunately.

I’ll call tomorrow to find out more about scholarship criteria from admissions and whether there are any further scheduled open events.

My daughter is in Colfes and I would agree with this assessment. There are many in her year (including DD) who passed the Bexley and Kent tests. Examination results have substantially improved in recent years - they used to be equal to or even below those achieved by the grammar schools, now they are higher and on a par with those achieved at Eltham College (which was always seen as the higher academically achieving school). Also the catchment areas for both the Bexley and Kent grammars has reduced in previous years and it's harder for children in Blackheath/Greenwich to get in on distance (unless they are top 180) even if they pass the test.

I have friends with DC in Colfes. In fact I know of one parent who had several scholarship offers at different private schools and they went with Colfes. My friends all rave about the school. As others have said, it was certainly true about 15 years ago that it was regarded as where people sent their DC who hadn't passed the 11+ but that's not the impression I have now.

As you say, they have amazing sports facilities. There's also a couple of buses they operate to pick up DC from around SE London (but I have no idea how much that costs!).

In answer to your question about scholarships though - bluntly, private schools are businesses. They want DC who are going to bring excellent results/sporting awards etc to the table. This in turn helps them attract more parents. I know of parents who have approached scholarships in quite a ruthless manner, almost playing schools off one another. These are parents who have extremely high achieving DC though (think Grade 7 music at aged 10), or top 180 in the 11+. I do know parents who have negotiated between 10% and 100% (really!) off fees - so it is possible.

From my limited experience of what people have told me, around 10%-20% is the most likely range for 'usual' scholarships but it will depend on how exceptional your DD is and having more than one offer may help with the negotiations.

I will caveat this by saying my friends DC started before the VAT raise. It may be a very different picture now in terms of what schools are able to offer.

Colfes 2025 A Level results were amazing! 14th in the country for private schools and (as they rightly pointed out on their website) ahead of Alleyns, JAGS, Eltham, Dulwich etc.

Their results are at an entirely different level than the Bexley grammar schools.

The secondary academic landscape in SE London does seem to be changing a bit. Eltham has now finished ahead of Dulwich in the league tables four years in a row, and Colfes and Dulwich were basically tied overall this year.

What have you decided? Their sport scholarship assessment is this week. We are in a very similar position.

Hi I’d be interested to know more about what they do during the sport scholarship assessments at Colfes if anyone is happy to share?

And well done on your daughter passing the Bexley and Kent tests great achievement and hope you find the right school for her :)

We went for it in the end & she’s going to the sports assessment tomorrow! Will your DC be there too? Hope goes well for them.

Great to hear. So did we. My daughter will also be doing the sports scholarship today. Good luck to them x

Hi belleangele, wondering what you've decided in the end as due date is coming near? We are in similar position and think we'll go for Colfe's and reject public school(Newstead Wood) offer. We were impressed by the facilities and how warm it feels when we were there. It just feels right to us. Hope we will have some good kids joining x

We’re in exactly the same position. We’re turning down Newstead Wood for Colfe’s too. Every time we visit Colfe’s I come away more impressed. It feels so warm and nurturing, but without compromising on academic standards. The results speak for themselves, but the
atmosphere really swung it for us.

That's great to hear! It's our first child so hoping we are making the right decision. We have also turned down Eltham college as they just felt too cold for us. Colfes is like a big family every time we visit and the new headmaster sounds very promising. Xx