Lady Manners vs Hope Valley College

[Alpineavalanche]

Hi,

We are moving from Sheffield to the Peak District and needing some opinions regarding LMS vs HVC. We are going to keep our y5 DS in his current school until secondary. We will of course look round but looking for some personal opinions.

An alternative is to try and get him into the feeder school in Sheffield which would be Silverdale. Silverdale’s results are better than LMS on paper despite having a more mixed catchment. HVC would mean he could do 6th form back at Silverdale. However their GCSE results don’t look amazing.

thanks in advance!

Also forgot to mention no known SEN and very academic child.

I have posted on this issue before – Hope Valley is a very small secondary (fewer than 600 students I think) which IMHO can be limiting. It’s likely the school offers fewer GCSE options and less opportunity for things like sports teams or music ensembles.

Lady Manners is much bigger and would always be my choice. A friend used to teach there and always spoke highly of the students and their attitude. I think it’s quite a mixed intake in socio-economic terms.

You can still go somewhere else for sixth form btw even if you are at LM. Hope Valley would only be my choice if I wanted a very small school (for example for reasons relating to possible overwhelm or anxiety).

That’s true, I suppose you could move from LMS 6th form but at HVC you’d have to leave and I believe they get a place at Silverdale if they want it.

Only 55% of kids at lady manners got a 5 or above in English and maths GCSE, which just doesn’t seem very startling.

Have you used LMS yourself as a family?

As a comparison Silverdale got around 70% grade 5 or above English and maths GCSE. Hard to fathom why there’s such a big difference as Silverdale will have more English as a second language children etc.

No not near enough to have used LM but a colleague's DC went there and they were very happy.

55% grade maths and English is pretty good I think.

EAL is not as simple a factor as "won't do do well" - v clever mates of ds were EAL (Polish) but it was never an issue.

I don't know Silverdale but if you prefer it (70% I'd very high) then opt for that.

My DCs' leafy comp has 40% grade 5 E and m as a comparison

Various family members at LM in recent years and they had a good experience. All at top universities now.

Good to hear. Any reports of bullying / racism?