Brighton College vs Latymer Upper vs Perse

[geniemumof2]

DD got offers from Brighton, Latymer Upper and Perse. We are open to relocation. Have a DS, so would prefer a co-ed. Keen at League Table Rankings and Oxbrifge numbers. Always been a small towner, never lived in London before. Confused mum, please pour of inputs/experience.

Goodness, what made you apply to that spread? Jobs? I think it’s really hard as they are all really different, as are the locations etc. What is your son like? What do you want from a school? What location works best?
Oxbridge numbers makes me weep tbh. Have you got any idea what your child will be like? I say this as a mom who went to Oxbridge as did my husband, but it’s literally not even on my list to think about. Honestly doesn’t matter now other than prestige and shout about factor! So many courses are so much better elsewhere that if you’re looking at that now (especially when context of offers changes and you have no idea about your child’s ability really)….I think look about where will your child be happiest?

Where would you prefer to live as a family? All so different! Day or boarding? Agree- don’t worry about Oxbridge at this stage.

BC is fab and gets amazing results with a more mixed intake than say LU. About half of the students apply to Oxbridge and 1/3 of those get offered a place. It’s very hard to predict Oxbridge. A lot of it is just luck and the randomness of yearly cohorts. DD has seen real academic stars not getting a place and others who were maybe not that strong get offers. If your kid is readable academic they would probably be happy at BC

For Cambridge, the housing situation will be a deal breaker, the prices in the city are high, the traffic is horrifically bad and you may need to live in a village outside the city on the same side as the school and travel in.

Do you have a view on not taking GCSEs at LU? You have got quite contrasting options for your dd and family as a whole.

Thanks for all your views. We primarily work from home. Prefer a day school. A big factor for us to consider is the schooling for the younger DS (he will go to a state primary) We wish not to be running in separate directions every day to manage their school pick ups & drop offs.If we choose BC or Perse, what if DS does not get into them at 11+? With LU, atleast there will be other options for DS to apply for in London. But then BC tops the league table rankings, so that's another big point that we are thinking about. Sorry for the rambling, but that's where we are and all your views really provide perspectives to think about. Please keep them
coming

Was your DD at BC?

i have heard of housing issues in Cambridge & that's a point we are talking too.
With LU doing GCSE's only for few primary subjects, i do not know how it will impact the kids. Will it have an impact if they want to do A levels from a different school?

Yes you need to ask LU about what happens if your dd wants to move 6th form with a small number of GCSEs only. But you need to dig deep into the primary school situation in Cambridge and Brighton, you don’t say how old your ds is but it may be far less choice that you imagine. It might be best to rent on a tube line to Hammersmith and put your ds in a sw London primary rather than rent in Cambridge / Brighton. For example Richmond primaries aren’t full in some year groups. You can’t make these decisions based on oxbridge / academic tables, secondary education results and a levels tables / uni destinations are far too complicated to explain by an table esp looking to 7 years in the future.

Thank you, your inputs are quite helpful. DS is 4 years younger, so 7 now. The biggest problem i see with BC or Perse is if he doesnt get into these schools for 11+, we'll again be looking for options. I will check with LU for reg A level move

@geniemumof2, the 3 areas of the U.K. I have either lived in or know about are these 3! Firstly they all have state secondary options, Cambridge has 1 of the best state sixth form colleges in England (Hills Rd) with an incredibly high Oxbridge rate. Your ds doesn’t have to go to a private school if you live in these areas. Secondly the birth rate is dropping and school fees are rising, in 4 years time the pot of dc taking the exams will be smaller. Finally all these areas have other excellent private options with Brighton offering the narrowest choice - most outside the city. If your ds is in year 2 at the moment you need to think how you are going to get a year 3 state school place for Sept - this is difficult. You don’t say where you currently live or why you chose these 3 schools or why you didn’t choose a girls school in Hammersmith for your dd - you don’t need to say but you might want to go back to basics with your list. Also bear in mind there is far more movement in and out of schools that you imagine when you sit the 11 plus - dc move for many reasons but esp for parents moving jobs and in Cambridge this is a factor. You don’t have to commit to living in an area for the next 11 years while your dc go thru the schools. This is why LU is a gamble because of the lack for GCSEs at end of year 11
making it more complicated to move to another 6th form but LU will no doubt tell you otherwise.

Yes. Still is. Sixth Form now. Btw Brighton has one of the best state sixth forms in the country, BASVIC (?). A lot of day students at BC leave after GCSEs to attend

Is my thinking correct?
Pros for LU - London location - Multiple secondary school options for DS, other than LU, works well from a work situation. Cons - Not having GCSEs
Pros for BC - Better school rankings, Alternate Sixth form. Cons - No other secondary school options for DS, other than BC, if he doesnt get in.
Pros for Perse - Multiple secondary school options for DS, other than Perse, in case he doesnt get into Perse. Cons - League table ranking

Would def have a think if wherever you move there are options for your other dc. We already live in London and thought of the children separately for their schools. DD goes to G&L and DS goes to LU. We have a third and would be happy for her to go to either if those schools suit her, but she is too young to know at the moment. How old is your ds? Perhaps its a better idea to go for London to keep options open for your ds?

Which Perse?

not that it really matters.
i don’t know the other two.

Cambridge is not particularly good for options for boys at 11 plus. Perse that was the boys is very much an academic day school and doesn’t really have the all round offer.

we sent our DS to kings Ely.

leys is good but even their day students do very long days - they call it day boarding and the kids pretty much only sleep at home.

hills Road sixth form is where a lot of the private school kids transfer to for a free sixth form and to make them a state application for Oxbridge. It is big and impersonal compared to private though.

Oxbridge is not the be all and end all.

What is your dd like in terms of her personality? What dos she enjoy doing? Sports? Music? Arts etc? I know Latymer and the perse very well but they are very different and I would focus on what my child wants and the school they liked the most as a starting point.

@geniemumof2, the ranking of a top rated academic private school in east Anglia is not a con! Cambridge academics don’t send their dc to private schools, they send them to state schools. Only 7% of the secondary education cohort in England are in private schools and quite honestly there are only a handful of academic private day schools in east anglia (and no grammar schools outside Essex). Move to Cambridge if you want to live there but don’t move there to send your dd to a school that prepares for oxbridge, you can do that from the secondary state school where you currently live and anyway it may be not where she wants to go eventually.