GHS university feeder

[Forgoodforchild]

Hi, we are considering applying for GHS. The GCSE & Alevel results are brilliant. However, we noticed that oxbirdge offers are relatively low compared to other schools like CLSC or Hab Girls. Wonder if the school has enough support to students to prepare for Oxbridge application. I'm puzzled as GHS's academic results are better.

Also, may I know the school life at GHS? Do students have an academically motivated environment to study? Would like to know the atmosphere in school in general. Thank you for your help.

The word locally is that it is not a pleasant environment and there is more low level disruption in class than you might expect. They get the girls through the exams but there isn’t really the culture of “scholarship” there.

Wow. Actual current parent here and that is not how I would describe it at all. From our experience the teaching is excellent and staff really care about the girls. They got 27 Oxbridge offers this year. Cohort of about 90 in upper sixth I think. So not bad. Remember this is Surrey not London. The results are excellent but in my opinion they are the result of great teaching and hard work. The ability range at GHS if far wider than the London schools. They have far less applying to GHS than CLSG for example.

GHS has always done well by creaming off the top of its applicant pool and then production line them through to public exams. A best friends daughter is there currently, and, compared to her sister, who didnt get in, and ended up at another school, she isn't having as 'good a time'. It get's great results (at the moment), but given the initial creaming, there is no need for any significant 'value add', so my friend says they don't really focus on all those 'scholarly type things' as much. That said, it does what it says on the tin and gets good results.

On Oxbridge, there are other factors at play, If you look at the stats, there has been a big focus on diversity at entry, so the london schools with more ethincally and financially diverse cohorts have tended to get more in as a factor of that. This, as you may have seen in the newsn is changing a bit now though. This won't be the only reason, I dont know what their university application provision is like at the moment, it could be that effecting it too.

Also - Coffee shop mums chat is that GHS is now filling the school up, lots of actual reports and second hand info that girls being accepted are those that didnt get offers elsewhere locally and were genuinely shocked to get in.

Its also rumoured that they've opened up another year 7 class. It seems like they're maximising their income streams, probably to support the rest of the groups finances as we know United Learning have struggled recently - one example is the Royal School (had a once removed mum friend there too) which had to close down, and due to its location and covenants, is almost useless as an asset too.

Might be worth asking about their future plans on numbers, as if you pack-em-in on such a small site, things will undoubtedly change.

PS. Do note that those who do go there, it is the mecca of education and must not be criticised, at all, so be wary of that fact! And that comes from my mate who has a DD there!

I've seen a lot of hate for this school in multiple threads across mumsnet, spreading unconfirmed rumours. Wonder what school their children go to. 😂

I also have friends with DDs in this school who fiercely prepped to get accepted, but it is not really as difficult to get in as say, SPGS, where there is much more concentrated competition with a higher number of applicants. At the time of my child's 11+, I actually wondered how GHS was doing so well (in terms of results) with a much sparse applicant pool, and thought there must be some sort of value-add. It was much cheaper than the London schools and that was tempting!

The school was a consideration for myself with an offer for my child, and sometimes still wonder if it would have been a better fit for my DD, along with some other options we had. The sentiment from those who decided to send their DDs there is pretty good - the only downside I've heard of is that there is too much competition for anything and everything, be it music or sports, because there are very aspiring parents and children. That's the same for my DD school.

One interesting I remember hearing about was that there seemed to be a lot of siblings. That can't be a bad sign? If you weren't happy with the school you'd consider a different option for the younger one.

Please don't listen to coffee shop mums, just ask the school.

I wasn’t aware that Oxbridge selected by ethnicity?

Oxbridge don't have explicit ethnicity quotas, but they do use contextual admissions for socioeconomic disadvantage (postcode, free school meals, school performance), which significantlty boosts ethnic diversity as a byproduct since some groups are over-represented in deprived areas, especially london.

Oxford 2024 entry: UK BME students rose to 30.8% from 23.6%. Asian up to 14.5%.

Cambridge similar.

So no direct quotas, but deliberate policies increase BME numbers and spark fair play vs widening access debates, which are coming up in the news quite a bit at the moment.

Thanks just wanted it explicitly clarified that the contextual offers is about poverty - and if ethnicity intercepts with this it is not an added advantage just a reflection on our society.

So the point made in the original post that I picked up is factually wrong - in addition to also being totally irrelevant to this thread which is about private schools - so wealth, opportunity and privilege - in central London vs the home
counties.

Ask the school what? “do your students have a good experience?” I’m not sure that’s going to yield the most honest and accurate response.

Generally I think the consensus is that they prep well for exams.

But as you say I’m sure lots of other urban all girls high achieving schools have similar issues so if that’s what the OP wants they will just need to pick their poison and hope for the best.

@Vdlormp no I was referring to that rumour mentioned above about cohort size. 'Do your pupils enjoy the school' type of questions are something you ask around during open day and possibly to the pupils showing you around. Or ask people with children in the school if you know of any. Of course then take it with a pinch of salt 😂

I think it's fair to say GHS gets good GCSE/A-level results and clearly works well for many families, the stats speak for themselves, and current parents are understandably proud and positive about their experience, even if theyre not having a great time, its human nature to project that.

That said, the thread does highlight a common pattern in these discussions: strong loyalty from those whose daughters attend (which is natural , people invest heavily emotionally and financially, and defend what they've chosen), while more detached voices raise legitimate questions based on hearsay from friends/neighbors.

The points about potentially increasing intake (extra classes, accepting more borderline applicants to fill places) seem to be circulating quite widely now in local circles, including from those who have aparently gleaned this info from personal experience.

Whether driven by financial pressures on United Learning (we've seen closures like the Royal School recently) or other factors, it's not unreasonable for prospective parents to ask the school directly about future pupil numbers, class sizes, site capacity, and how that might affect the environment/individual attention over time.

No school's perfect, and no criticism is invalid just because it's unpopular with insiders.

Jealousy accusations shut down discussion, but open questions help everyone make informed choices.

OP, unless what ive heard myself, and what people are "saying online" is all fabricated - which i highly doubt - I'd suggest touring, talking to the school, probing those specifics at open events and asking how and why the school is broadening intake and how they will address things like access to university destinations.