Live in North London, where secondary school choices are crazy.
Our son went down a fairly traditional academic route and is now at a strongly academic school, but our daughter (currently Year 5) feels like quite a different personality and we’re struggling to work out what environment might suit her best.
She is very confident, creative and energetic. She loves performing and being on stage, throws herself into extracurricular activities ( music, drama, dance, chess, rugby, art etc) and tends to be very independent and determined. She naturally gravitates towards leadership roles and enjoys organising things herself.
Academically though, she is not especially driven in the conventional sense, and we’ve found any attempts at tutoring tend to end in frustration all round.
I suppose what I’m trying to understand is what type of secondary school works well for children who are bright, capable and highly motivated when engaged, but perhaps not naturally academic in the traditional exam-focused sense.
My worry is that if she ends up somewhere without enough structure, extracurricular opportunities or stimulation outside the classroom, she may not thrive & go off the rails.
Would really value hearing from parents who have had children with a similar profile and found schools that suited them.