Back up schools for Sutton grammars - Glenthorne, Greenshaw, Harris Sutton, St Philomena?

[karmi2010]

Hi everyone

What are people's opinion on the above schools? Need to put them in order of preference as back ups for Nonsuch and Wally Girls (if DD passes 2nd stage next week), currently thinking of the following order of preference:

3 - Glenthorne (would need band 8 or 9 to get in from our address)
4 - Harris Sutton (unlikely as too far but seems a good school?)
5 - St Philomena (not sure what our odds are as non-catholics, but seems a good school as well and is our nearest)
6 - Greenshaw (should get in via SET 60 places but didn't really like it on the open day hence the last place)

Would really appreciate any opinions or comments or suggestion of any other schools we should consider.

Thanks you!

I have heard very good things about Glenthorne & know 2 dc at Harris with happy parents. St Phil’s - I have friends who went there so out of date now.

There's no safe option on that list. If you live near St Phils, I'd ditch Harris Sutton and add a 'banker' school in 6th place i.e. Car Girls or Oaks.

We are probably doing: Wally Girls, Nonsuch. Greenshaw, Carshalton Girls. Considering whether to throw St Phils into the mix. We've decided against Glenthorne. To me it's not worth the additional travel compared to Greenshaw, and I hear it's quite strict, but I know others are giving it a shot.

Edited to add: you historically have needed 210/211 for Greenshaw. The girls SET pass mark was 206. Obviously your DD may have aced it and be well above that, but you can't be certain of a SET place.

Thank you!

Thank you - I didn't realise the SET place is not guaranteed!

Although I am not too sure about Greenshaw anyway - I didn't quite like it on the open day and I don't like that they have no sets and that they limit the curriculum from year 9 already (ie you already have to choose only 2 subjects from the likes of art, DT, economics etc in year 9, so if you choose say French and Economics you don't do any of the art, music, dt, drama etc... I think it's way to early to do this in year 9).

I didn't really like Carshalton Girls during the visit, and Oaks' results are quite low, so not sure about it either.

Also, I thought as we are strongly in catchment for both, I could always put DD on the waiting list for them on the 2 March if I am not happy with the allocated school, and DD would then get a place there anyway during the second round of offers - or I am wrong here?

My parents live near Oaks Park School and I've recently been getting the bus with kids from there while visiting them. The kids seem fine and I've twice had girls from there offer me a seat which was nice of them. I don't know about results as my kids grew up elsewhere.

There are 60 Greenshaw SET places allocated by score, so it depends how many people choose it and score higher than your DC. I agree the lack of sets at Greenshaw is a bit disappointing and Oaks doesn't have the most academic rating, although is becoming more popular.

You are right that you could probably go on the waiting lists and get a place at Carshalton Girls or Oaks, but it is a risky strategy. They will only allocate places in round 2 if people have turned them down. It's quite likely someone will turn down a place for private schools or because they get a waiting list place at a school they prefer, but it's not guaranteed. You could end up with a random offer (somewhere like Overton Grange) and have a long wait. I would check Harris' distance criteria and see if you have any reasonable shot, and if not leave that off in favour of a less competitive school.

Thank you - this is a good point!

I might apply to a couple of independent schools, as the very back up options.

You can write to St Phil and ask them historic distances offered to non-catholics. Since Brexit Catholic numbers have dropped a lot and most Catholic schools (previously never did) are offering places to non-catholics based on distance. You need to provide a faith letter if you apply under ‘other faiths’ or you could apply under ‘no faith’. Do contact the school before half term and assess your chances before you submit the CAF.

Also you can put your DC on any school waiting list after offer day. You are not limited to the 6 schools on your CAF. If you plan to do this then do consider the admission criteria for those schools. E.g. we went on the Glenthorne WL post March, but my DC had given the banding test. Same for Greenshaw. We live a touch too far so it wasn’t worth taking up 1/6 places on CAF but we added it as the 7th school. Many people don’t know you can do this but it is possible to widen your choices this way.

Thank you, this is very helpful!