Jump to content

Secondary schools


Monkey

Recommended Posts

I?ve started looking at secondary schools, including the two Charters, Harris Girls, Kingsdale and Sydenham School. It?s becoming another full-time job. Any others I should add to my list, which are worth seeing and which i?ve got even if only the tiniest bit of chance of getting into? I live by Goodrich School. Thanks!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good luck - i remember this process last year well! As you mention Harris Girls i will leave out boys only schools.


There is also Prendergast (Brockely) and they have some other schools under this umbrella - but the Brockley one is oversubscribed so it is strictly on distance

Deptford Green (not on your list)

Haberdashers (Telegrpah hill / Deptford) - also a small catchment area though


If your child is musical you can sit a test at Prendergast as well as Kingsdale (and Kingsdale also offers sports shcolarships). There are places for musical scholarships at Prendergast which are then not based on distance.

Prendergast has a written test that your child can sit which you can aquaint yourself with (not like me who looked at this the night before!) if they get sufficient marks for that then they can do an audition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all. That?s very helpful.


I?ve listened to the K. address already (twice in the same day!) 😊


Generally speaking I find the addresses pretty annoying. I get schools which have moved to a lottery system telling me how they?ve improved outcomes (when they?ve found a way to recruit a different cohort)and schools which operate a catchment in super wealthy areas telling me how amazing they are (when they should really give some kids from further afield a bit of a chance).


I think i?m Open Dayed out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For Prendergast Hilly Fields (the girls only in Brockley) yes the catchment is very small. There are a few music scholarship places. I don?t know if it?s changed but when my daughter went through it two years ago there were 12 places. Firstly they sat a music aptitude test which lasted about 45 minutes. Of those 65 were chosen to audition. Of those 12 were offered music places, although not everyone takes the place up.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Monkey Wrote

>

> Generally speaking I find the addresses pretty

> annoying. I get schools which have moved to a

> lottery system telling me how they?ve improved

> outcomes (when they?ve found a way to recruit a

> different cohort)and schools which operate a

> catchment in super wealthy areas telling me how

> amazing they are (when they should really give

> some kids from further afield a bit of a chance).

>

> I think i?m Open Dayed out.


I have to agree with you, it?s very difficult to compare like for like when the schools have very different entry criteria. Banding and scholarships mean a school can adjust the cohort - you can?t blame them, but it?s a bit tiresome hearing schools boast about their amazing results when they are selecting their intake. Let?s just be honest about it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't recommend Sydenham School enough. And it is a properly comprehensive school with a transparent admissions process, which is refreshing! It's nice to go to school music concerts and see girls playing the drums and bass guitar, for example. Girls play Rugby there. There's a lot of after school clubs. The pastoral care is excellent. And now they have a beautiful new building and refurbished grounds as well.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that Sydenham School is refreshing! Beautiful buildings and the girls are really lovely.


We?re already out of this year?s catchment and if it shrinks further, we?re screwed.


Seeing Harris ED tomorrow. We already saw it last year and are really looking forward to seeing the team again.


Thank you for all your help and suggestions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Monkey Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Seeing Harris ED tomorrow. We already saw it last

> year and are really looking forward to seeing the

> team again.


Hi Monkey, as you know my daughter has just started at Harris ED and so far she loves it, the staff are very engaging and super supportive. There is lots of extra-curricular activities for the girls to do, my daughter has opted for netball and climbing (all free). She also has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument of her choice (including drums)and receives small group tuition every week for free.


We are very impressed so far (early days I know but no reason to feel anything other than really positive).


I think they had a weird entry system in the last couple of years - part banding & distance /part banding & lottery, Carrie Senior the headmistress (who we have found to be very impressive) suggested last year that she wanted to move away from this as it was overly complicated - perhaps ask what the entry criteria will be for this year?


Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all, just back from Harris Girls ED and absolutely loved it, even more so than I did last year. Very, very warm staff, very sharp. The curriculum is broadening, they?ve improved their library, opened up a bookshop and started their own publishing house. The head of art is very impressive as is the head who made herself available for questions.

I really suggest people go and visit. This school is often overlooked and really shouldn?t be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
I see this post is from September, but also found Harris Girls ED impressive! We visited a few weeks ago. I was not expecting to like Harris ED so much but my daughter, my mother (who is visiting from the USA) and me all agreed Harris ED was tops. We also visited Kingsdale and found the Head's talk far too long, people were actually walking out before it was over (they showed a video of him speaking. We visited Grey Coats today and it its lovely...very academic but could be good for the right girl.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Option 1.  Let them go bust.  Government takes over, until an appropriate solution found.  This happens with failing train operating companies  Option 2.  Anyone who made money on the privatisation, or their immediate descendants, bail them out  Obviously the latter isn't going to happen but makes me feel better/superior. What do you reckon?  Big picture.  Small picture as I posted elsewhere is that they were good when we had a leaking main.  And of course mass redundancies need to be avoided.
    • Hi my mum has a lovely frenchi , he needs to be walked , as mum (80) is a bit fragile . he is a lovely dog , a bit nervous when around other dogs . Mum lives in East Dulwich . how much do you charge ?   Thanks 🙏🏼 
    • Plenty for sale online from various ticket vendors but you'll need to part with £250 and upwards by the looks of it. Out of interest i kept an eye on the prices for the England and Italy Euro final. At one point they were on offer for a couple of grand each. On the day sellers were obviously getting itchy feet and prices dropped somewhat but never went any lower than £400. That was a few hours before kick off. There was plenty still available half an hour before kick off.   Having been to Wembley a couple of times for play off finals i found it to be not a great place to watch football. Sat three rows back from the pitch side advertising hoardings for one game and way way up in the gods for the other. We felt to far away from the pitch on both occasions. Up in the goods was just stupid because we felt cut off as well.  I don't think it was rebuilt with acoustics in mind either. Even with most of our 25k fans singing it never sounded loud because it's pretty much uncovered and too open.   Happy hunting!
    • It doesn't work as a commercial venture.  Bit churlish to say I told you so.  I told you so.  I'll send less greetings cards.  What pees me off is international postage where you can no longer send light letters at 10 grammes, normal ones up to 20g, now all at the much more expensive 100 g  Didn't we vote to take back control and price everything according to irrational units like ounces? That's some obscure humour btw   
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...