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Upton Court vs Langley

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 2:02 pm
by NikitaB
Does anyone have any thoughts on whether to choose Upton Court or Langley?

I'm aware that Langley is much more selective, and therefore gets much higher results.

But that doesn't tell me what each school is like.

Will a very fairly bright kid enjoy Upton?

Does Langley cream off all the brightest kids or do kids who could have gone to Langley still choose Upton Court?

Is Langley very pressured?

Anyone got older children at either school and can comment on them from a pastoral or happiness point of view, I'd love to hear your opinions.

I'm sure my boy will do well academically at both schools. So that's not what I'm making the choice on.

Re: Upton Court vs Langley

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:01 pm
by Drastic Dad
Nikita

Upton Court (formerly Slough Grammar) is a very good school in its own right. I know some people whose kids went to this school and those kids are doing exceptionally well in their professional lives. Langley was not part of the consortium when my two older boys sat their 11+ and in those years Herschel Grammar did better than LGS. My boys passed LGS and the Slough Consortium exams but we opted for Tiffin. Upton Court has the best transport links as it is situated on main A4. My niece went to Herschel and her parents had to buy her a car as commuting to Herschel from Hayes took too long. Her brother went to Langley Grammar and had same problem. Both kids came out with excellent results and are doing well at vey good universities (UCL and QMUL).

Langley and Herschel take better kids but Upton Court has good performance records in spite of everything. At the end of the day all depends on your child's 11+ exam score and ease of access. If you think travelling every day will be a problem then go for Upton Court because this is something your child and you will have to face every single day of their school life. If I lived somewhere in Langley/ Slough area in easy reach of all the schools then I would go for the best school my chid's 11+ results enabled him to get into (all my 3 passed with good marks and would have gone to Langley). Sadly we live on Sunbury border and Kingston is easier for us than Slough. Can't say much about co-curricular activities at Langley/Herschel as my nephew and niece studied ALL the time. My boys at Tiffin don't study like that and school pushes them to attend the compulsory co-curricular activities, sports fixtures and educational/ recreational trips. This emphasis seems to be lacking in Slough schools and there is more emphasis on studies and exam prep.

Re: Upton Court vs Langley

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:18 pm
by pia
hi nikita,

have you been to see either of these schools? I went to visit both and my DS liked Langley over Upton (though he liked Upton too) but I had found Upton to be more friendlier than Langley. In any case, I think my DS's score probably rules out Langley for us anyway :(. The other plus with Upton is they have received funding to expand/renovate their school so if your child goes there, then by the time they're in year 8 they will have some brand new facilities there. In terms of extra-curricular there seemed to be a lot more going on at Langley than Upton although I did not ask specifically about this, just what I got from the students. I was also impressed with the fact that Upton have teachers which wait at the bus stop with the pupils at home time to make sure they get on the bus okay as home time is very chaotic outside the school (although not relevant to me but was impressed with the fact that the school cared about this). The only down-side is that their facilities (library/computer rooms) are not open after school for pupils to use. Upton is also a Languages specialist so it is compulsory to do a language right up to GCSE. Langley's specialism seems to be music (although I'm sure all the grammars have other specialisms too but this is what I picked up!) Hope some of this is of use.

Re: Upton Court vs Langley

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:07 pm
by kol
http://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/sl ... a-win-win/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Upton Court vs Langley

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 10:07 am
by NikitaB
I really, really, really can't decide.

Transport wise they're virtually the same.

I don't see why you should go to Langley just because you scored high enough to get in. My son doesn't need to only be around clever children.

I'm looking for the school which is the least pressured and has the best pastoral care.

I'm not looking for the school where he'll get the best grades. He'll do well at both schools. I'm looking for the school where I think he'll be the happiest.

Does anybody know how pressured these schools are?

We looked round Langley and had mixed feelings about it. Didn't look around Upton Court, and now it's on half term for the next 2 weeks so no chance to find any more out.

Re: Upton Court vs Langley

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 10:31 am
by kara123
I suspect children will be encouraged to work hard in all grammar schools. Main differences between St Bernards and Langley for me would be:
1. St Bernards will have Catholic ethos
2. Langley offer triple science whereas St Bernards does not

Re: Upton Court vs Langley

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:22 am
by pia
Hi Nikita,

I definitely found the school and students at Upton to be more laid-back than Langley. The lessons on the walkabout seemed more livelier and the student who was showing us around spoke so highly of one of his class teachers (in a genuine way!). The other thing with Upton is that they said no-one gets entered for GCSE exams earlier (Herschel I know enters it's students for some exams earlier, can't remember if Langley does) so from that point of view there's less pressure. Why don't you email Upton and ask if you can visit - you never know, they may accommodate! I found the Deputy Head very approachable.

Re: Upton Court vs Langley

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:30 am
by pia
sorry, just seen that they're on half term for two weeks! I thought half-term was only a week's break?!

Re: Upton Court vs Langley

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:57 am
by Osasco
It is better to make comparison and ultimately the best decision based on well researched information. The links below is the most recent UK department of education performance table of the four grammar schools in Slough. There are great deal of information that can be gathered, it just requires some good level of attention to details while looking through

http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/sch ... urn=136521" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/sch ... erview=sec" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/sch ... urn=136420" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/sch ... urn=137726" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Upton Court vs Langley

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:05 pm
by Aps
Hi Everyone,
We missed the Upton Court open day. Does anyone have any idea when the next one is planned? Also any information on class sizes at Upton will be gratefully received :D . Thanks