KE Aston v Tudor Grange

[Ruudi1]

My DS already has a place at Tudor grange Academy however he has been offered a place at KE Aston. He liked Aston when he looked around on open day but now he has a place at Tudor Grange (where a lot of his friends are going) he is reluctant to accept the place at KE Aston.

Can anyone with experience of either of these schools let me know positive and negatives of them to help us make the decision. One negative of Aston would be a long bus journey - would it be worth it?

Any information would be very helpful. Thanks.

[mike1880]

No, it wouldn't be worth it. Why on earth do people in Solihull even bother to apply to GS? TG is one of the top comprehensive schools in England. If we lived in the catchment for TG we certainly wouldn't have bothered applying to GS.

Go and look at the DofE schools attainment tables for TG and KEA, and in particular look at the achievements of high attainers (which presumably your son is).

http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/sch ... c&qtype=LA
http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/sch ... c&qtype=LA

Mike

[sbarnes]

in our case, TG is mixed whereas some GS's in brum are single sex. Thats is a big consideration for some families.

[Ruudi1]

Thanks for the replies.

I would be keen to hear from anyone who may have one child at Tudor Grange and one at a Grammar school to see what the differences are.

My one concern about Tudor Grange having spoken to children who already go there (in year 10 and above) is that they push you too hard if you are bright (also that they start GCSE courses at the end of year 8 and get much more homework than their friends at grammars) would like to know if this is really the case. Also the school is quite a bit larger than KE Aston therefore is the pastoral care as good?

Many thanks for your replies so far and any more that I might get. It is a difficult decision to have to make, as we are not in the Tudor Grange catchment we were very surprised to be offered a place there and are now even more surprised that we have an offer from KE Aston!

[sbarnes]

Was TG under subscribed this year? How is it possible to get offered a place living out the catchment zone.

[Ruudi1]

I can only think that yes Tudor Grange was undersubscribed this year - it is a low birth rate year so this probably explains it. Apparently next year the birth rate level increases quite dramatically so those applying for entrance in 2014 outside of catchment will probably not get in. However, I have heard of many children outside of catchment historically getting a place at Tudor Grange so it obviously isn't as difficult to obtain a place there as some people think.

Anyway we will spend the weekend pondering what to do as both schools have fantastic reputations. In the meantime any advice is very much appreciated.

[Camphillian]

I have to agree with Mike. Nothing on earth would induce me to send a child on a long tiring journey every day to a place like Aston when he has such a brilliant option as Tudor Grange so much closer where all his friends are going. In my opinion it is a no-brainer. Grammar schools are very useful when the local options are dire, as in many parts of Birmingham, but not for anyone who has easy access to the Solihull schools.

[UmSusu]

I would echo the above too - unless you feel that Aston offers something that TG doesn't

I don't have direct personal experience with either but do have a friend who sent her eldest DC to Aston from Solihull (although it would equally apply to most of the grammars in Birmingham). Whilst they were happy to make the journey at first, over time they felt it was a huge commitment and burden. Her second son did not pass for the grammars and went to TG, where he did really well and socialised more with local friends. By the time it came to DS3, they decided not to even enter for the grammar tests.

I guess you could be cynical about Brummies saying send your child to a school in Solihull , but I can honestly say I wouldn't bother with a lengthy journey for my DC if there was a good local alternative.

[sbarnes]

what is a reasonable journey for a child to make on public transport to get to school and back? 30mins? 45mins?

[hermanmunster]

if there isn't much to choose between the schools then go for the local one,

I lived in Solihull as a kid and travelled to B'ham to school, - I found it hard to keep up friendships as local friends saw each other during the day - particularly hard when i got to sixth form and nearly everyone I knew was at solihull sixth form college - it is OK to a degree to go to clubs but it is the arranging of things that happened more casually during the day
(Ok I know it was the dark ages - pre mobile phones and facebook, twitter etc ). also the journeys can be exhausting in the winter and you friends just amble up the road