11 Plus Exams Forum

I have posted in the 6th form section asking for advice but thought there may be someone on this forum who can help.

I can't comment on KEGS because I don't know enough about it other than when we looked at both we felt that CRGS was a better match for our DS.

What I can tell you is that the boys are lovely. There is an entry at year 9 and lots of boys and girls join the 6th form together with boarders from overseas and are welcomed and integrate well.

I think the slight competitive edge is there when you have boys going to both schools from the same primary rather than it being inherent. I don't think KEGS is near enough to register with most CRGS boys who, remember, come from a very wide area including parts of Suffolk and even Cambridge where they probably haven't heard of KEGS.

I can say that the best thing about CRGS is everything other than the academic stuff. The school aims to give them the best life and learning experience they can. They have fun and are treated like grown ups in the 6th form wearing business dress and not uniform.

That said, the boys who have been there from day 1 are very proud of this fact and can be seen sporting - voluntarily - one of the many ties they have earned in their first 5 years.

I love this school and can thoroughly recommend it but go and see it and feel it. If it feels right to your son then go for it, he will be welcomed and I am sure feel like a CRGS boy before he knows it.

Very very good luck

I asked my sons if joining CRGS 6th form from Kegs would be a problem and the general consensus was a resounding no! One said (with a huge grin) some good natured teasing was a possibility (depending on personalities) because of course "everyone knows CRGS is a much better school than Kegs"!

Many thanks for feedback received.

Interestingly I found out from essex admissions that while there is movement from KEGS to CRGS it is rare to find boys leaving CRGS to KEGS. I don't know what to make of that but have decided to just let my DS decide for himself and then support his decision. He has never felt he fitted in and I suspect that this is because he doesn't have the best social skills in the world not because of anything that was about KEGS. My worry is that he just thinks the grass is greener and it will be even tougher but I also wish we had looked at CRGS to begin with because it sounds like a smaller, closer school and this may have made things easier for him.

Are you sure that you're not talking about my DS!

Son no 2 has just recollected that someone did join his yr group in the 6th form from Kegs. Its taken him a while to think of it! Apparently he was treated no differently from those boys and girls joining from other schools.

I went to open evening last night and was blown away - why did we not go and look at this amazing school 6 years ago!

My only worry is that it was absolutely packed.

Not completely off topic...

Do many girls from ColCHS choose to spend their sixth form at CRGS instead of staying on in the girls' school ?

I killed that one stone dead, didn't I?

Yes, some do but I can't help with the numbers other than to say that it's always a reasonable group (probably the largest contingent from any one source).