Decisions Decisions! Decision time!!! WCHS v CCHS

[kaynor]

Interesting to know that most of the "brilliant" girls come from in and around the Woodford area. Must be something in the water.

Any child who is prepared to embrace the opportunity and work diligently will likely thrive in both schools.

If "success" is measured by comparing results between different schools it may well be the A level results that are more relevant.

[MrsB]

League tables don't actually tell you the full story about the value add of the school. It would appear that while CCHS has always tended to require a higher score to get in than the others, the others have tended to catch up by A level.

[moved]

I would assume that people would be looking at figures for gcse. Most of the grammars take in other students for VI form. The entry requirements for VI form must surely impact on the KS5 results. Competition is stiff at this level too.

Students also move from one grammar to another for preference of subject combination, a change of scene, etc.

[nini]

My DD has just started at CCHS and she could not be happier. She chose it over the Southend schools even though they were closer. She has a relatively long journey but she loves the social life on the train. I fretted over the journey for ages but so far it has not caused any problems. She has made lovely friends and she has already had a couple of sleepovers. I could not recommend CCHS higher. Go with your gut feeling and your DD's feelings. Which school would suit her best? Where do you think she would be happier? That is the most important thing! Good luck!

[moved]

DS commuted for four terms. He thought that the train was the best bit of the day! However, at 16 he enjoys not having to get up until 8am, shower, grab breccie and walk out of the door with his sister who has been up for an hour longer. Boys!

[Kool_Dad]

I am having the similar dilemma and done some research on the quality and performance of both the schools(WCHS and CCHS).
Since my daughter got[based on the score(ChCHS) and rank(WCHS)] the both places, here are the details.

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GCSE
School Name A B C D E Column A Percentage of pupils achieving 5 A* to C grades or equivalent including A* to C grades in maths and English.
Chelmsford County High School for Girls FD Selective 111 100% 1030 93% 1150.7 Column B Number of Key Stage four pupils in all English Bacc subject areas.
Colchester County High School for Girls FD Selective 93 100% 1025.5 85% 1081 Column C Percentage of key stage four pupils achieving English Baccalaureate
Woodford County High School CY Selective 114 100% 1040.5 96% 892.6 Column D Percentage of Key Stage Pupils achieving A* to C in both English and maths GCSE.
Westcliff High School for Girls FD Selective 94 100% 1030.4 60% 1048.6 Column E Value added measure based on the best 8 GCSEs and equivalent resu.
Column F Average A-level point score per student.

2012- Alevel Results:
% A* % A*AB
Chelmsford County High School for Girls FD Selective 20.05 90.89
Woodford County High School CY Selective 12.47 77.61
Colchester County High School for Girls FD Selective 18.55 88.92
**************************************************************
The league tables above clearly gives an idea to me to choose WCHS(GCSE results both WCHS and ChCHS are the same). Moreover most of the brilliant girls from outside catchment of ChCHS will join in the WCHS and obviously WCHS will beat ChCHS in few years time i.e when our pupil reaches GCSE...

So I strongly decided not to send DD to ChCHS due to journey. First preference is WCHS.

School's GCSE and A Level results varies each year depending upon the ability and quality of students in particular batch, I would not give importance of GCSE and A level performance in any particular year rather look for performance over 5 years or so.

In my opinion, the important thing to look is:

- Facility provided by school, in terms of Labs, Studio's and Sports.
- Attitude of head teacher and his/her vision
- Slogan/ ethos of school, this indicates what that school is proud of.
- Commuting convenience and time (not in terms of distance, sometime short distance can have longer commuting)
-Financial status of school
- Ability of school to explore child's talent and provide required support.
- Specialist area (Music, Art, Technologies) , Please note that CCHS is specialised in three area, only 2 or 3 schools in country are specialised in three area as far as I know.
- per child teaching and support staff ratio
- % girls going to cambridge, oxford etc.

If child is intelligent then she can defiantly achieve good grades in GCSE or A level in any school, but that doesn't necessarily mean that her talent is recognised and encouraged properly, this is why above points are important.

Cheers

(EDIT: Added some more which I think important)

[Helping Hand]

Many thanks for sharing your experience. We went to the CCHS- enquiry day and we made our desicion on what we found from the headteacher that there is NO guarantee for the place for gilrs at that school - as we are from Non-catchment area...we don't have idea - how many girls/parents will put this school as their 1st choice. There are gilrs from NC area scored higher than her. So for that reason even we liked the school we will go with WCHS as our 1st choice and DD has friends will join her. She also enjoys her extra activities- music, singing, chess clubs...redbridge - has given them ranks and it is less risky! as she is in top 50.

Someone ask which tuition place? - As per tuition - name deleted by moderator, due to advertising rules only one place! for VR, NVR, Maths and English. They worked very hard as a team and she made lovely friends there as well I hope all the very best for the future. Good luck to your children for coming years.

[rbs]

Hi,


As I understand it, the equal preference system means that you could put CCHS first (if you prefer the school to WCHS) and even if DD does not secure a place, she will be offered WCHS as this will effectively become her first choice.

RBS

[tabasco]

Many thanks for sharing your experience. We went to the CCHS- enquiry day and we made our desicion on what we found from the headteacher that there is NO guarantee for the place for gilrs at that school - as we are from Non-catchment area...we don't have idea - how many girls/parents will put this school as their 1st choice. There are gilrs from NC area scored higher than her. So for that reason even we liked the school we will go with WCHS as our 1st choice and DD has friends will join her. She also enjoys her extra activities- music, singing, chess clubs...redbridge - has given them ranks and it is less risky! as she is in top 50.

Someone ask which tuition place? - As per tuition - name removed ...only one place! for VR, NVR, Maths and English. They worked very hard as a team and she made lovely friends there as well I hope all the very best for the future. Good luck to your children for coming years.

I think you should reconsider your decision and consider put CCHS as your first preference and follow by WCHS as second preference. If she don't get CCHS then WCHS will then automatically becomes your first preference. If you don't put CCHS you will not know. There might be a lot of parents making the same assumption and don't apply. There is no harm to put CCHS down as your first preference. It doesn't matter how many parents will put CCHS as their first choice as long as you and your DD like it!!!!!

[aang]

If you don't feel confident of getting a place at Chelmsford Girls with a score of 380 and would rather have the security of a place at WCHS, then by all means don't put CCHS amongst your list.

I remember the headteacher of KEGS saying at a presentation two years ago something along the lines of "If you can go to a local school, go to a local school. If you can afford to go to an independent school, go to an independent school. There are plenty of children who want to come to KEGS who don't have that choice.."