vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

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Middlesexmum
Posts: 1008
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:54 am

Re: vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

Post by Middlesexmum »

We also went to the Open Evening last night. I didn't really think too much about the lack of green space plus it was dark so couldn't get a feel for the outdoor environment. But it's an urban school as other have said.

With one dd at St Helen's with its beautiful grounds, and another at HBS in the middle of a pretty leafy suburb, yes WGGS is going to come off worse in terms of green space.

But the big surprise for us was how much dd3 loved it. We have only been to one other open day so far - HBS in July. Dd didn't seem particularly engaged there but it was a hot day and I thought maybe at 9 and a quarter she was a bit young to have a strong opinion on schools. I had assumed that HBS would be our first choice of state school.

But how wrong was I! We went to WGGS last night thinking we would have a quick look round and then carry on with our prep for HBS. What a change in dd - we couldn't drag her out the art rooms, she loved food tech, swimming pool and we got chatting with a lovely Computer Science teacher who was impressed that dd had already done scratch. The school really 'spoke' to her in a way that HBS didn't.
3b1g
Posts: 403
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:11 pm

Re: vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

Post by 3b1g »

ToadMum wrote:If you want greenery, St Clement Danes looks to have plenty of it, to the casual passer-by.
Yes, St Clement Danes does have a more rural setting.

I'm all for the restorative powers of nature, but in my experience, preteens and teenagers don't seem to mind whether they are surrounded by trees or buildings. Perhaps someone should do a study comparing the happiness levels of teenagers living in the countryside vs teenagers living in cities.
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

Post by kenyancowgirl »

We live in the sticks and the boys go to school in the relative "town" of Stratford - not a busy city by any stretch of imagination but the school has no green space at all on site (unless you count the patch of grass in the car park that the flag pole is in.

The girls school close by is in a slightly more rural bit but the teenagers all flock into the town centre, whenever possible, to sit IN coffee shops or browse IN shops. The roads in Stratford, where cars crawl along at about 1 mile per hour are far more dangerous than a 30 mile an hour byeway - pedestrians hop out in front of cars to cross, not using the crossings/lights.

But, you know, horses for courses. Sounds like you don't like the school bluesymum, for all the reasons that I suspect your DD "as a teenager" would love it, if she were allowed to express a preference in advance (kids do change rather rapidly between Y5/6 and Y7). With regards to the outdoor sports activities, why not Google search the school website - I am sure they will give you some clues?
1Watford
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:43 pm

Re: vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

Post by 1Watford »

This is exactly why you should go to open days!

Every family is different. If the lack of greenery is going to be a deal breaker then you should find somewhere with more open spaces that will suit you and your DD. Not worth putting her through 7 years if it's not where she will thrive.

Having said that - my DD does love it and spends a lot of time outside & also (still now when she's in Y9) finds time to climb trees with her friends at lunch :roll:
In Y7 they have a lovely garden in Lady's Close which they are encouraged to use. It's just for Y7.
Cutting42
Posts: 186
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:06 pm

Re: vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

Post by Cutting42 »

Middlesexmum wrote:We also went to the Open Evening last night. I didn't really think too much about the lack of green space plus it was dark so couldn't get a feel for the outdoor environment. But it's an urban school as other have said.

With one dd at St Helen's with its beautiful grounds, and another at HBS in the middle of a pretty leafy suburb, yes WGGS is going to come off worse in terms of green space.

But the big surprise for us was how much dd3 loved it. We have only been to one other open day so far - HBS in July. Dd didn't seem particularly engaged there but it was a hot day and I thought maybe at 9 and a quarter she was a bit young to have a strong opinion on schools. I had assumed that HBS would be our first choice of state school.

But how wrong was I! We went to WGGS last night thinking we would have a quick look round and then carry on with our prep for HBS. What a change in dd - we couldn't drag her out the art rooms, she loved food tech, swimming pool and we got chatting with a lovely Computer Science teacher who was impressed that dd had already done scratch. The school really 'spoke' to her in a way that HBS didn't.
Cool, my DD was in the Art room on Monday as she is the Art Prefect, glad your DD loved it.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

Post by Guest55 »

This is why a Open Evening is not enough - go again in a school day to see the school 'working'.
ToadMum
Posts: 11946
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

Post by ToadMum »

Guest55 wrote:This is why a Open Evening is not enough - go again in a school day to see the school 'working'.
Or at least, to be able to see whether it has a field attached to it?

DS2 was bowled over by the comprehensive school that DD attended in year 7. The site that accommodated years 7 and 8 had nothing but an asphalt playground outside, with sports facilities a five minute walk away (the upper site, about a mile away, having its own huge sports field, however). He just loved the 1930s 'real old school' building and the staff whom he met on the occasions that he had visited - it helped, of course, that more than one teacher expressed the opinion that their life would be so much easier if they had a whole class of his sister in front of them, so to speak :lol: . Unfortunately, the day before the open evening, we had broken the news to them that she would be leaving at the end of the week for a place at grammar school, but she still spent the evening as a 'helper' and they were nice about her to the end.

On the other hand, the school with the most outside space he would only allow us to put down as a 'safe' (OOC but good score on entrance test) 5th preference. This one, DD had also been lukewarm about, but DS1 had really liked it. It's the 'feel' of the school which is important and no two people will get exactly the same impression of any one.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
doodles
Posts: 8300
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:19 pm

Re: vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

Post by doodles »

On the other hand I went to a school that was based in a listed (parts of it grade 1) building set in 72 acres of rolling landscape and woodland. Fabulous when in the junior department but horribly cut off in the senior school. Only school coach or mum's taxi available and if you wanted to do an after school club and your mum worked it was a half mile schlep down the drive to the local village bus stop. When all the other local schools were based in town and people were meeting up after school etc we just couldn't, it was very isolating.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad !
K1w1mum
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 4:47 pm

Re: vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

Post by K1w1mum »

bluesymum wrote:Thanks k1w1mum for your reply, the Watford girl who was taking us on the tour did say that there are fields that the girls use which belong to the school.,,do they use those for sports activities..and during break times? would you know what outdoor sports activities they participate in?
Sorry, I'd prepared the question for the q&a but forgot to ask.,
I thought I'd replied to this, apologies for the delay.
The fields are used for sports ( football, rounders, cricket, hockey and athletics) and there are tennis and netball courts. There are also clubs for some specialist outdoor sports such as archery. Girls who like sports do well at the school, but the PE department are also very encouraging for the less sporty.
When the weather is warm or nice enough, lots of girls eat lunch on the fields or go for a walk or muck around by the trees. Y7 have a lovely garden all of their own, in Lady's Close, their form building.
bluesymum
Posts: 86
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2016 9:33 pm

Re: vibe and atmosphere of Watford girls school

Post by bluesymum »

Thankyou all ever so much for taking the time to reply.
I will ring the school to see if I could visit the school in the morning.
And visit st clement Danes and parniters too.,
And the bucks schools, dr challoners and chesham grammar.,
:roll:
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