11 Plus Exams Forum

My daughter passed last year and has just started Townley, her score was in the 230s but I thought it might be useful for you to hear what my perception of her first few weeks has been.

Well she absolutely loves it. There are so many activities to choose from each day at lunch time and after school. She loves going to school each day.

The homework is plentiful and she is sometimes up until past 10pm completing it. This is partly because she prefers to relax a bit when she gets home but it's still early days and we are trying to ensure she manages her time a bit better. I think it's realistic to expect a couple hours work each evening.

She's made lots of new friends but she hasn't yet got a "best" friend.

Overall she is getting used to it. The only downside was the cashless dinner money system didn't work at the start of term and I was topping up her card with money that she couldn't access. The school were good about it and allowed her to continue school dinner until the issue was resolved.

It appears to be a caring school with good pastoral support. She's studying Spanish and Italian and enjoying both.

Next week is the year 7 disco and this will be mixed with boys from Beth's.

So far so good!

Thanks for this post. We really like the look of Townley and their bus services make it a real option whereas in the past the nightmare journey would have meant we hadn't even considered it. We are trying to decide between Townley and Newstead - the latter being on our doorstep but having suffered some governance issues of late which I am hoping they have ironed out. I feel lucky to have this choice for DD.

Hi PettsWoodFiona. I have just seen your post and thought you might like some feedback from a mum who was in your position 3 years ago. At the time, we had NW and Townley to choose from and loved both schools. In the end we opted for NW, which was my DDs preference, and was the most convenient location to us. At that time, there were no issues with headteachers etc, as these are recent situations.

I can honestly say that I have never regretted that decision for one second. My DD is very happy there and is doing well with lots of friends. My personal opinion is that whatever issues are current with the governors and headship, these are having no impact on the standard of teaching and the running of the school.

Making the right choice is such a difficult decision, but I speak from experience when I say that NW is still an amazing school and i would not hesitate to send my child there.

Hope this helps!

Thank you Mumsy and Candy Floss for sharing your experience. Congratulations Pettswoodfiona! I am also hesitating between Townley and NW, wich was the first choice of DD. Now she wants to go to BGS!

Thank you for all the info on this post. Has been really useful.

I understand the fact that ratings and league tables account only for a small part of the overall criteria in selecting the right school. But could you please help ranking the 3 schools viz. Bexley Grammar, Chis and Sid, and Townley, in the Bexley consortium by overall pedigree and outcome?

Appreciate all the help and thanks in advance.

Thanks Candy Floss. It is lovely to hear your DD is thriving and thanks for taking the time to reply. It really helps having real parents with happy DCs at schools being able to comment.