Bexley grammars

guest123 · Post by **guest123** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:03 pm

Does anyone have any particular views on Bexley GS, Townley GS and Chislehurst & Sidcup GS? Any special positive or negative experience, or just an opinion, please.

Bexley Mum 2 · Post by **Bexley Mum 2** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:06 am

I presume it's OK for me to express personal views on individual schools on this forum? No doubt my post will be edited if I say anything I shouldn't!

I have no direct personal experience of any of the schools you mention, but as my 2nd child has just sat the Bexley 11+ I've heard bits and pieces from other parents.

Bexley Grammar seems to me to held up as the school to strive for in the borough. I don't know if that's because we are in North Bexley and BG is tantalisingly just out of reach in terms of distance for most of us here! Having said that, my eldest son (who is at Beths) has a friend at BG and he seems to love it. They've just had an Ofsted Inspection - haven't checked to see if it's on the Ofsted site yet, but worth checking.

The only thing I've heard about Townley is from an acquaintance of mine who has two daughters close in age one of whom went to Trinity (having failed 11+) and the other went to Townley. Her take on Townley was that it was hugely highly pressured and her Townley daughter had collapsed with nervous exhaustion after her A Levels. The Trinity daughter had in her view received just as good an education without the same pressure - and went on to get a 1st at Canterbury.

Chis and Sids is, I think an absolutely lovely school. The open evening this year was very impressive (much, much more than BG's). The grounds are lovely and it's great for sport. Having said that, after much agonising, we ended up putting Beths as our first choice for No. 2 son. We liked the feel of Chis & Sids best - and it's mixed which he would prefer - but Beths is on an academic high, the journey is easier and one or two other factors came into play, including the fact that we're probably too far away!

It's worth considering non-core subjects if you think your daughter might be interested in languages (which of course it's difficult to tell at 10/11). BG for example do Latin and offer lots of modern languages (Japanese, Russian) which other schools don't necessarily do.

Good luck!

guest123 · Post by **guest123** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:41 am

Bexley Mum 2,
Thanks for this reply. It's very helpful to hear different views. We visited all three schools this year. We were impressed by Chis & Sid particularly, just that feeling, you know. Something so special, it seemed so right. Bexley Grammar presented itself rather high and felt distant for some reason, although languages were irresistible. Townley was very friendly and felt caring. But some pupils appeared looking...let me say, not very academic. Those were just first impressions, mainly based on feelings.

Bexley · Post by **Bexley** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 7:37 pm

Hi ,

my daughter is now in YR7 at Chis & Sid.

We obviously looked at all 3 grammars applicable to her, and this is the one we all got the best feel for. She is happy and doing very well there.

However, she has friends at Beths, BGS and Townley too. These schools were their first choices and they seem to be equally as happy!

Nearly all the children I know/heard of found the first few weeks difficult regardless of where they went. All are now settled in and seem to be thriving.

We were fortunate in that we are fairly central to all 3 schools, so distance was not something we had to consider. We had a leaning towards a mixed school and as it happened Chis and Sid was the one our daughter really took to and the one where the pupils showing us around and the staff impressed us the most.

I don't think you would be disappointed with any of the Bexley grammar schools if the experience of my daughter and her friends at other schools is anything to go by

Guest123 · Post by **Guest123** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:37 pm

Recent Ofsted report for Townley was a bit worrying. There is a mixture of grades 1 and 2. Some of our comps achieved higher grades overall. What is happening?

guest123 · Post by **guest123** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:48 pm

This is the link to Townley report.
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf/?i ... 071127.pdf

While Bexley school was graded as outstanding in all areas.

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/In ... oryID=8192

Bexley Mum 2 · Post by **Bexley Mum 2** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:16 pm

Guest 123 - I'd love to know which non-selectives in Bexley got a better Ofsted report that Townley?

guest123 · Post by **guest123** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:09 pm

We are in Greenwich Borough. These are reports of two non-selective schools.

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf/?i ... 070129.pdf

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf/?i ... 051215.pdf

Bexley Mum 2 · Post by **Bexley Mum 2** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:23 pm

Ah, I assumed that as we were talking about Bexley Schools you meant Bexley non-selectives.

guest123 · Post by **guest123** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:42 pm

Dear Bexley Mum 2,
I always thought that Bexley non-selective secondary schools were excellent. Do you think that the two non-selectives I mentioned are better than Bexley non-selectives? Also, having thought about everything, I concluded that no matter what the reports say, non-selective school can not be better than grammar. Curriculum, environment etc. matters. Unless LEAs started focusing more on non-selectives now. Just a thought, you know. Oh, I am becoming obsessed with schools now.