Upton Court Or Langley Grammar?

[Enya]

Hello!

My son has qualified the Slough 11plus exam and we live within walking distance to Upton Court Grammar and 5 mins drive to Langley Grammar.

We are very confused between the two schools as both are at par! We will really appreciate any guidance to help us take a decision about which school to put on our CAF form.

My son enjoys Sports and currently plays Football, Rugby and Cricket. We prefer a school which has a balanced approach - where academics are important but other extra curricular activities and Sports are also invested on.

Can experienced parents please share their views on the two schools - the good, bad and ugly? Please share your positives and negatives about both schools.

Thank you!

[2020D2022S]

Can't say about competitive sports or athletics in UCGS or LGS, but our tour guide at StBCGS open evening last month would not stop "bragging" about how his school was better at competitive sports than the other two neighbouring schools.

[Enya]

Thank you. I came out quite impressed from the open evening at St Bernard’s - more around how well organised it was compared to UCGS and I feel both Teachers and pupils had made such great effort by being very engaging - I believe this was there way of filling up for their facilities being a bit dates compared to the other two schools.

Tbh, UCGS was chaotic experience on the Open day, however the teachers and pupils seemed to have put in effort and were engaging with Parents.

At Langley Grammar, there were no displays of any artwork, projects, experiments, etc and to top it, the staff didn't even lift up there head to wish you a good evening when you entered their classroom. On asking, why they dont have any displays like other schools - the answer was - because we dont have to try hard to sell our school. That was such arrogance!! Though I will say their new building and facilities do look great and quite impressive, but I say to myself that those things will date with time.

[infiniteloop]

How is Herschel Grammar School compared to other 3 schools? I know distance is a key preference in this but let's say, if distance wasn't the issue, would Herschel be in your list? if not, why?

[Enya]

We didnt visit Herschel on the Open evening as its on the other side of Slough for us - so I am afraid, I am not the tight person to give any feedback on Herschel. Upton and St Bernards are literally a 2 nin walk for us and Langley is a 5 min drive. So we never bothered much with Herschel.

[2020D2022S]

Unless you lived right between HGS and UCGS/StBCGS, the preference is obvious. And LGS can quite easily align with UCGS/StBCGS combo preference, thus HGS would be lesser consideration. Between HGS and the other 3, distance is usually the determinant, if you exclude score criteria.

[kancha31]

Hi, Enya

This is just my opinion.

My Daughter is year 10 at Upton. Shei is happy there since year 7.
4 years ago I was same position like you. which school is better for my child.
we went to both school open evening. At Langley I felt the same like you had. Just felt they are not really welcoming or appealing own school. their curriculum seems great especially music. but at Upton we felt welcoming atmosphere from head teacher,subject teachers and even students. Academically they are almost same, good GCSE result outstanding school. I think my daughter felt same. In the end she is the one to spend next 7 years so I applied UCGS. No regret.

by the way my daughter also said that open evning was disaster this year. histolically year 8 pupils guide the tour, but due to COVID pandemic last year. They did not have chance to explore the school site much so when they guide the school they lost...

I have learnt more about subjects or GCSE after she went to UCGS. they start GCSE subject from year 9, LGS start from yer 10. choice of GSCE subjects are slightly different.

this year my son sat the exam and had good score to apply both school. Looking happy sister last 4 years, he always want to go to UCGS.
I went to LGS open morning with my son, just want to see how I feel. My friends daughter goes to LGS and seems happy. I thought my son might like it. my thoughts was same as 4 years ago. School building were new and modern much more attractive. but I felt school did not care about all applicants, even they might be future pupils. Maybe they look after well once get in.

As a parent, we want to choose right passway for our child.
I think important thing is that your child is happy with school.

[Enya]

Thank you Kancha31 for sharing your experience with such detail. This is very helpful. I am also getting more and more inclined to UCGS as it felt like a much more welcoming school than LGS. I haven’t so far come across a single person who has said any negatives about UCGS, though I have heard couple of negative comments about LGS.

Thank you once again

[2020D2022S]

Hello!
...we live within walking distance to Upton Court Grammar and 5 mins drive to Langley Grammar.
...

In your envious position of being in close proximity to the three schools, I would visit both schools this afternoon - 3:05 for UCGS, about 3:20ish for others, or early tomorrow morning around 8am, and have a chat with kids/parents there. I know UCGS and StB don't break until after Friday, not sure of LGS. Next week is half term and UCGS has 2week half term, so I would not delay this opportunity.

[Enya]

Thank you, but I don’t feel very comfortable walking up to strangers to gauge feedback. Though I do understand that best hear it from the horse’s mouth, but I am afraid its not something I really feel comfortable doing. But thanks