Thanks you Lewiskr and Aethel for your very informative replies.
Lewiskr: Langley was our preferred 1st choice oddly enough however we did hear through friends who have children there of some concerns, mainly based around issues the school had with teaching staff availability and low level spats between children (although a I dare say that would be present in any environment) and may well be outdated information now though. We did like the fact that the buildings are being updated to offer better facilities too, it’s hard to make a choice....
Aethel: Totally agree with your point that shiny new buildings are not everything. My DD said the same thing. We hadn’t considered St Bernard’s originally but gave it some serious thought based on the academic value ( 4 separate languages and options for 3 separate Maths subjects - maths being a favourite subject for DD) along with a perception of greater pastoral care. When asking around most people stated that the school is very much out of date so was really wanting to understand which area’s really, doesn’t bother us too much as we all really like the look of the outside but not knowing what’s on the inside is where we are unsure, are the desks falling apart, is there a smell of damp, do the washrooms have overhead cisterns etc...
We’re quite close to both Langley and St Bernard’s so either works in terms of travel. I guess the deciding factor really is the pastoral care as we believe a happy supported child is a child that learns.....
Thanks again for your replies, it does really help
