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Handsworth Grammar

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 5:52 am
by Thumbsup
Dependant upon Bham results may consider Handsworth Boys Grammar to put on CAF. Please share your thoughts on school. I haven't attended an Open Day here, however DS sat entrance test here and we were very impressed with the coordination on the day.

Also logistics wise .... It's a 20 min metro ride away, and then a further 0.6 miles which should be manageable walking. Is this a straightforward safe walking route?

I'm not familiar at all with this area, so would really value any shared thoughts/opinions.

Also any info on school duration times would be handy.

Re: Handsworth Grammar

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 7:42 am
by Bob1892
Is hgs your nearest GS? Logistics is an crucial factor I think.
Hgs has become a very good school of recent years according to a family who sends their ds there.
Handsworth is nowhere as bad as some people make it out to be. I've known the area for over 40 years. :)

Re: Handsworth Grammar

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:30 am
by WindowGlass
Handworth town: a very pleasant, mild and tolerant place. Culturally diverse of course. Only, there are some spots I wouldn't casually venture in late at night - but then you won't be will you!?!?

The school. I don't know.

Transport. The major city bus route (79?) might be easier. Not sure what the relationship with children of other local schools is like.

HWG (? the girls' school) is more on the edge of the 'town' rather than right in the centre like the boys' school.

If HWB is a consideration, then maybe KEA should also be - not too far away.

A shame you didn't visit though - have they no further opportunities to do so; even during the daytime?

Being in the centre of town, leaving school late after clubs (any? surely are.), trips, sports (do they have their own facilities - or have to travel ?)

I suppose it's a school that acheives no matter what - how much of that is don to children/staff/school/parents I don't know. Just make sure you find out as much as you can about th school from as many sources as you can and 'see' your own child fitting in to the (hopefully) informed picture you have of the school's values and drives.

Re: Handsworth Grammar

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 10:03 am
by Thumbsup
Bob1892 wrote:Is hgs your nearest GS? Logistics is an crucial factor I think.
Hgs has become a very good school of recent years according to a family who sends their ds there.
Handsworth is nowhere as bad as some people make it out to be. I've known the area for over 40 years. :)
We are a 30-40 min drive from each of our grammar schools. HGS is also this distance. Depends on results but may consider as a preference. It's probably quicker to travel on the metro. Would the walk from Winson Green station to school be manageable?

Thank you Bob1892 and also WindowGlass for your valuable comments, much appreciated.

Re: Handsworth Grammar

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 10:06 am
by thirdtimemum
We attended the open day and have to say we weren't overly impressed. DS immediately didn't like the feel of the place. We were initially shown to religious studies and then to business studies which they don't study til year 10. At that point we intervened and asked specifically to be taken to certain departments. Most staff seemed totally uninspiring and sports seemed to be bottom of the list of priorities. The way that maths was presented was by showing the exercise books which compared to other open days I was very unimpressed. The 6th former that showed us around was polite but I can only describe him as boring and not very enthusiastic about the school.
The thing that kept being shown was the new 6th form, something which again is not on my priorities at the moment. It's a shame as I wanted us to really like it as it may be our only choice by DS has said no way so I'm not going to push him.
I had heard lots of positives but it's not for us

Re: Handsworth Grammar

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:05 am
by Bob1892
Firsttimemum wrote:We attended the open day and have to say we weren't overly impressed. DS immediately didn't like the feel of the place. We were initially shown to religious studies and then to business studies which they don't study til year 10. At that point we intervened and asked specifically to be taken to certain departments. Most staff seemed totally uninspiring and sports seemed to be bottom of the list of priorities. The way that maths was presented was by showing the exercise books which compared to other open days I was very unimpressed. The 6th former that showed us around was polite but I can only describe him as boring and not very enthusiastic about the school.
The thing that kept being shown was the new 6th form, something which again is not on my priorities at the moment. It's a shame as I wanted us to really like it as it may be our only choice by DS has said no way so I'm not going to push him.
I had heard lots of positives but it's not for us
Horses for courses I suppose.
Hgs is WAAAAYYYYY better than 90% of the comps in brum (particularly boys comps) so it's definitely worth putting on your caf list if the logistics are viable.
Good luck
Bob

Re: Handsworth Grammar and others

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 12:28 pm
by WindowGlass
I think Bob's right.

Horses for courses, and HGS is way ahead of many, and not only in Birmingham.

TBH If I had a choice and the transportational means - and I did - there are other schools (grammars) I'd have chosen over HGS. But if there are also plenty of others I'd choose HGS over.

To come clean, HGS wasn't my preference mostly for 'internal' reasons, but KEA wasn't for us for more 'external' reasons. (It was th firt grammar we ever visited and we were impressed!)

But it's all realtive to the child, the situation, the options, the transport (and let's be realistic about that) etc etc etc.

My own DS travels an hour each way. Some would think it's excessive - and I was starting to doubt myself - but he's very comfortable with it now and is happy to stay on after classes for activities. But he'd either have been wasted at many other schools or have had a fight against the tide - and we just didn't want to have to do that - as much as we'd like to 'contribute to the local community' (which I think we did in junior school). We just weren't willing to sacrifice our
child for the sake of socialism.

Sorry I digress, but this brings back to me memeories of what we went through in recent years and why!

I also liked QM. Really liked. But that's another thread.

Re: Handsworth Grammar

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 12:49 pm
by Penguin Mom
We visited the Open Evening in June this year, we liked the school and could see our DS fitting in there. He loves science, maths and IT but is not at all sporty.

We live on the border of Wolverhampton and Dudley, so not much for boys over here unfortunately. The logistics are viable - 30 minutes on the Metro then a short walk. We did the journey by Metro on the Open Evening and completed the walk in 12 minutes. It was in daylight, of course being June, but I felt as safe as I would on any city street, it's a fairly busy route. There is actually a bus (no. 101) which stops outside Winson Green Metro station and drops right outside the school, it runs every 10 minutes. Convenient, plus it means the kids don't have to cross the Soho Road on foot.

According to the website, the school day is 8:40 - 14.55, quite an early finish. Lunch is 35 minutes.

Re: Handsworth Grammar

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 1:11 pm
by Thumbsup
Penguin Mom wrote:We visited the Open Evening in June this year, we liked the school and could see our DS fitting in there. He loves science, maths and IT but is not at all sporty.

We live on the border of Wolverhampton and Dudley, so not much for boys over here unfortunately. The logistics are viable - 30 minutes on the Metro then a short walk. We did the journey by Metro on the Open Evening and completed the walk in 12 minutes. It was in daylight, of course being June, but I felt as safe as I would on any city street, it's a fairly busy route. There is actually a bus (no. 101) which stops outside Winson Green Metro station and drops right outside the school, it runs every 10 minutes. Convenient, plus it means the kids don't have to cross the Soho Road on foot.

According to the website, the school day is 8:40 - 14.55, quite an early finish. Lunch is 35 minutes.
Thank you so much for this info! That's even better that you can catch a bus to school from the metro station. I had visions of poor DS having to walk 10 or more mins with a heavy bag! This journey is the shortest for us if DS has to use public transport...only 20 min metro ride, then either 12 min walk or a short bus ride. Our main preference is AGS & QMGS, however this could potentially be an option to go on our CAF. (Dependant upon results of course!

Re: Handsworth Grammar

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 4:39 pm
by SSINGH77
Hi


We visited the school and to be honest we really liked it. We found the staff and children very polite.
The results that are coming out of that school are very good.
The only downfall I found was that they are not really big on the sports even though they have a new astro turf.

The school will be third on my list and thats only because we are sold by QMB & KEFW(as we have friends and family in both schools).


Cant go wrong for a good education. :D