Views on Handsworth Grammar

[sky55]

I was little bit hesitant in sending my DS to HGS because his brother is going to KEFW. But, after seeing everyone's experience I am happy to send him to HGS. Thanks to this forum

[Fareeda]

My DS is in year 8 and is exceptionally happy. The school is going from strength to strength. The staff are excellent and the opportunities to excel are equal to all the other Birmingham grammar schools. We would have no hesitation in highly recommending your DS to consider HGS as there is no real difference to other schools, besides parents having more of a pre conceived notions about the location and ethnic composition compared to the other grammar schools. There are positives and negatives for all grammar schools which have no real impact on a child's opportunity to achieve their full potential. I could tell you negative stories about KE schools based upon the experiences of other family and friends, but you have to take such incidences in isolation rather than let it override all the positives of any school. You would be making a fantastic choice and we know that there are children this year who have decided to attend HGS for next year. For instance one of them scored 241 and they live in washwood heath and can attend KE Five ways, Aston and possibly Camp hill. The parents are medically qualified and have a nephew who is attending their sixth form and attained all A\A*. The head teacher is extremely ambitious and has set his goals for HGS to become the best possible and to date the acceleration in achievements, disciple and awards in all spheres speaks for itself.

[Shnshn]

My DS is in year 7.
I was very worried before he started due to what everyone around me, parents in the playground etc, were saying.
Im so glad to say that there was no truth in what everyone was saying!
I think a lot of parents are attracted to the KE brand, i was even looked down on for sending my son to HGS, how that will change once/if the school does join the KE Academy! The very same school they look down upon they will be fighting to send their son to!
Even a 'professional' tutor was not so keen on HGS, why? Because he had heard about some drug taking rumours a few years ago! In this world at this time i dont think there is a school out there that wont have some type of rumour like that attached to it!
What i am saying is that NO ONE could give me an actual reason why they look down on HGS!
My son is doing so well at the school, its better than i thought! I love how they help the year 7 emotionally to deal with the new school and pressures, such as the Opening Minds lessons they have.
The teachers are briliant and you can see the Head Teachers passion about moving the school forward.
As for ethnic isssues, in my sons class there are 4 white boys and this is at a school where once there was just the 1 white boy in the whole year group. I think its much more mixed now and im so glad DS is making friends with everyone.
Other issues i had were with travel but im glad to say i found a minibus that travels from my area to the school, DS is picked up from home and dropped off back here before 4pm!

[sky55]

Is there any school bus service from kings heath. If the kids wanted to attend any sports club in the evening, do they have any school bus services after that time.

[crazycrofter]

Hi Sky, I've been told (by Helen0209!) that some of the children from HGS use the Green Bus services to KE Handsworth as it's a short walk at the end.

There's one that goes from Northfield (where we live) and I'm pretty sure it passes through Kings Heath. Take a look at the Green Bus website. When I look at it there's a mix up between the Selly Park and Northfield routes but the info is there.

After school clubs are a problem for all schools if you're using the Green Bus though.

If our sons both end up at HGS we should get in touch as it would be good to know someone else travelling from South Birmingham!

[helen0209]

Yes, the Green Bus 846 runs through Kings Heath (Alcester Road South). However, no Green Bus goes to HGS, they stop at Handsworth Girls and the boys then walk 10 minutes up the road. As crazycrofter said, no school bus service allows for after school clubs. The Green Bus leaves Handsworth Girls at 15:45, so if they do any after school activities you would need to pick them up. DS only does football, so we have to pick him up about once a week dependent on how many matches they have.

If you do both go there I would recommend getting in touch - we did with another poster last year and our 2 DSs are on the same bus and walk together. Was nice for them to know someone the first week even though they were in different classes.

[sky55]

Thanks helen0209 for the info.

[sky55]

Sure crazycrofter . I would definitely be in touch with you if my DS ends up in HGS so that they can go together.

[Penguin Mom]

Thanks to all for the responses here, really useful and reassuring for us. As we live mid-way between Dudley and Wolverhampton and having nothing locally for boys, we are having to think carefully about commuting times for our DS.

His scores were KE 252 and Walsall 374 so we are aware we are very fortunate in terms of choice of school, however more limited in terms of distance.

Due to this our CAF is currently: 1) HGS 2) QM 3) Local Comp

Reading your posts has satisfied us we are making a good choice for our DS, we have no personal/family experience of any of the boys' schools, but did like all of those we visited.

On the subject of travel, a question to current HGS parents......is there any form of 'travel buddy' system organised by the school as I have heard of elsewhere? DS would be the only child from his primary and would be travelling on the Metro. It would mean a lot for him to be able to link up with another child, and not necessarily in the same year group.

[Petitpois]

Once the school does join the KE brand it would be interesting to see whether that caused cut off scores to rise for HGS.

Time will tell.

PP