Any thoughts or tips? We have only realised in the last month or so that we had to think about applying for grammars or independents now.

My daughter is in year 9 there. What do you want to know?

Crazycrofter the High School? Does she like it, did she win an assisted place?

Yes and yes! It's a lovely school; she's been very happy there.

Fab and fab We are visiting the school soon. Any tips for the exam/interview as it seems different than the grammars.
What made it a better school than one of the grammars for you if I can ask?

We didn’t do any preparation for the exam (which was in Jan then). It seemed much more similar to Year 6 work anyway - not time pressured, just Maths, comprehension and creative writing. There’s also a verbal reasoning test but we were told that’s only used in borderline cases. Our dd wasn’t interviewed for her assisted place although I know some were last year.

In terms of it being ‘better’ I guess that’s subjective. The teaching isn’t any better - all schools have a range of good and not so good teachers! The range of subjects is broader - more modern foreign languages, Latin and Greek, Astronomy as an extra, for example.

There are more extra curriculars and they’re emphasised more. There seems to be a big push to join clubs and the lunch break is long to facilitate that. Also there are more trips and off-curriculum days during the course of the year. Yesterday my daughter spent the day with a film crew, filming a short story her group had written. Last week they had a robotics day, the week before that a mindfulness day where they did all sorts of relaxing and reflective activities! My ds at grammar school thinks she hardly does any real work!

You also avoid the constraints of the national curriculum and all the target setting and testing that goes on in state schools. It just seems broader and more balanced.

But none of those things are essentials and I doubt that they make any difference to exam results. I just think maybe the experience is nicer!

Wow that sounds great! As you say, lateral thinking can really flourish if they have time away from that exhaustive curriculum timetable.
Can I ask, are all the extra curricular activities expensive? Thanks for this info. it sounds perfect.

All the lunchtime/after school clubs are free apart from fencing I think. The core trips they go on during the year and the extras like robotics days are all free too. The year 7 residential was also subsidised when dd was in year 7 - I assume that's still the case. It was £90 which I thought was good value.

There are lots of extra residential trips, some of which are reasonable, others more expensive but these are optional and it's fine not to partake. I've said one residential trip a year is all we can manage - this year dd went on a France/Belgium Battlefields tour which was just over £300.

That sounds really reasonable. We have been given a months notice for a £310 residential trip at her primary school! And that trip is only in Staffordshire. We would be in the same situation, hence looking at the assisted place. She would love the filming/robotics as she does that sort of thing at the apple shop in Birmingham. Thanks for the reassurance re cost to a budget conscious mum