Great Marlow / Holmer Green open evening

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andyb
Posts: 645
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:27 am
Location: Buckinghamshire

Great Marlow / Holmer Green open evening

Post by andyb »

Does anyone know whether either Great Marlow or Holmer Green are going to have more than one open evening? They are both on the 25th September. Unfortunately the HT is not scheduled to speak at the HG open morning on the 26th. Whilst we are in catchment for 1 and not the other we live equidistant between the 2 so I would like to see both of them.
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Hi Andy

Those will be the only dates on offer for a Head's talk.

Last year we had a similar problem with dates, so we "divided and ruled" - DH went to one school, whilst I took DS2 to another on the same night and we compared notes afterwards.

If that is an option for you, and both schools are offering daytime tours as well, you could take that route? At least your son doesn't have two evening commitments that way.

S-A
willow
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:33 pm

Post by willow »

Hi Andy,

Exactly the same happened last year as well with Holmer Green and Great Marlow school, their presentations were on the same night, How odd!! They are the only two schools where this happens. I opted to go to Holmer Green which I was impressed with and put it as first choice. Both schools are out of catchment for my area so doubt DD1 would have been allocated either. Not sure what to do this year......
andyb
Posts: 645
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:27 am
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by andyb »

We have decided to try and do both :? If the GM talk runs to time we can just about get to HG in time for the 2nd scheduled talk. We will not have the opportunity to tour HG but they are open the following morning so we will go to that (but obviously DS will not be able to accompany us - c'est la vie :wink: ). Other half is not very good at expressing opinions or even discussing key details so I don't think we could do a fair comparison if we did a school each :roll: . Looking at the data from this years intake I don't think we live close enough to either school to get a place despite being in catchment - but we have zero chance if we don't list the school on the form.
Dad40
Posts: 359
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:40 pm
Location: Chiltern District, Bucks

Post by Dad40 »

Just note that the area around HG school can be difficult for parking on these open evenings. This year, temporary 4-way traffic lights at the entrance to the road (Parish Piece) might not help matters !

Holmer Green Senior School is on a roll under the enthusiatic leadership of the Head David Gilbert (headmaster since 2004 I believe). The key GCSE metric (5 A-C including Maths and English) was second only to Waddesdon last year. This year, although lower, it looks like it has still beaten most other upper schools including, I think, Great Marlow; it has probably beaten the Misbourne (the Head there is always more coy about his results, perhaps because they have been sliding in recent years) but HG hasn't beaten Chalfont or Waddesdon.

HG also received a very good OFSTED recently and has won a national award for its accommodation of more able/talented pupils.

Consequently, local people are increasingly choosing the school over the traditional alternatives of Misbourne, Ramsay and Amersham (although the latter two are making great steps forward). I suspect that this year you will have be comfortably inside the HG catchment area to get a place.
andyb
Posts: 645
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:27 am
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by andyb »

Dad40 wrote:Consequently, local people are increasingly choosing the school over the traditional alternatives of Misbourne, Ramsay and Amersham (although the latter two are making great steps forward). I suspect that this year you will have be comfortably inside the HG catchment area to get a place.
We are right on the outer rim of catchment for HG and I believe only 2 siblings from this area got places for this September, but there are 6 spaces on the form and you've got to be "in it to win it"!
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