KEGS, WHSB & SHSB

Eleven Plus (11+) in Essex

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Silver29
Posts: 151
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 2:12 pm

Post by Silver29 »

Thanks so much for all the feedback so far.
Shrimpergarry
Posts: 158
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:22 pm
Location: Essex

Post by Shrimpergarry »

FlightyRachel wrote:Hi there, I would also be very interested in the opinions of current students and or parents of the Essex boys schools (as trawling the various facebook groups has been less than edifying).

I have to say that we were distinctly underwhelmed by the Open Evening at WHSB, and wonder if it was in fact representative of the school.

I'm 8 and a bit months pregnant at the moment and will be so glad when I can stop worrying about the 11+ and start worrying about this baby! :D
Our son has just gone into Yr 8 at SHSB and is absolutely loving it. Can't say a bad word about the school. He is fully engaged in both the work and the extra-curricular activities (particularly music and drama). The school does push the sports side too (national champions in quite a few things) and they seem to have the balance between academic work and extra-curricular stuff about right.

The new head, Robin Bevan, has a fine reputation from his time as deputy at KEGS and I expect the school to go from strength to strength under his leadership.
Shrimpergarry
Posts: 158
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:22 pm
Location: Essex

Re: KEGS, WHSB & SHSB

Post by Shrimpergarry »

[quote="Silver29"]I would greatly appreciate any feedback from anyone attending above schools. My son will be taking the 11+ this year and we still can't decide our order of preference. I would appreciate your views on:-

Homework, happiness, pace of lessons, teachers, communication from the school, behaviour, extra-curricular clubs/expectations etc.

quote]

With regards to SHSB:

Homework - not over onerous, some nights he gets none at all. The occasional big project is more taxing (I remember a Geography one well last year!).

Happiness - the school is a very happy one, he settled really quickly. There seems to be good interaction between year groups, especially if you take part in extra-curricular stuff.

Pace of lessons - difficult to judge from outside.

Teachers - we're happy with all of them, they seem very personable at parents evening and we met a few others at a drama performance last week. I was particularly impressed by the number of teachers who turned out for a Thursday evening performance even though drama was not part of their remit.

Communication - a fortnightly bulletin does the job, anything more personal gets written in the homework diary.

Behaviour - seems generally good, any misdemenours (my son has had a few minor ones!) seem to have been dealt with fairly. My son has had a few "Community Service" sanctions (clearing up the dinner hall at lunchtime) which seems a fair way of dealing with minor matters such as chatting in class.

Extra-curricular clubs - a sporty boy will love SHSB as they excel in this area. My son is not particularly sporty but has been encouraged to do better in cross-country and has become quite keen. My son loves music and there are loads of opportunities to do stuff he has joined the concert band (went on a tour to Switzerland, France and Belgium last summer holidays), big band, and lower school choir. He has also done a couple of drama performances - one was the really impressive whole school production of Coram Boy last year and last week he was in the cast of 10 lower school pupils who did The Merchant of Venice in the Shakespeare for Schools festival. He's now practicing his audition piece for Chess, next years school production.


Hope this helps. Anything you can tell me about CCHS will be appreciated as my daughter takes her 11+ in November and CCHS is our first choice (and local) school.
KEGSmum
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:10 am

KEGS, WHSB & SHSB

Post by KEGSmum »

Hi,

My DS is in year 7 at KEGS and is loving it. Homework has been very regularly set (every night something to do) but none of it takes too much time. It all seems very relaxed really. The max has been 1 hour of art, once a fortnight. It is a myth there are 3 hours each night. The lessons seem very good, no behavioural problems in my DS's class. The communications with the school have been excellent, as they use a system called Parentmail, so we receive regular emails with information about the school. There are lots of extra curricular clubs, there really is something for everyone. My DS has joined the rugby team, choir, wind band and house choir. There are also puzzle clubs, table tennis, tennis, squash, basketball, young engineers, CCF to name but a few. We are overwhelmed how great KEGS is. Good luck to your son for 11+ - my best advice would be to work out how long for each question and keep looking at how much time is left and if you are more or less on track or need to speed up. This is particularly important in the VR paper.
FlightyRachel
Posts: 114
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 2:57 pm
Location: Essex

Post by FlightyRachel »

Thanks so much, Garry and Kegsmum, my son loved both Southend and Kegs when he looked round them, hard to pick a fave! We are very lucky in that we have a good comp nearby too, so I am trying to keep it all in perspective!

The only slight worry I have about Southend (apart from that little matter of the 11+ LOL) is that they take so few out of catchment boys, and seem to run a lot of after school activities, which would make him so late home. Kegs seemed to be more aware of the probs of travelling a fair way to school.

We've done our form now anyway, so I can now start practising my breathing exercises!

rachel
moved
Posts: 3826
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

After school clubs and SSHB taking only a few out of cat

Post by moved »

Southend is very popular with local children, it has the reputation of broadness, rather than Westcliff's reputation for academic work. Hence they take the top group from the local population and therefore fill their places sooner. This was the other way around until a couple of years ago, when the academic types put Westcliff first as it was more serious.

As far as after school clubs and travel, my son is at KEGS, rugby is after school on Monday and Wednesday, Ping Pong on Tuesday and Junior Strings is on Wednesday too. Then there is orchestra on Saturday morning.
He doesn't do anything on Thursday or Friday so no knowledge there.
Many clubs are at lunch time as well.

He seems to cope with 3 late nights per week; I collect him at 6.15 on late nights. Due to engineering works he cannot start orchestra until after half-term.

He does reading/learning homework on the train, loves everything, thinks all things KEGS are fantastic. They must do something right.
FlightyRachel
Posts: 114
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 2:57 pm
Location: Essex

Post by FlightyRachel »

Thanks moving, that's really interesting. Researching intake numbers (and reading some intriguing minutes from Southend Council meetings...I should really get a life!) leads me to believe that it would be easiest for my son, as an out of catchment boy, to get into Westcliff.

It's such a shame he didn't like it! He really has his heart set on Kegs, but I should imagine a lot of children do, and will be disappointed. It's worth a try though. :D
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