11 Plus Exams Forum

I'm going to WGSB open day tomorrow. Does anyone know if you can park in the school grounds? If not, any tips on where I could park?!

Thanks.

When we went last year there was no parking in the grounds. There was some (very competitive) parking in the surrounding streets, but we just parked at Cassiobury Park and walked (not far) back to the school.

Wanner wrote:There was some (very competitive) parking in the surrounding streets.

I'm not really into competitive parking so I'll head for the park! Thanks for the tip.

Overall, it was clear why so many people really rate this school. It had a much lighter, more open feel than I had expected (it being essentially a town centre school). The quality of the on-site sports & drama facilities were a surprise too. In these respects, I found it very different from Watford Girls, which (IMHO & no offence intended!) is very cramped & old fashioned. I was very impressed with the boys too - all very polite & friendly. And Mr Post seems a really enthusiastic head.

But my DS wasn't overly keen, saying he didn't like the fact there were no girls!! He hardly ever talks to the girls in his class This morning was the first time he'd ever set foot in a single sex school & I think & found the number (& size) of the older boys a bit overwhelming. He was also unimpressed with the 15min walk at lunchtime to New Field for PE lessons.

Funnily enough my DS also gave "there's no girls here" as one of the reasons why he didn't like the boys grammar and he's not keen on girls at all.

That was enough to make us realise that he wouldn't be happy there.

Alison

The sorrounding area is a traffic nightmare!

Very different experience to Parmiters (which was open for 7+ hrs well into the evening).

The WGSB open morning was for 3 hrs, so had the effect of too many people crowding a very small place. Unfortunately for us, they also very quickly ran out of "tour guides".

Found the campus really cramped too (perhaps Parmiters campus has spoilt me).

Entry was stopped (much ahead of time) for the 11:30 HM speech due the hall being full - and this was even with, what I thought, a relatively light crowd.

Anyway, the thing which matters the most - the schoolboys - who I found very polite and helpful and it wasn't long before one caught us wandering about clueless and volunteered to show us around briefly.

I work very close to WGSB and whilst open day is difficult traffic wise I have not noticed a problem during the week.

My Ds also said he did not like the fact there were no girls .

Ditto. DS wanted co-ed but claims to know nothing at all about any of the girls in his class.

Wow, iti is really touching that your dariling boys, suddenly faced with the reality of no girls, have discovered they quite like having them around! The feeling is mutual, my girls, though they loved HBS, really wanted to continue pitting their wits against the male of the species in the classroom. Younger dd has spent 7 years in a class with twice as many boys as girls so she is an old hand. I think they are all a bit scared of her, she ticks them off when they are mean to each other. I would love to see inside the school because my dad went there but it is kind of hard to go to open days with two girls! We went through the grounds to get to the Consortium music audition last year, it looks very grand but parking was terrible that day too. Lots of candidates mussed their slot. Is it considered the cream of the consortium tree or does the girls school beat it? DG