Queens and bushey meads

Eleven Plus (11+) in South West Hertfordshire

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ClarkyT
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 10:10 am

Queens and bushey meads

Post by ClarkyT »

All

Watford boys is our first choice, but appreciate it's hugely competitive .

What's the view on queens and bushey meads ? I am in wd19 so think am in the catchment area for both .

Thanks
HenryVIII
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 1:08 pm

Re: Queens and bushey meads

Post by HenryVIII »

What do you want to know?

Do you have a good chance of a place at WGBS if your DS is Y6 and has already sat consortium test, so is your interest purely 'academic'?

What did you and your DS think when you visited/have you visited?

On alternate years in DS1/2's primary 20 go to Queens/10 BM. Everyone professes satisfaction with their choice.

We chose BM for DS because DS leans towards arts/humanities; on the open evening all the work on the walls in the art dept, barring one student, was by girls at Queens. Tracking GCSE performance in the subjects DS likes, we thought he'd fit in better at BM, although the results are not stellar in either school. DS is not sporty but has found his niche at BM.
ClarkyT
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 10:10 am

Re: Queens and bushey meads

Post by ClarkyT »

Hi
Thanks for the response. I was beginning to think my question was either offensive or stupid ( perhaps both!)

My son is year 5 at the moment.

The question was related to the nurturing environment (or not), safety, etc for BM and queens . The results look similar at GCSE. Was hoping to hear from parents who have their children at these schools (like yourself)
Thanks
Queenie
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:33 am

Re: Queens and bushey meads

Post by Queenie »

I can only speak for BM. I think it is a lovely school, the staff are very caring and want the students to do well and also be happy. My ds1/2 are both there.
HenryVIII
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 1:08 pm

Re: Queens and bushey meads

Post by HenryVIII »

BM's departing headteacher Mr Douglas (sob off to Ricky) mentioned on a tour that BM feels just like a large primary school... but obviously everyone is beautifully behaved when he is around. The kids just look normal - no extreme hairstyles/make-up (nothing obvious I've seen) and the acting head/deputy has just had a crack down on uniform for the boys and girls (trousers and skirts must be branded from the uniform shop, annoying as they are more expensive than high street but certainly an improvement on some of the interpretations of school uniform). I'd be lying if there weren't a few 'lively' ones in DS1's year - but they are not in the sets he's in. When he had a problem with a fellow pupil, they dealt with it so my experience is that the pastoral care at BM is good.

Also, children who left primary with undiagnosed dyslexia are quickly given extra support (I expect other secondaries are just as hot at identifying pupils too). He didn't join in much with the extra-curricular activities in Y7 (clubs at lunch-times and afterschool) but seems much more enthusiastic about joining in now he is more confident. I think all the kids were smashing at the open evening in this Autumn - this was my 3rd open eve, definitely a sense of a higher level of parental and student 'investment' in the school.

Many of DS's schoolmates from primary school went to Queen's - really nice kids (both boys and girls) - all hard-working too. We didn't rank it on the CAF (prefering Ricky) and this decision was made without any deep or special inside knowledge of Queens, entirely a gut instinct.

It's terribly hard to imagine your Y5 DC turning into a street smart Y7 travelling to school on their own, taking responsibility for homework and letting themselves in with their own key - but it will happen!
ClarkyT
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 10:10 am

Re: Queens and bushey meads

Post by ClarkyT »

Thanks. Any experience of queens would be appreciated too
snagglepuss
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2013 5:02 pm

Re: Queens and bushey meads

Post by snagglepuss »

My children are at Queens and really enjoy their time there and are blossoming both academically and socially. As a parent I am very happy with the pastoral care of my children and have found all the staff at the school very approachable. Whilst Queens is a very large school, the house system effectively splits it down into 4 smaller sections and the children learn to find their way around the school quite quickly.

There are clubs for a wide range of interests, sports, music, drama, astronomy, science... there's something for everyone.

For us the choice of Queens was a gut feel after having looked around a lot of schools in the area. We had all had our hearts set on one particular school based on the opinions of friends and acquaintances, but once we actually looked around the school we just didn't feel it was the right one for either of our children. What I'm trying to see is you can ask the opinion of lots of people and you will probably get lots of different answers, but until we visited the schools we didn't really know which ones would suit our children best.
I'd say have a good look around as many schools as you can, (within reason) so you can form your own opinion and prepare your DS as best you can for any entrance tests so that you hopefully keep as many options open to you once you have the results of those tests.

If you have any specific questions about Queens... fire away and I will try to answer them.

SP
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