WGGS head has Left. Anyone concerned?

[rosetta]

I am slightly concerned, as the head left my son's primary and all h ell broke loose! That said, WGGS is a different school, well-managed and got superb GCSE results just now - 65% A/A*/7-9.

I have DDs in year 11 and 13, and am mildly concerned but not that much. The teaching is generally good - obviously the odd teacher not - but generally happy and would still recommend.

[3b1g]

I'm very happy with the acting head and with this year's SMT as a whole. I have no concerns (parent of DD in Y9).

[dreams]

I have had serious concerns with the school for over a year now. Senior management seems unable to step up and we have had some serious incidents in my daughters year that were dealt with very unprofessionally. My youngest daughter goes into year 6 and we must now decide whether to send her to WGGS or the local comprehensive. It will be a tough call....

+1 , I'm with you. We had a problem in the past that wasn't resolved (maybe it was my fault too as I didn't know what to do when there is a problem with the teacher and your DD's word against the teacher's) and this could've affected my DD's A-level choices if she'd has to stay there.
My DD left WGGS for 6th form to another grammar school. She had a chance to go on Monday to WGGS just to say a proper good-buy etc, but she refused to do so.
After so many years at school my bubbly/chatty girls who's got so many friends from outside of the school (including her friends from primary) didn't want to go back and say good-buy to the girls she spent last 5 years with (she meat up just with 2 her closest friends and that was the end of 5 years journey, that I've chosen for her:(

Obviously our experience is just one of many but word of warning to parents looking at school, look more careful. There are great teachers & assistants obviously (not sure how many of them left due to double change in management) but we are choosing a secondary school not just to help our children to achieve certain academic goals.

My main concern over the years was - the school doesn't provide proper extra curriculum activities. Handful of clubs - all the same from year to year (trampolining, archery and a few more). If your DD is not interested to join the team from Yr7, chances that she'll be accepted in yr 9 and later are quite slim.
Double check which after school classes/activities are run by 6th formers and just don't rely on those. Maybe there were some good ones but my DD didn't manage to come across. She mentioned that girls are gathering together, eating sweets and chatting about life.
One month later in the new school, she signed up for many clubs/choirs etc. I'm not saying she's a poor baby, she's a standard lazy in some ways teen but something wasn't right. Maybe she just become more mature, maybe.....
I couldn't get to the bottom of the problem.
My DD is very sociable person but she never felt included, part of the big community, mentioning to me lots of time about some teachers constantly shouting at girls, nagging them etc.
Anyway, she left and settled well in her new school.

[helpme!]

Thank you dreams- this is really helpful and I couldn't agree more with what you have written!
To raise a few more points:
My DD has not felt supported and when issues are raised with the school they are very slow to react. Last year there was a nightmare with the newly hired French/German teacher. He was let go at the end of the year- but the girls in his classes basically lost a year of lessons. This year they are short a Spanish teacher and some girls are yet to have any Spanish lessons (my DD is in year 10 and starting GCSE studies).
My impression is that they are having a high turn over- perhaps due to the upper management changes- and are not training and vetting new staff properly. The result is a really mixed bag of teachers and no one in upper management willing to deal with the resulting problems.....

[rosetta]

Well, I have one dd in year 13, who's just got her AS result in the one subject that required it - she scored 100 UMS ie maximum marks in one paper (a social science nor science subject), so I'm pretty happy. Clearly the teaching was up to scratch there.

DD2 is coming up to her GCSEs in year 11, and absolutely won't contemplate going to any other school for sixth form.

Both my dds would highly recommend WGGS. I suppose you get some pupils for whom a school is not for them, but it seems harsh to state the fault is the school's, rater than the school and student simply not being a great match. Of my dd1's year, all bar one of her friends stayed for the sixth form - the only one who left, did so because she didn't get the minimum grades (I think 6 B's at GCSE), so had no choice.

In other words, while I'm sure the previous posters are telling the truth for their dds, I don't think their dds' experiences are very typical. The vast majority of girls and parents I know at the school are happy with their choice and would make the same choice again.

[rosetta]

And to give a further example, my dd1 knows of a girl in her year who left WGGS for the sixth form to attend another local top-rated girls school. She lasted a day or two! and said the other school was horrible and the girls bullying. She was lucky enough to be able to get her place back at WGGS and is there still.

So you'll always get some girls who are unhappy with their choices, wherever they go. But the grass is not necessarily greener at any other local school.

[rosetta]

Final comment - you'll always get the odd poor teacher at any school, I'm afraid - anyone who tells you there are no poor teachers in X school is either lying or just has been lucky enough not to encounter them. Overall, WGGS has pretty good teachers and some very good ones. The worst teacher my dd1 had was 'managed out' pretty quickly, which is what I'd expect to happen. I don't think the school turns a blind eye to poor teaching over the long term - WGGS parents are far too articulate, pushy and have too high expectations for our dds for this to happen!

[Hera]

It is interesting to read different people's views of the same school. I think I recognise the language teacher helpme is talking about as it was in connection with the same individual that I emailed the school. It is the only time I have done so and I got a response within 24 hours, someone spoke to my DD and looked at our concerns. I didn't expect anything to change in the short term as realistically what can the school do but they clearly took our comments seriously.

With regards to clubs and extra curricular you would think my daughter is at a different school. In just over 2 years at the school she has always been doing at least 3 clubs a week, sometimes more. She currently does orchestras and pottery but has also done a Geography club with sixth formers which she loved at the time and seemed to involve a lot of making papier mache volcanos and eating sweets, benchball, gymnastics, swimming, Crest science, modern foreign languages and probably some others. They have all been free apart from pottery which they have only just started charging for because of the cost of the materials.

So like Rosetta says you get good and bad teachers in any school and good and bad experiences but overall I am very happy with the school and will be sending DD2 there too.

[11plusparents]

slightly concerned, as the head left my son's primary and all h ell broke loose! That said, WGGS is a different school, well-managed and got superb GCSE results just now - 65% A/A*/7-9.

I have DDs in year 11 and 13, and am mildly concerned but not that much. The teaching is generally good - obviously the odd teacher not - but generally happy and would still recommend.

May I know where can I find the link for this year GCSE results especially 65% A/A* ?
I see other fully selective grammar schools are at 61% A*A and Watford boys is at 49 A*A
Thanks for your help.

[loopylala]

May I know where can I find the link for this year GCSE results especially 65% A/A* ?

http://www.watfordgrammarschoolforgirls ... 6C6369.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.compare-school-performance. ... ool/136289" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;