Wallington High School for Girls - opinions

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jjmumoftwo
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:10 pm

Wallington High School for Girls - opinions

Post by jjmumoftwo »

I went to the open evening today and would just like opinions on what others thought.

I found the girls to be polite, helpful and friendly, all bar one who went running down the corridor in the Technology Dept and banged into a parent and just continued running.

I am not keen on the current Head, but the new one taking over in Sept seems to be very nice.

Music Dept was lacking in information and just had two pupils who were unable to answer my questions although they did the best they could. In fact most help I received was from pupils, there didn't seem to be many teachers around and some I saw with a few exceptions seems disinterested in talking to parents or showcasing the work.

The woman organising the queues for the Head's speech was very rude and I found her this way too on a previous visit.

I do like the school, but felt there could be many improvements and hope the new Head will bring some welcome changes.
dlb
Posts: 135
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 11:49 pm

Re: Wallington High School for Girls - opinions

Post by dlb »

Hi - I went tonight too. Thought it was ok! Didn't get given a map on way in and didn't even find any music department! Did literally wander...! Ignored lady doing the queue for head's speech and just walked in and sat down! Science department was good. Girls all seemed very helpful generally. The fact they have £3.5 million to build new teaching block is good news for the school. Didn't stay to hear new head - did get a bit dull and we went to look round instead! Good results though..!
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coombeward
Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 4:51 pm

Re: Wallington High School for Girls - opinions

Post by coombeward »

We went there too. Certainly a very good school. Very well behaved and energetic pupil full of praise for the school. Outstanding facilities. The outgoing head appeared to be more involved and entusiastic about the school. How shall I put it? She had such a motherly look at the pupil making the speech. Full of pride on their achievements.

Her speech was very good in the begining but got too involved with nitty gritty of appeals and admin issues. She also confirmed that outcome of entrance result would be in pass/fail format. :roll:

The IncomingHead didn't impress me much. Looked distant from the proceedings. Seems to be moving from one school to another in short time. Moving from Wilson to Nonsuch to Wallington in matter of time. She could be too ambitious though, but would she be committed to this School for long? or Wallington would be just a stepping stone to some other school. Next stop, Tiffins or indie?
Fossie
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:11 pm

Re: Wallington High School for Girls - opinions

Post by Fossie »

I went too. I was also there the previous day as I have a daughter starting in September as well as one hoping to getting next year. I heard the new Head speak for longer at the Induction Day and I was impressed by her. I also went to the Open evening last year and there was a lot more on then. Last night seemed a bit lacking though we didn't have long to look around so I may have missed the best bits. We did find plently of empty classrooms that were open but with nothing going on in them.
jjmumoftwo
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:10 pm

Re: Wallington High School for Girls - opinions

Post by jjmumoftwo »

I found the previous Head seemed to keep reinforcing the idea that our girls would be lucky to be going there. We all know its a selective school, but as parents we feel that the school would be lucky to have our children regardless of there ability. I felt with the comment 'I won't see many of you again, so if your daughter is not lucky enough to get a place in the school, good luck for the future' she seemed to be very patronising. The speech about the appeal process was just bizarre.

I felt the new Head showed warmth, particularly to the girls speaking. I think she is a very different kind of Head, so maybe didn't want to step on her toes. I heard that Nonsuch were extremely sad to lose her, and I understand they have their own problems over there so maybe there was a good reason for her to leave.
coombeward
Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 4:51 pm

Re: Wallington High School for Girls - opinions

Post by coombeward »

jjmumoftwo: you may be quite right about incoming head's reason for leaving Nonsuch. I wonder why the head there departed so abrubtly. There is not much info about that.
Scoopy19
Posts: 82
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2010 10:04 am

Re: Wallington High School for Girls - opinions

Post by Scoopy19 »

We have just gone through the process so I am referring to last year's open evening.

I agree about the outgoing head. Didn't warm to her at all (and made the point on the forum last year). She said exactly the same thing "if your daughter is lucky enough". She also rambled on about past papers and the appeals process. I thought she was dreadful so it is good she is leaving.

I found both Nonsuch (although she is going too) and Tiffin heads much more impressive. In both instances the heads talked warmly about the pastoral care, the school and in terms of "if we are lucky enough to get your daughter".

DD is off to Tiffin and at the induction day yesterday, the headteacher was still very warm and open.

I think Wallington can only benefit from the new head. Apart from the old head, I really liked the school and thought the girls were very nice and polite and the technology block was amazing - the work the girls had done was great.
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