Info on Brentwood school

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

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practisehard
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 15, 2019 10:00 am

Info on Brentwood school

Post by practisehard »

Hello lovely parents, I am a bit confused here and would really appreciate feedback from parents whose kids go or went to Brentwood. The school seems resourceful and head teacher open and friendly, yet the school ranks very low in the league table. Can I ask how the school is and what can be the reason of such low rank? Online reviews also seem very good. Any light on this will be really helpful.
mad?
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Location: london

Re: Info on Brentwood school

Post by mad? »

As with most schools the position in the league table will largely reflect the intake, with lots of the most able local children going to grammars in this case. Know of only one DC their but they had chosen the school despite having a KEGS offer and are doing well, as did Frank Lampard :lol: . It simply has a broader academic intake than many other schools
mad?
practisehard
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 15, 2019 10:00 am

Re: Info on Brentwood school

Post by practisehard »

Yes, very true mad?.

Any parent whose DC is in Brentwood can say about its teachers? Are they committed? I fully go with the notion that a school should push children in the areas of their interest, be it academics or drama or sports. How challenging is the school for academically bright children? How are the clubs? Any input will be helpful.
branmoment
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:12 pm

Re: Info on Brentwood school

Post by branmoment »

The new Head is outstanding and the School is doing well under his leadership, with some incredible extra curricular activities most notably the Music
tolleys
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Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:45 pm

Re: Info on Brentwood school

Post by tolleys »

Hello, I attended Brentwood about fifteen years ago now :oops: so sorry the feedback isn't more recent.

But if I was still living in the area i'd definitely consider it for my children (if I could afford it - the fees have gone up a lot since I was there!!).

The school has a very mixed ability intake with a big focus on extra curricular activities. A proportion of my intake came from families where grades/university were not so important (i.e. parents made a fortune in the city/sport/media having left school with limited quals, and kids planned to do the same). At the other end of the spectrum there were some phenomenally academic and motivated kids with a decent proportion of students from my year going off to oxbridge/medicine/law courses etc. I was surprised having joined from a state school to see how easily those two factions co-existed. In many ways, it's quite a good way to get a more well-rounded social education whichever camp you're in (if that's a priority for you). Although as others have alluded to, some of the more academic children are probably priced out of Brentwood now and opt for the local grammar/state options instead.
practisehard
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 15, 2019 10:00 am

Re: Info on Brentwood school

Post by practisehard »

I really dont mind bit of mixed ability. I know local grammar schools have high intake. Being non fee paying schools with good results will automatically attract many parents. How ever I am not happy at all with couple of them where majority children after school do private tutoring as well. Even though results are very good I doubt it is for school’s best effort. Also lack extra curricular.
tolleys wrote:Hello, I attended Brentwood about fifteen years ago now :oops: so sorry the feedback isn't more recent.

But if I was still living in the area i'd definitely consider it for my children (if I could afford it - the fees have gone up a lot since I was there!!).

The school has a very mixed ability intake with a big focus on extra curricular activities. A proportion of my intake came from families where grades/university were not so important (i.e. parents made a fortune in the city/sport/media having left school with limited quals, and kids planned to do the same). At the other end of the spectrum there were some phenomenally academic and motivated kids with a decent proportion of students from my year going off to oxbridge/medicine/law courses etc. I was surprised having joined from a state school to see how easily those two factions co-existed. In many ways, it's quite a good way to get a more well-rounded social education whichever camp you're in (if that's a priority for you). Although as others have alluded to, some of the more academic children are probably priced out of Brentwood now and opt for the local grammar/state options instead.
dez
Posts: 336
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2011 12:38 am

Re: Info on Brentwood school

Post by dez »

[quote="practisehard"]I really dont mind bit of mixed ability. I know local grammar schools have high intake. Being non fee paying schools with good results will automatically attract many parents. How ever I am not happy at all with couple of them where majority children after school do private tutoring as well. Even though results are very good I doubt it is for school’s best effort. Also lack extra curricular.

The competition to get into local grammars are fierce so quite a lot of the intakes have either been heavily tutored or been to a private prep school with high teacher to student ration. So it is not surprising that a proportion of Grammar school students are having private tutoring. It is not the fault of Grammars that those students need private tutoring out of school as they can't interview to select the students as admission to state selective Grammar schools are simply based on entrance test score and catchment area. Hence league table could be misleading to select a school for a child.
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