St Pauls Girls School Exam today

[ajpshergill]

Results posted out, by letter

[ConcernedDad]

Good info, Stroller!

Received the letter today.

Final and important stage to go.

Good luck to all children appearing for the interview!

[LostInTheShuffle]

Congratulations to all DDs who received an offer from SPGS. Although our DD is there now and enjoying it, it took us a while last year to decide to send her there - we grappled with grammar vs private, diversity, academic pressure, best "fit" given DD's personality, etc.

Happy to answer any questions parents may have.

[LostInTheShuffle]

I have received PMs asking similar questions so I thought I would respond here in case other parents are pondering the same:

1. Diversity (broadly defined)

- Girls at SPGS come in all varieties (athletic/musical/arty/bookish; outgoing/shy; etc) and they are free to be themselves. The one thing they all have in common is a keen interest in learning (DD, who is on the shy and easy-going side, loves the intellectual atmosphere of the school)
- SPGS is highly diverse in terms of ethnicity and nationality (a real plus, in our view)
- SPGS is not as diverse from a socio-economic standpoint as we would have liked

2. Teaching

- Two terms in, DD has found all her teachers to be fine and a couple to be inspiring. We think it is wonderful that her two favourite subjects are so different - maths (I would not have imagined this!) and Latin (which she was not exposed to previously)
- We are delighted that one of DD's teachers is a former SPGS head girl, who happens to be rather strict (in a good way)
- In general, teachers (and other staff) have been responsive when parents have had queries and have provided helpful/constructive feedback to DD on work completed

3. Pressure/expectations

- On homework, first term of Year 7 was quite relaxed but it has stepped up this term
- Although a serious place academic-wise, SPGS is not (in my view) high pressured at this stage (the ideal for us is to have a somewhat relaxed first 3 years and then gear up for the public examinations). If there is pressure felt by Year 7 girls, it probably stems from their parents - we have found some to be overly ambitious and too concerned with marks (even on routine quizzes)
- Overall, we think it is great that SPGS does not rank the students (incidentally, we were counseled by older Paulinas on offer holders day last year that if a DD or her parents feel that she always needs to be top, she will not have a good experience there because talent is spread broadly)
- On extra-curriculars, DD is trying different activities without the pressure to excel (for example, in some sports such as netball, there are teams for all ability levels)

4. Additional costs (trips, clubs, etc)

In Year 7, there are a couple of day trips (shouldn't cost much) but no overnight outings. Most clubs (including music and sports) are free. Individual music lessons and activities such as equestrian are not covered (DD is not doing any activity that incurs additional costs).

Lunches are included but books are not covered (approx £150 was included in this term's bill; hopefully, that's it for this school year).

The biggest expense has been the sports kit and related items - this school year, we have spent around £300 (we also bought a couple of items at the second-hand sale last June). Fortunately, no uniform expenses and the girls are very casual in terms what they wear to school (half the time, DD goes to school in her sports kit).

5. Misc observations

- SPGS is a bit formal, more than, say, G&L and HBS
- SPGS has less green space than, for example, NLCS and HBS (which may be important to some DDs)

Overall, we feel we made the right decision sending DD to SPGS and she is happy there. Hope the above is helpful.