St Helens or Northwood College

[13plusmum]

I have lots of friends whose children go to St. Helens and they are all having to tutor their children to 'keep up'.....the school suggested they get a tutor and even gave them the details...

[ToadMum]

I have lots of friends whose children go to St. Helens and they are all having to tutor their children to 'keep up'.....the school suggested they get a tutor and even gave them the details...

[Kingfisher]

I know these 2 schools well and I have close friends whose daughters attend both. It is certainly true that Northwood College is nurturing. The girls seem to be very happy there. And although the students may not be in the same league as NLCS/Habs etc, they still do incredibly well. Not everyone has a super-bright child and it is nice to think that there are places where they will be supported to do their very best within a gentle and perhaps slightly traditional environment.

[Middlesexmum]

I have lots of friends whose children go to St. Helens and they are all having to tutor their children to 'keep up'.....the school suggested they get a tutor and even gave them the details...

I very much doubt this is true. My dd is at St Helen's and the Head of Upper School strongly advised me against getting a private tutor for Maths for my dd. The school knows what its doing and achieves fantastic results. Last year only 4 girls out of nearly 100 got less than an A for GCSE Maths.

There will always be parents who pay for private tuition on top of school fees at ANY school.

[daddieshome]

I heard about these posts and as a Northwood parent I am shocked!

My DD is in Year 8 now and has excelled since joining last year. She is doing well in all aspects of school (even the subjects she didn’t enjoy as much in her Junior School!) She has a great group of friends and having met other parents at parents evenings and music events the moral seems very high!

[ellenmum]

As a parent of two girls at NWC I can say I both my girls enjoy a very high standard of teaching and one of my daughters always seems to be off playing a PE fixture against other London GDST Schools or on an exhibition to the other side of the world! My other daughter is still in year 4 but will definitely be going to senior school when the time comes. I cannot recommend NC enough.

[largerthanlifemum]

We have offers from both Northwood College and St Helens and having read these threads I can see that it’s a difficult decision for many parents… We have just handed in our acceptance to NC (with music scholarship) as she preferred the school after sitting her exam there and enjoyed her interview.

I know that St helens appears more academic but NW is a strong academic school but has a wider intake ability range. The value added figures they quote show that NC girls are getting one, two and even three grades higher when they take gcse’s than what they were predicted. I guess it’s each to their own

[Valkyrie]

Hello, I was wondering if parents had an update on this conversation for 2019. Our did has offers form both. She prefers st. H because her best friend is going there, but we preferred the feel of nwc. Our preference is marginal, so would like to hear about differences, especially:
How nurturing is st. H?
How academic is Nwc?

Thanks much for your help.

[Daogroupie]

If your dd is academic and enjoys being with other academic students she will find that much more at St Helens tan she will at Northwood.

DC i know of use Northwood as a backup and are often offered 40% scholarships but still choose to go to the more academic schools such as St Helens, Habs, St Albans and NLCS.

How important is an academically challenging environment in your list of criteria?

If you prefer a gentler approach then Northwood would be the better choice. DG

[Valkyrie]

Thanks Daogroupie for your reply