Consortium dilemma - SHHS v Channing v FHS

[mb74]

Friends daughter is doing GCSE’s currently at Channing and confirmed there were no Oxbridge offers this year. They and their daughter are strongly considering moving for 6th Form.

Re: diversity it depends on what aspect you are considering.

Any open day will demonstrate the (limited) ethnic diversity of the school compared to others. The school were very defensive when questioned about this.

More difficult to judge social diversity and the school has never been particularly forthcoming about exactly how many girls receive bursaries etc. They just say vague things like “a significant proportion”.

Don’t know much about the other schools but have a fair bit of insight into Channing. It really depends on what your expectations are and where you believe your daughter will thrive.

[ilelo]

The Deputy Head was not defensive when we asked why ethnic minorities were so under represented. According to him, a good number attend the Open events but somehow doesn't turn into applications. They are aware of it and are looking at ways of addressing.

IMO, it's not a hindrance as children do not normally see ethnicity.

[MHM]

Thanks all, Ilelo, don't disagree about ethnicity, hard to separate my own interpretation about "fitting in" from DD's.
All three schools said they thought she would fit in to be fair and so hard to judge from the outside. All the girls we met on Open Days were lovely, polite and enthusiastic about their school.

[MrsChips]

Hello we were dithering between Channing and SHHS last year and had decided to visit both schools on their offers morning. However, Channing’s offer exploded and then the cancelled the offers morning, which made our decision for us.

It’s one we’ve not regretted. I was worried SHHS might be high pressure but the staff have been so kind and sensitive to settling new girls in and the teaching seems of a high standard. I suspect we would have chosen SHHS anyway as the journey is more convenient and it’s consistently more academic, but I had though that maybe Channing would be a kinder, gentler place.

I’m grateful to Channing for making our decision for us. FHS is considered less academic but I really liked it too and feel more wistful about turning it down than Channing.

There’s that horrible uniform too...

[drinkmoretea]

Does anyone have an idea when Channing offers might explode this year? I think I read that last year it was around Thursday of half term.

[MHM]

Thanks MrsChips - that’s good to know. The same might happen to us, i’m not sure Channing offered an Offers morning this year.
I think someone said it’s quite different to go round with an offer so we will go to SHHS & FHS and see if that helps.

[fairyelephant]

DD is at Channing year 12. I too was concerned that it was not academic enough but they have catered for the most academic very well throughout. She and many of her friends got all A*s/8/9 at GCSE there. Indeed I think she has thrived particularly because she feels very secure in being towards the top of the cohort, although there is plenty of competition, if that is what concerns you. If your child is bright they will do well wherever they go. The differences between these schools academically actually come down to a very small number of girls making the percentage difference (neither have over 100 girls in the sixth form). Also Channing will not prevent you taking an exam if your predicted grade is low. It is indeed a very kind and supportive environment. Also true there were no Oxbridge offers this year, not sure why that is although the teacher overseeing applications is new to the role I think. DD loved Channing the moment we took her round and still does. That is the key to achievement I think. It’s also a very easy and quick journey home so she has been able to stay after school for clubs etc without concern.

[MrsChips]

I think this is where the exploding offers might bite Channing. Those with multiple offers who want to make a reasoned decision might find their offer exploded but won’t mind too much as they’ve got alternatives. It’s those for whom Channing is their only or best offer who’ll leap at it.

Someone from a private prep who’s more aware of any school ‘hierarchy’ than we are (state primary) was very surprised that we were considering taking Channing over SHHS. But we wanted to make our own decision not one based on alleged prestige. Again, I think it’s a shame that Channing’s new system prohibits that. The offers morning is a chance to sell the school so they’re missing a trick.

[MHM]

Thanks fairyelephant & Mrs C.
I can’t help thinking that the whole hierarchy is a result of schools taking the brighter kids because of the hierarchy and then they get better results & maybe DD will get just the same results wherever she goes, whether she’s one of the brightest at a slightly less academic but still pretty academic school or is mid table somewhere else.

Haven’t heard much on here about FHS for example, but I really like what I’ve seen of it, thought the newish Head was very impressive, approach very personalised etc

[Elma]

@MHM I think you’ve got it right in the hierarchies of the schools - those with top results are able to attract the kids more likely to do well in exams and then the cycle continues and they get the best results. Are the schools with best results more able to attract the best teachers though? Also something to think about in that hierarchy of schools is whether your dd will thrive more as someone near the top of the school academically, or prefer the competition where all the kids were the top of their primaries?