Newsteadwood results

[Frbm]

Hi all
My daughter scored 224 for newsteadwood and we are within 9 miles for Newstead. And scored 218 for Bexley and we are 6.5 miles away from townley. Will I b ok for any of the school or am bit scared . Our first choice is newstead. Will this score ok to get a place on offer day.

Thanks

There is an answer on the cut off for Newstead in this same topic, if you go a few pages back. Re distance for Townley, it seems a little far but possible, in my opinion. You can find the distances for last years in the bexley.gov.uk website. There’s a link in one of these topics about Bexley grammars as well.

My advice: Don’t be scared and do not try to reinvent the wheel. Add the schools in order of preference and at least one comp just in case. If you do not get an offer on offer day, you can still be in the waiting list. If it’s meant to be, it will be.

[curiousfather]

Have been researching Newstead after DD cleared the test. During the research, it came across that teacher: student ratio is ~1:30 whereas grammar peers have 1:18/20. Do teachers really have quality time left to help struggling students. Aren't they themselves too stressed? Their assistant team ratio is also pretty high.

[Frbm]

Have been researching Newstead after DD cleared the test. During the research, it came across that teacher: student ratio is ~1:30 whereas grammar peers have 1:18/20. Do teachers really have quality time left to help struggling students. Aren't they themselves too stressed? Their assistant team ratio is also pretty high.

Those are good questions. I asked earlier about rumours of students being tutored out of school. Not sure if things could be related…

[PettswoodFiona]

My experience for DD is quality over quantity.
They have experienced staff and not lots of NQTs.

[121]

Newstead Woods has 168 places in Year 7 and 6 classes, each class should consist of 28 pupils (if all the places are filled) verified on an Open Day Tour last week. That's actually smaller than most of the Grammars in Bexley that take girls.

[121]

hi everyone, I am new here, thank you for all the insights into the schools, very very helpful, been reading the forum for hours. My dd passed the Bexley exam in the top 180, does that mean she is automatically in a grammar school of her choice? Say Bexley or Chis and Sid? For Newstead she scored 224 and is her top choice but I am concerned that if I put it first on the form and she doesn't make it (because this year it seems a lot of girls had great scores) she will miss out on Townley which is her second choice. What do you suggest?

Same here, Top 180 score and a safe amount over the historic cut-off scores for Newstead.

Putting Newstead first and any Bexley school for girls second will basically mean you will get Newstead if you qualify among the top 168 qualifiers otherwise a Top 180 placing will mean her Bexley 2nd choice will be guaranteed regardless and there is no point putting any other choice below that.

[Frbm]

Newstead Woods has 168 places in Year 7 and 6 classes, each class should consist of 28 pupils (if all the places are filled) verified on an Open Day Tour last week. That's actually smaller than most of the Grammars in Bexley that take girls.

But the numbers mentioned are in the gov site and are proportional per student. Therefore this is already being considered and does not explain the difference. The quality of staff might be a better explanation.

[curiousfather]

My experience for DD is quality over quantity.
They have experienced staff and not lots of NQTs.

Don't get me wrong as just trying to better understand the school. Their share of qualified teachers is similar to peers. However for example Ebaac entries is way lower than others. Does this signify that their focus is on core subjects only which can to an extent explain why high student teacher ratio. During the visit, had heard from the student that they are planning it about to add russian as well. How are they supporting these with so few resources.

[PettswoodFiona]

Ebacc is lower as the school don’t force students to do subjects they don’t want to do. Qualified teachers is different from experienced teachers.

[Frbm]

We went for our tour today and I have to say, we are disappointed. DH and I left feeling that visiting the school has only brought us more questions…