We are choosing between Woodford and Chelmsford. I am leaning more towards Woodford because of travel convenience. However, I heard some terrible feedback from parents, e.g. my neighbour's daughter is doing her GCSE as Woodford and has 4 tutors. Apparently that's the norm at WCHS as the school doesn't manage to cover the syllabus before the exam. The teachers know most kids have external tutors, so they can't be bothered to finish the syllabus. Also, permanent teachers aren't always available. The mum was saying her DD had supply teacher for a core science subject since beginning of term and she is stressed out because GCSE mocks are in Jan. Quite a few parents shared similar reviews for higher year groups. Most parents I know have DD in year 7/8, they are fairly happy but I am worried about GCSE and higher. My DD does NOT like going to tutoring, so I don't know if she will ever cope with 4-5 tutors. She barely coped with 2 hours/week for 11+.

Is there any WCHS parents here who can reassure me please? Are the above true?

With such prejudice/attitude towards WCHS it would be better for everyone, especially for you and your daughter if you don't send her to this school.
Looks like you've already made your mind anyway.

I have no attitude towards WCHS. I have no kids there's so I can't have a valid view about it. What I shared above is views of parents who have kids there. It is in fact sad to see parents who have kids in the school have such prejudice towards the school. I am just trying to verify what I heard.
I was hoping to hear that it's untrue.

Perhaps you can shed some positive light on this and share the positives of the school. No pressure though.

We are in a similar position to you tahm563.

We are struggling to decide between Woodford and Chelmsford. Woodford is just a 20 minutes drive, whereas Chelmsford requires a 20 minute drive to the Bus Stop, then an extra 45 minute coach trip.

We weren’t that impressed with Woodford - the buildings were shabby and it just didn’t have that Wow factor Chelmsford has. I’m still doing as much research as I can on both the schools, and any feedback on either would be gratefully appreciated.

What is the coach like? What is the coach timetable?
What is Woodford teaching like? Clubs? Diversity? Are the tutoring rumours true?

Are you any closer to a railway station on the Liverpool Street - Chelmsford line? There are country-bound trains arriving at 08.02 and 08.12, I think (one probably a 'fast' and the other a 'not so fast'), possibly another arriving in time for walking round to the school. Much more flexible than a one-off coach.

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Unfortunately not, I live around Barkingside.

DD was at Woodford in year 7 last year but left end of year.

Teaching - mainly permanent staff, taught to very high level, achieve excellent results - generally if you don't need heavy tutoring to get in you shouldn't need a tutor, school does warn though heavily tutored children tend to need it throughout but would imagine that's the case with most grammars. DD didn't have a tutor for exam or year 7 - for exam just scrapped in at 107.57 but above average end of year results including top of year in 2 subjects. Only issue DD had was if you didn't understand teachers weren't keen to explain, you were expected to research it yourself after school, it wasn't a huge issue though.

Diversity - around 95% Asian from around Ilford/Barkingside area mainly. DD was white and I think there were 7 white girls in her year and around the same number of black children. Almost no-one goes there from our local area which made it quite isolating for DD. DD did make lots of friends but no after school meetups as nearest children were almost an hour away and they were getting 2 hours homework a night plus she got back at 4.30pm. There are after school clubs and a couple of before school ones. School could be very traditional at times - DD had a day where they did ballroom dancing and they offered knitting lessons but you could opt out of these.

The emphasis was on academics rather than after school - DD was offered a few after school events, these all got cancelled by the school though maybe we were unlucky. Found pastoral care poor, DD was very unhappy there and when told all they did was give her a y12 buddy who also said she hated school and said it gets worse and school just said they had stats on her and academically she was doing very well which I knew but wasn't the issue. She's really happy at her new school. Some of the buildings are brand new, some are run down.

Thank you this is really helpful. I think we are leaning towards chelmsford.

Hello all,

I just popped in as I'm about to recommend a few resources to a friend who is about to start the 11+ ride when I saw this and had to post.

My daughter is at WCHS after securing a place fairly comfortably with just myself tutoring her for 3-4 months before the run-up to the exam.

We've been really impressed with just how efficient and down-to-earth the school is. The information given is factual and concise in terms of speeches and written communication. More importantly, our daughter is happy and thriving at the school. She has a small group of friends that she is close to. There are numerous clubs and activities. We have stopped her after-school clubs as she travels by bus and we don't want her coming home when it's too dark but as we move into Summer, she will definitely return to them. The food is good, offering breakfast, cooked meals and salads/baguettes as well as numerous cake sales. We've found the school to be quite flexible in terms of uniform. The girls can wear trousers if they choose and boots in the winter when the weather is cold. It's also secure with a locked gate requiring a fob to get in and your thumbprint to pay for your food!

Our daughter has never been tutored and I am not expecting to have to while she is at WCHS. She's bright and conscientious. If by any chance, she doesn't understand her homework she'll ask me. Of course, if it looks like she's struggling in Year 10, then we would consider it but I personally think it's just a matter of being organised and doing all your homework! I can't imagine that the syllabus wouldn't be covered but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I can't speak for everyone at the school, obviously, and I definitely shared your concerns but they would be the same regardless of where she was going and this is the best school we could have sent her to. We did consider Chelmsford but discounted it as the commute would have been too long.

I hope this post helps to allay some fears that you may have had about the school and dispel any rumours.

@SecretSquiggle

You say, "We did consider Chelmsford but discounted it as the commute would have been too long".
Where does your daughter commute from? Assuming Redbridge and unless I'm mistaken, the journey-time by bus/coach to either CCHS or WCHS is similar, with CCHS also having the train station much nearer as an alternative option.