wht is better choice BGS or Herschel?

[anxiousp]

Hi,
I am very confused to decide between Burnham and Herschel? I would appreciate your views on this.

[hasmum]

Hi,
Dont really know of anyone at these two schools but both seemed good, we had BGS as 1st choice but have been offered Herschel 3rd choice as you know.

I made a note of FT Index A level results.. Top 1000
Burnham 515
Herschel 377

Also look at their specialist subjects, depends on what your dc is suited to.

[English Emilia]

I have one child at Herschel and one has been given a place there for September. I couldn't be happier with the school and am thrilled that they'll both be there next year. Having said that, BGS was high up on both our CAF forms and I'd have been happy to have my children there too - sorry if that's not very helpful. Incidentally, I didn't really look at league tables / results etc in detail. In any grammar school, motivated children will do well. I think it's more important to look at other aspects of the school which are important to your child. I'm not sure how you've ended up being able to "choose" between schools - surely you've only been given one offer? If you are in a position of having a choice though, I'd suggest you ring the schools and ask if you can visit again. I'm sure they'd be happy to let you do so and it might help you decide. Good luck,

[anxiousp]

Hi,
Thank u for ur reply.
My daughter has been offered a place at BGS and is 2nd on Herschels waiting list..thus,,i am hopeful of am offer form there.....the only downfall with BGS is tht they do not have Drama as a GCSE and my daughter is keen on tht....i am not sure how i will go abt doing tht privately if she goes to BGS......on the open eve...We loved both the schools and the childrens confidence...But it is good to hear tht ur child is enjoying Herschel...Could i ask wht was the reason tht u put BGS above herschel?

[English Emilia]

I didn't! Herschel was our first choice for both of my children. My son only ever wanted to go to Herschel, although he did put BGS second choice and my daughter has heard only positive things from him about the school, so she put it first too. She also had BGS high on her list however. As for why we chose Herschel over BGS in the first place, I think it's a bit like buying a house - you somehow get the right feeling about a place when you walk in! Both my son and I "just knew" that Herschel was right for him - the teachers were lovely at Open Evening, the Head's speech was both down to earth and inspiring, the pupils who showed us round were great . . . . The school just gave off the right vibes! It is also nearer to home than BGS, but that was a secondary consideration as far as I was concerned. As I said before, we could not be happier with Herschel and I was very pleased that my daughter decided to make it her first choice too, but I know that BGS is also a very good school, so it really does come down to personal preference. (Incidentally, the Drama Department is very good at Herschel!) Sorry if that's not much help, but good luck with making your decision - and, once you've made it, don't look back! I'm sure your child will be very happy at either school!

[anxiousp]

Thank you for your reply....I think we will probably end up going with Herschel....even when we went at open eve...it was a feeling of being the right one..which made us put it as 1st...

[scary mum]

You should go with your gut feeling - both are very good schools

[hasmum]

Even though I liked both schools and so did my son, the sports facilities at Herschel were excellent, my son loved their football pitch( that was his priority at every school we visited ) they have a huge variety of sports.

We will probably stick with Herschel Also travel wise BGS for us would be more travelling.

[drummer]

Funny! Our sporty son had his eye on Herschel over BGS (before we visited) because of what everyone 'said' about Herschel's sports facilities.

On visiting the schools we got a much better 'feeling' about BGS and we then happened to meet a very bright lad who had transferred from Herschel because he wasn't happy there and one of his 'gripes' was that they hardly ever got to actually USE the facilities at Herschel (being hired out to the public etc). Anyway, that settled it. We have 2 boys there and are delighted. Great community feel, lots of information about your child's progress even to the point of personal emails from teachers says "Dear Mrs Drummer - your child has been somewhat distracted in my subject lately - they have a test coming up in a week...."

[English Emilia]

All fair points. To be truthful, although my son had many reasons for choosing Herschel, I think the sports facilities were very high on his list of priorities, but actually he does very much enjoy the sport now that he's there and does seem to make good use of the facilities. All depends who you talk to. I think BGS has excellent facilities too and was very impressed with the PE staff on Open Evening. As for e-mails from teachers, I don't think I've ever had any from Herschel along the lines you mentioned, but whenever I have had cause to e-mail teachers, I have always had a reply within the day and - on more than one occasion - the teacher has actually phoned me, even when my queries have felt relatively trivial. I rate the teachers very highly at Herschel - and you clearly do at BGS! At the end of the day, both schools are clearly very good and I think that, on the whole, children do very well at both. Good luck with anyone still making up their mind, but I don't really think you can go far wrong with either school.