Bancrofts VS KEGS

[rbs]

Hi,


Ds has been offered a place at KEGS and now a place at Bancrofts School in Woodford.


Aside from the financial considerations, could someone please advise on the pros and cons of each school.


Thanks.

[moved]

What are you interested in knowing. I can't help with Bancrofts, but KEGS offers the boys good opportunities for music, drama and sport as well as the academic life. This is at a high standard, but KEGS has a fairly laid back approach from my experience. KEGS pastoral care is good too. The down side would be larger class sizes, one parents' evening per year and one report per year. I assume that Bancrofts would have fewer boys per class and report more often, otherwise what are you paying for.

[rbs]

Hi,


Bancrofts has 22+ children per class so not hugely different to KEGS. Kegs ranks higher on the league tables than Bancrofts but I am hearing that the boys are all tutored outside school and the extra curricular side of things isn't fully developed.

I am not sure if this is due to the high number of boys from outside catchment, change in cohort or a general observation.

We are planning on moving nearer to the school if we decide to send our son to KEGS so just wanted to gain an independant perspective.

Any views much appreciated.

[dengiegirl]

My DS is a year 9 at KEGS. He is very happy there and I have found the teachers very supportive- and quick to advise of any problems. There is a good balance between preventing bullying and still allowing the boys the freedom to sort out pecking order problems themselves-ie the boys are allowed to be boys so long as no one is getting hurt or upset. The homework is not overwhelming, although the first term of Year 7 was pretty bad. There are plenty of extra-curricular activities-enough to suit all. DS reports that some have tutors-often in particular subjects such as maths or languages, but plenty do not. The quality of the teaching and the obvious care teachers take with marking and setting work is such that we have felt no need to pay for outside tuition.

I know nothing of Bancrofts except that I notice when DS has played them at rugby they have seemed a very decent and well-behaved group of boys.

[3rdtimelucky]

I don't know about Bancrofts - but I do know about Kegs, as my eldest DS is there and I can compare to local successful private school which my second DS attends. My experience with Kegs has been wholly positive - Academically and pastorally they have been very supportive of my DS. I know a lot of parents do use private tutors in the GCSE years - my son has relied on support from teachers and sixth formers so far, but we may consider specialist tutors for some subjects,because he wants to be successful in all subjects. I think the extra curricular side of things does not match up to my experience of private school, however my DS at Kegs is also not good at finding out about these things so his lack of involvement may be more about him than the school. Drama appears to be mainly for older years, Sports is good - although they are not as 'driven' as the private school and team success depends largely on the intake for the year. If you want to ask any specific questions pls feel fee to PM me. Overall I think you should accept Kegs is not a private school, it is a state school - but a very good one, which achieves great results with very bright children.

[Antonio]

It might be a good idea to a have a look over the comments regarding the proposed changes to the admissions policy for Kegs. It seems likely that the changes will come into place for the admissions for 2013. This will no doubt have a profound impact on the school. It has been argued that the school may lose some of its super selective status and that the academic standard may fall accordingly over time. It has also been argued that the school lacks connection with the local area due to the distances travelled and the relatively low numbers of boys from the local area. It seems likely that the school may enter a period of flux and change after a long period of stability.

[Guest55]

Go for KEGS - the changes wil not make a real difference to the ethos of the school.
Remember itt used to be a local school when Essex had GS (yes, some of us remember that far back ) and was high achieving then. The proposed changes still cover a wide area and I really can't see much change in the intake. Most of the objections are from people more than 12.5 miles away ...

[moved]

I think the changes are being brought in because the school has changed so much in the last couple of years; too many children travelling long distances and too few attending clubs. The school wishes to return to its position of being a local grammar.

[dengiegirl]

KEGS parents were recently told by newsletter that this year's intake is more than 50% out of the proposed catchment. I presume most will come from the London side. In any case it is certain the Governors will be taking action to get the balance back to where it was just 3-4 years ago.

[ahap]

My DSs State school had a 11+ club with 12 students and only one got into KEGS and one to CRGS and none to CCHS or any other at the moment. My DS was not in the 11+ club but he was working for it and is in the waiting list for a GS in Southend out of catchment. There will be others in the waiting list from his school for these GSs but if they don't get in to any of the GSs they will either go to indies or other local comps. But most will go to their local comp. Now if you look at most Local comps in Chelmsford they are very good and one local comp even topped KEGS and CCHS in the league table for A levels. What does it say about it? Well I think the bright locals who are state educated get deprived of a Grammar education because of the system that these 2 schools have had and the out come of it is that the comps are beating them and they are not selective schools at all. So even though the comps don't top the GSs in GCSC because they are not selective, they do as well as them if not better in A levels. So the academic standard IMHO will not fall but rise for these Grammars with this new proposed changes but there might be a lower standardised score for the in catchment since they will take 80% within catchment which is not a bad thing as this wont have any negative impact on the final results.