Open Day - WCHS ( Woodford County High School )

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Fat pigeon
Posts: 141
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:15 am

Open Day - WCHS ( Woodford County High School )

Post by Fat pigeon »

At last the race is beginning to appear real, an opportunity to visualise in a concrete form, the reason we have been through so many days & nights of faster heart-beats & short breaths :D .

The whole family pigeon, visited together & came out with surprising & mixed responses :?

We got there half an hour early, with the main hall surprisingly empty & half full at 17:30 p.m. From past experience, I was expecting the "sharp elbowed" middle classes, selfish, hormonal & a touch rude. Glad to say that everyone was much more down to earth & considerate & having a greater mix than last year. There was naturally going to be a slight buzz of tension in the air occasionally, as dps are working hard, with a many a fixed face. I dealt with it by being one of those rare faces with an inane clown-like smile, unnerving I know! My other half dealt with it by going into communications shut down mode & the occasional ever so slightly snappy impatience towards yours truly. Worryingly ultra-self confident & unconcerned detached happy dd to the point of ebullience a.k.a Tigger, withdrew into a limpet-like shell just like my OH. Not only that, when asked to contribute a creative answer to "the moon is" ended up writing "shiny" in comparison to the usual myriad OTT confections :roll:

We went around twice, as the first time was a waste of time as far too much traffic to actually gain any idea, stuck cheek by jowl in a traffic jam worthy of the M25 rush hour. Also, the first 2 girls didn't even look back once or communicate to the group & abandoned us dps after losing us at the first room :? The 2nd lot of girls were real pros & were friendly & constantly asking dps their feedback :D

After the tour, we saw the second batch of parents in the main hall, absolutely heaving, if one takes both sets of numbers into consideration. But...we knew that, didn't we?

Despite my better half trying to shut me up, I managed to obtain useful intel. 8)

A very useful interactive chart on display showed where most of the respondent dps had come from geographically. There were 3 main concentrations I.e. Valentines, Seven Kings & Woodford Green. I was surprised as there appeared to be no one from Clayhall, or were they just a more shy bunch of dps?

The girls I asked said that they were getting 80s to 90 on their practice papers during their time. This is direct from the horses' mouth, & chimes with what probably is a more realistic figure. It may be that we on the forum historically generally consist of the most energetic or talkative :D .
The good guys always win in the end - Up, up & away...
KhadijahA-R
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 12:51 am

Re: Open Day - WCHS ( Woodford County High School )

Post by KhadijahA-R »

Gosh, you made good use of your open day.
Dh went with ds so obviously I got scant info and feedback. Ds was so in love with the school that he took photos of it which was great. He said they were asked to complete a mathematical puzzle, and that the best bit was the lazers in the physics lab :lol: :lol:
Dh certainly didn't ask the boys there what they were getting in their practice papers, but I would definitely have been interested: 80's and 90's no surprises there then. :D
baffled
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue May 21, 2013 11:50 am

Re: Open Day - WCHS ( Woodford County High School )

Post by baffled »

Hi all, i so agree with the mixed feelings after the open day. I was slightly surprised as WCHS looked pretty run down to me (just comparing to the comp high school i went to which was in amongst an estate) it was good we went though as both dd's actually liked it!!! my 7 yr old even said she would work hard to get in!!! lolll they really liked the experiments *especially the chemistry. Yes it was very cramped, and you could see the different faces of parents (some would not even want to look at you!!! hahaha) but the competitive air was good as dd actually saw what she was up against - yes it is a case of being able to get 90% and above to be in with a chance!! I can only assume it will get tougher each year.....also to get into the sixth form you have to be achieving A's???? all this me thinks may be too much for our wee child and part of me thinks let them have a childhood arghhhhh.....to which dh firmly puts me straight telling me that this is life and they need to be with the best? :?
as with where everyone came from, yes i was surprised to hear ppl from E17 and so on, i think only few of us are from clayhall although the 2 girls that showed us around were both from clayhall too!
anyhow, hope you r all good, have to tend to a screaming 2yr old (who will also be going through this process in several years but wondering if the 11+ trauma will take a toll on my health by the time he sits his!)
take care
Rainbow Petals
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:02 pm

Re: Open Day - WCHS ( Woodford County High School )

Post by Rainbow Petals »

My sister and I went on this open day. It wasn't as fancy as ICHS and I agree, the building did look pretty worn down. But the open day was ok and after a while we got a bit fed up trying to look around because it was so cramped! :?
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