Year 10 in September - Ribston, SHS and HSFG

[Lizzie]

We are relocating from the US and dd will be starting Year 10 in September. Does anyone have experience of a dd joining one of these schools in Year 10 (or even 8 or 9) and if so how did they find the support to be? My dd is academically strong but I know she is going to have to cope with lots of change and new things all at once so would love to hear from others who might have been through this. I am concerned about whether she will find it hard to make friends as most of the students will have been together for the past 3 years. She has always had a nice group of friends but she isn't a child who finds it easy to insert herself into friendship groups. Do any of them have a K-pop club?

They all seem like lovely schools but I'm wondering if they are all equally good at supporting someone not starting with them in Year 7?

DD is particularly drawn to Ribston and SHS because she loves Music, Art and drama and she loves the idea of being able to take dance class at school. She also liked HSFG but it didn't seem quite as "relaxed/fun" as the other two but there has been a change of head since we saw it. I liked that HSFG appeared to be quite racially diverse, more so than Ribston and SHS. Am I correct in thinking this? Is Ribston is more racially diverse than SHS?

I'm really just wondering if anyone has any opinions as to which school might be the best at supporting a new year 10 student. Thank you for any feedback here or please PM me if that is easier.

[Flash]

Hi Lizzie (again)

Dd is at Denmark Road having just taken her GCSEs. She's been there from year 7. I know of some girls who started a few years later who settled well and have been very happy there.

Dd is very into art, muisc, drama and dance. She wanted to go to rhhs because of dance but the journey was too difficult for us at the time.

She's excelled at art and music and they have house dance and house drama competitions once a year.

Because she loved rhhs so much I was really worried we'd made the wrong choice with drhs, but she's loved every minute there and has lovely friends. It has a very nurturing family feel to it which I don't think came across at the open day. I don't think you can really tell what a school is really like until your child starts.

It's been the perfect school for DD.

[authormum]

Hi Lizzie,
I wouldn't be too concerned about someone joining in Y10 not being able to find friendship groups. My DD constantly seems to be making friends with 'New Girls'.

I'd say you're right about cohorts in Ribston being generally more diverse. I think this is simply down to geography - Gloucester is a more diverse city than Stroud is a town and they draw more from their local areas.

(I have one DD at SHS and one at Ribston).

[Lizzie]

Flash and Authormum,

Thank you both for your replies, your feedback is very helpful and much appreciated.

Authormum, does having children at schools some distance from each other present a lot of challenges for you with regard to after school clubs, keeping track of school events etc.?

[authormum]

Authormum, does having children at schools some distance from each other present a lot of challenges for you with regard to after school clubs, keeping track of school events etc.?

We are walking distance to one school and on a direct bus line to the other. My girls are pretty organised and independent, and I work, so I don't (can't!) manage their lives for them. Most school clubs they do are at lunchtimes. So no, it's fine honestly.

[RedVelvet]

I’ve just replied on your other thread re boys. My daughter is at SHS. They seem to welcome new girls easily. Stroud as a town is fairly arty so she’ll find plenty of like minded girls. My daughter initially preferred Ribston because of the dance but opted for SHS in the end (with a drama group on Saturday mornings) it’s worked well for us.

[Lizzie]

Thanks Redvelvet, for both replies, much appreciated! Dance is definitely part of the attraction to Ribston for my dd but she really liked SHS and HSFG too. I did come across the info about the "Shine on stage" classes when I was researching and thought they sounded good and something dd would enjoy.

[RedVelvet]

We do PQA in Stroud which is a similar thing, taking a play to Edinburgh fringe for the second time this summer, my 13yr old loves it. It’s also given her a good out of school group of friends (boys and girls over a variety of ages).i think that’s important too.

[Lizzie]

RedVelvet, the PQA one looks great, thank you!