UK Boarding Schools

TeresaK

I'm thinking of sending my daughter to UK to study A-levels in Sept 2012.  Any student or parent who has daughter studying in one of the following schools, please send me some comments.  Many thanks.

1. Bedford School - Bedfordshire  
2. Royal Masonic for Girls - Hertfordshire  
3. St.Teresa - Surrey  
4. Royal High School - Bath

4eyesDad

Bedford School is the most famous school in your list. Unfortunately it is for boys only and, short of a sex change (and even that is debateable), your daughter will have no chance of getting in.
Sending your daughter to a boarding school in the UK is a big investment. It is not only the 2 years A-Level but also the next 3 years or more at a university. Your daughter should know how to use the internet and do some research herself. If she doesn't know what she wants or she has no preference at all, I suppose any school, provided you don't mind paying, will do.

TeresaK

I meant the Bedford
High School for Girls http://www.bedfordhigh.co.uk
We have done some research.  We just want to get some comments from existing students/parents.
I know it's big investment but I think it's worthwhile.  I don't have much confidence with the HK education system.

4eyesDad

I understand perfectly well that people may have no confidence in the present HK education system.
These four schools are relatively unknown and you need to be lucky to find people who can share first hand knowledge about these schools.
By the way, is there any particular reason why you choose them?

TeresaK

I just don't want to send my daughter to a school that is full of Chinese.  To my understanding, Royal High and Royal Masonic are both quite good.

4eyesDad

You seem to know what you are doing.

Good luck.

CPU1995

I have some reservation on Royal Masonic as it ranks 462 in accordance with the following ranking webpage:

http://rankings.ft.com/secondary-schools/secondary-schools-2011/4?fields=16541|16566|16571|16576|16581|16586|16626


Don’t fully trust the agency and they would just tell you the pros of school. You’d better ask the school direct the Asian students ratio in the boarding house as well as the ratio of Asian students in the Grade. Most medium ranking schools may have over 40% Asian students ratio in the Grade or in the boarding house. It is especially so for the Grade 12 entry.

Good luck!

原帖由 TeresaK 於 11-8-19 16:24 發表
I just don't want to send my daughter to a school that is full of Chinese.  To my understanding, Royal High and Royal Masonic are both quite good.

mattsmum

how come i can't find Gresham’s School in ft?

CPU1995

You can use filter by school name function to search Gresham in ft webpage. Gresham ranks 346:

http://rankings.ft.com/secondary-schools/secondary-schools-2011/3?fields=16541|16566|16571|16576|16581|16586|16626

原帖由 mattsmum 於 11-8-21 11:44 發表
how come i can't find Gresham’s School in ft?

[ 本帖最後由 CPU1995 於 11-8-21 14:46 編輯 ]

mattsmum

I cannot use the filter function in my computer. Do you have to pay for ft first?

CPU1995

I suppose this is a free website and I don't pay anything or register any name to log in.

原帖由 mattsmum 於 11-8-21 15:53 發表
I cannot use the filter function in my computer. Do you have to pay for ft first?

overview

想請教如有興趣入讀Bedford grade 9, 經agency或直接apply機會大D?

原帖由 4eyesDad 於 11-8-17 15:57 發表
Bedford School is the most famous school in your list. Unfortunately it is for boys only and, short of a sex change (and even that is debateable), your daughter will have no chance of getting in.
Send ...

4eyesDad

I have no evidence that applying through an agency improves your chance of admitting to a competitive school.

TeresaK

According to the Best Schools League Tables:
http://www.best-schools.co.uk/league-tables/girls-only-boarding-schools.aspx
Royal Masonic is not too bad.  The problem is there are all these different rankings and I'm not sure which one has a better recognition, any advice?

< CPU1995 發表於 11-8-21 10:07
I have some reservation on Royal Masonic as it ranks 462 in accordance with the following ranking webpage:

http://rankings.ft.com/secondary-schools/secondary-schools-2011/4?fields=16541|16566|16571|16576|16581|16586|16626


Don’t fully trust the agency and they would just tell you the pros of school. You’d better ask the school direct the Asian students ratio in the boarding house as well as the ratio of Asian students in the Grade. Most medium ranking schools may have over 40% Asian students ratio in the Grade or in the boarding house. It is especially so for the Grade 12 entry. >

peter_pan

The ranking table you've shown only include all the girls boarding only independent senior schools.
There is no boys, co-educational, day schools, or IB schools so it is from a much smaller pool.
But I do agree that there are too many ranking tables to know which is the best one. But having looked through a few of them, you will get an idea roughly how good a school is perceived in general.

原帖由 TeresaK 於 11-8-30 16:13 發表
According to the Best Schools League Tables:
http://www.best-schools.co.uk/league-tables/girls-only-boarding-schools.aspx
Royal Masonic is not too bad.  The problem is there are all these different ra ...

CPU1995

I think the best-schools.co.uk ranking is based on the % of Grade A-B while the ft ranking is based on the % of Grade A.

So ft webpage ranks 462 while best-schools webpage ranks 35 for Royal Masonic.   

原帖由 TeresaK 於 11-8-30 16:13 發表
According to the Best Schools League Tables:
http://www.best-schools.co.uk/league-tables/girls-only-boarding-schools.aspx
Royal Masonic is not too bad.  The problem is there are all these different ra ...

4eyesDad

Readers should know that FT.com is a famous and well recognized website whereas other websites could be more commercial (and less independent or reliable) in nature.

By comparison, this year's A-level results for all candidates are:

National average (A+B+C): 97.6%

National average A grade: 27%

The number 1 girl school scores about 99% in A+B grades at A-Level.

So, a score of 74.24 % in A+B grades at A-Level achieved by Royal Masonic School for Girls would be about average in the UK, assuming it has 23.24% or more scoring C grade.

When a school can rank number 35 in one website whilst rank at 462 in another website, parents should be more cautious, especially when they will be paying 22,020 pounds a year for the privilege.