Harris Westminster 2021

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Reply 540

scythe2003

As a former student... don't go.

Reply 541

Obolinda

Volunteer Team

Original post by scythe2003

As a former student... don't go.

why ? curious.

Reply 542

scythe2003

Original post by Obolinda

why ? curious.

Maybe I'm just mad about my A level grades. But the school seriously messed up our grades. As a matter of fact, 57 people are resitting, which is odd when you think about it when you it given that the school is 'selective'. Students predicted straight A*s getting As and Bs, missing both firm and insurance. It was certainly surprising on results day when students who not too long ago were talking about their oxford/cambridge/imperial now calling up Queen Mary for clearing. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people still did get great grades- but if you look at the stats when they get published, you'll see a massive dip in achievement. The school has this mentality of being 'scholarly'- they used mark schemes from 2019 (pre-pandemic) to give our grades while I know several others who used 2020's (which was ludicrously low).

But I guess I can't blame them about the pandemic. The teaching is very good. The leadership is okay, but you might find Ms Scott and Mr Grant annoying. Given that teacher assessed grades are probably going to be off next year, with deeper thought I take back my initial statement.

If you have any questions about the school let me know. I finished this June.

Reply 543

Obolinda

Volunteer Team

Original post by scythe2003

I'm a student at the school :tongue:

I'm going to yr 13. your results day was during prep week and I was volunteering at prep week so I saw a few people waiting to collect results. I had no idea about that situation with the results ! I'm sorry that happened.

Tbh I haven't had many interactions with ms scott, she's reasonably pleasant to me but she's quite scary. I like mr Grant :colondollar:

Reply 544

scythe2003

Original post by Obolinda

I'm a student at the school :tongue:

Oh ok lol, I might've saw you then! Results day was a real mix, 30% were happy with what they got and were all smiles, 40% were like 'meh, crap grades but at least there's my insurance' and the final 30% could be seen on the phone in clearing.

Grant was a lot stricter when I was in year 12, you're lucky you missed his shouting :tongue:

(and if you ever have him as a teacher you'll know how much he likes Cornell notes :tongue:

)

Good luck with year 13! :smile:

Reply 545

B5seventyone

Hi.I’m thinking of choosing french and history for my exam too. How did you find it and was it similar to the past exam paper on their website

Reply 546

Bushel

Original post by B5seventyone

Hi.I’m thinking of choosing french and history for my exam too. How did you find it and was it similar to the past exam paper on their website

Never did history as a test (though it is one of my subjects) but I did do French. The translation is something that you will do regardless, and something some students struggle with now, but you learn, it would be great to practise now. The reading I remember doing online, and it will throw you off sometimes with some new vocabulary, or vocabulary rarely used in GCSE french like ‘enseignante’ (I thank God I remembered that during the exam or had recently revised it otherwise.. tears..), and even then, if you get the gist of what is being written, you can’t be too far off. The tests are something to revise for slightly, here and there do keep visiting the past papers that are supplied to you on the website (there’s only really one per subject) but they’re not anything to genuinely panic over or lose sleep. Make sure to rest well, look over bits and pieces of your GSCE work that you might find unique (like for me ‘hormis’ (I hope that’s right) as ‘except for’ was something I found unique in the GCSE french course, sadly it never came up on the test) because it may appear or it may not, and just be I guess.. ‘excited’ for the process. Also expect some moments of cringing at yourself after if you panicked too much and went too quickly to The point where you made silly errors. I did that. But enjoy :smile:

Reply 547

RedVelvet16

Original post by username4466420

i go to harris now! i think that the school itself is hard-work but if you're willing to put in the effort it will be worth it??? everyone here is super friendly so it's easy to meet others, but the work load is heavy (in my opinion)- this being said you can switch to 3 a-levels+epq and core maths on enrolment day or 2 weeks after the start of school- it would probably help with the workload. there are lots of things i like such as cp's, lab time and the sports offered, however if you come here and feel like it's not for you that's fine! i know people who have left the school and are far better off, but i haven't yet come across people who regret leaving- since it's not for everyone.
(sorry for the long message, but if you have more questions i am happy to help!)