Schools Guide
The Best Grammar Schools in Bexley
If you're aiming for your child to pass the Bexley 11+ exam, you'll be left with a hard choice to make on which Bexley school to go to.
Sep 6, 2022
The Best Grammar Schools in Bexley
A Deep Dive into Bexley's Grammar Schools
To start off, having been to one of the four Bexley Grammar Schools - and achieving some of the highest grades you can possibly get at these schools. I'd like to preface the fact that the quality of teaching, behaviour and overall environment in all 4 Bexley Grammar Schools are of a similar high standard. Schools are not machines and your child is not a product, the grammar school you choose will not transform your child into a genius - but it will provide the correct environment for your child to become a genius if he so chooses to.
What's the Scoop on Grammar Schools Anyway?
There's three simple reasons why your child is likely to perform better in a grammar school compared to a non-selective school.
Less disruptive behaviour, so your child will be able to utilise the teacher and the lessons more effectively
Surrounded by high achievers, this provides your child context on what is achievable - if they don't see that students can get straight 9s and straight A*s at A level's there's a chance they may not think it's possible.
Better support for university applications - this is more important for students looking to apply to universities like Oxbridge or to competitive courses such as Medicine and Dentistry. These admissions processes can be very complicated, and a sixth-form that has prior experience getting their students into these courses will be much better equipped to support your child.
As you can see, these benefits can be huge if your child uses them. Choosing the correct school is like choosing the most fertile grounds sow seeds on. But it is always the child's choice as to whether they will achieve their full potential.
For example, if your child doesn't concentrate in lessons anyway, less disruptive behaviour and a more available teacher will not be of any benefit. Utilising a teacher effectively is not a given, and in a class of 30 students, having the best teacher in the world may not be of any use to your child if they don't know how to stay engaged with the class and ask intuitive questions to the teacher that would progress their own learning. At this stage spoon-fed learning very slowly begins to fade out, and whether you go to an academic grammar school or not, your child will have to take their learning into their own hands.
(This is why we actually run our 11+ tuition classes at larger class sizes, so we can develop this crucial skill, many studies have been conducted on this)
In the Quest for Genius: Bexley's Brightest Gems
Let's get the grades out of the way first.
Bexley Grammar:
Maximum IB Point Score Possible: 45
Average BGS Total Point Score: 34
Highest IB Score from Bexley in 2023: 43 (2 students)
Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar:
Maximum A level Score Possible: 4 A*s or 3 A*s (Depending on how many subjects chosen)
A Level Results: 71.4% of grades at A*-B.
3 students achieved (A*A*A*A*)
6 more students were awarded 4 grades at A*/A
40 students were awarded 3 grades at A*/A.
8 Oxbridge placements, 7 Medicine Placements
Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School is the No.1 school in Bexley for A level results and 68th leading school in the country as per information submitted to the The Times.
Townley Grammar: (They haven't reported many statistics for 2023)
2 students achieved 4 (A*A*A*A*)
13 more students were awarded 3 grades at A*/A.
I can see 6 Medicine/Law Placements and 4 Oxbridge placements
Beths Grammar:
4 students achieved (A*A*A*A*)
26 students obtaining at least two A* grades
57% of grades were A*- B
I can see 5 Oxbridge placements and 1 Medicine placement
So what can we actually draw from these results statistics?
The initial thought process most parents have is to just pick the school with the highest average grades or the most competitive university placements.
Mathematically speaking you'd pick your top choice as either Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar, or Bexley Grammar - being the top two performing academically, and from there decide whether you want your child to take IBs or A-levels.
However, in reality what these metrics tell us, is that each of these schools provides the opportunity for students to do well if they so please. There are top performers in each of these schools, and the fact that one school has a higher number of total top performers than another, doesn't necessarily intuit that their teaching, or facilities are what caused it. With this in mind, all of these school's are top picks for a student who is looking to perform highly.
Where I would look further into, during the open days - is the general atmosphere and diversity of the school.
You want to pick a school that your child will enjoy the most for the next 6 years of their academic journey.
A competitive child will fit right in to a competitive school such as St Olave's or Newstead. Whereas if you think your child has the possibility of getting demotivated when surrounded by top performers, pick a more relaxed school that still gives them the opportunity to perform.
If you're adamant on getting a competitive Medicine, Dentistry or Oxbridge placement, definetly pick a school with the highest number of these placements: Because this is a different process then just getting good grades. This includes interviews, aptitude tests, and extra support on early UCAS submissions - and the school you're can actually make a difference here (whereas I don't believe they make much of a difference on your child's grades.)
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