Beatrice moved to Burgess Hill Girls School in Year 7
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Beatrice in her new school uniform at Burgess Hill Girls School
When we were considering schools after Sompting Abbotts, we looked at Shoreham College, Ardingly College and Davison High School, but we chose Burgess Hill Girls in the end.
What tipped our decision was its nurturing environment, friendliness and that the facilities were great. My mum liked that it wasn’t as ‘pushy’ as other top independent schools too.
I had to sit an entrance exam – verbal, numerical and logical reasoning tests – and it was quite hard. It took about two hours.
In my opinion, it's great to stay at your prep school to the end of Year 8 if you’re going to a school which starts at Year 9. But I moved at the end of Year 6 because that’s when most people begin here. I thought it would be better to start at the same time, when everyone else is making friends.
Now I’m here, I love it! I was ready for this next stage of a bigger school. It’s quite different from Sompting Abbotts because there are more pupils (about 500) and there are no boys, which I like!
Burgess Hill Girls School
The ISC says: “Burgess Hill Girls is an ‘excellent’ rated Independent day and boarding school in the heart of Sussex. It is a through school for girls aged two to 18. The Nursery (which is co-ed), Pre-Prep, Prep, Senior School and Sixth Form are all located on the same campus, a 14-acre conservation area centrally located in Burgess Hill close to the main road and rail links to Brighton and London.”
It was easy to settle in because everyone was welcoming. I felt nervous to start with. It helped that we had an induction afternoon the day before the start of term, so I got to meet my new classmates. Now I’ve a wide circle of friends across the whole year group. We're all different, and it's interesting getting to know my peers.
There are about 50 pupils in Year 7. About half of the year group came from the prep school, and the other half, like me, were new to BHG. The new pupils come from a range of schools – both independent and state. Most of the girls are from the UK and we have four or five from overseas in Year 7.
“My science teacher here says that I have an excellent grounding in all topics. I’m also the only pupil that has already learnt Latin. In most subjects that have sets, I’m in the top set, so I feel like Sompting Abbotts prepared me really well for senior school.”
I have new lessons, like DT, textiles, German and Spanish. There are about 15-17 pupils per tutor group, and three tutor groups. In Year 7, we spend some time in our tutor groups for lessons, and are streamed into sets for others. So we get to mix with students from across the whole year.
If anyone at Sompting Abbotts is considering BHG, I’d say don't be nervous, everyone here is really nice and they’ll help you fit in. I really recommend BHG!
Beatrice, with her brother, Toby, at Sompting Abbotts
We start at 8.30am and finish at 4pm. So far the workload has been fine. I’ve actually had less homework! During the first term, there is no homework at all, because they want to allow time for us to settle in. From January, we had homework for core subjects only and now we’ve homework for every subject. But it’s not too time consuming yet.
I don’t know which GCSEs I’ll be doing exactly, aside from the core subjects of English, Maths and Science, but I’ll probably take DT, French, Geography and Computing. I'm not sure what else yet!
“I have lots of lovely memories of Sompting Abbotts. I especially loved my art lessons, and exploring the grounds and climbing trees with my friends at break times. The school trips at the end of Year 6 were also really fun. If I had to choose, I’d say Mrs Kelly and Mrs Tewkesbury were my favourite teachers!”
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Next steps
Charlie won an Academic Scholarship to Christ’s Hospital and joined in Year 9. He now boards full-time and although homesick at the start, now rarely wants to go home!