Sydney Girls High School or St George Girls (1 Viewer)

[Bib]

I am researching on high schools for my daughter.

She will be sitting for the selective school test next year and I would appreciate some feedback and guidance on Sydney Girls High School (SGH) and St George Girls (SGG).

We have attended the open day at SGG. The grounds are expansive and they seem to have quite a diverse list of extracurricular activities with the bulk of the activities occurring within school hours or close to. On the flip side, we know of an ex student who told us that they lack the resources and teacher quality at SGG. I know a few SGH graduates from my uni days, but obviously their feedback relates to those bygone days. However, their one comment which I think is still relevant today is that the grounds are compact.

Those things aside, I would appreciate if we can go to the crux, ie is it a well resourced school, do extra curricular activities occur mostly outside school hours, is there a requirement for them to be committed to Saturday sports, is student welfare and emotional/mental development a big thing for the school or do they only pay lip service, is drug and behaviour an issue at the school?

Thank you all in advance!

 

[Belizzy]

I was previously a student at SGG, but I transferred to SGHS as it was closer to my home.
Both are excellent schools, fun and friendly atmospheres. What I found:

-there are no requirements for Saturday sports in either schools

-both schools offer a diverse range of extracurricular activities. At SGHS most activities are at lunchtimes or afterschool, but depending on your sport (e.g: netball, hockey) the actual game date is during the weekends. Fencing and table tennis however occur on weekdays.

-in terms of school size I'm pretty sure SGHS is bigger, if you include the massive patch of land known as the Lowers. The difference in size is not big enough to make a difference.

-both schools have counsellors. I found that SGHS tends to focus on emotional/mental health more, especially in Pdhpe and year advisor meetings. But keep in mind I was only in SGG during junior years; teachers may only promote study stress awareness etc during senior years

-SGG has a few drug and behaviour problems, but only a few students (a few dropouts etc) SGHS virtually has no drug/behaviour issues, there may be people with problems but it is not obvious. I'm pretty sure we don't even have detention.

-both schools are academically great selective schools, I have friends who are definitely going to get 99+ in both schools.
However I believe the study environment is better at SGHS, the pressure is more intense. I feel like they promote academics AND extracurricular activities more (you need to do at least two to get the student awards) Teachers are overall very high quality. SGHS offers some accelerated courses for their top students. SGHS does really well in English and the humanities (history, legal Eco etc), I think SGG aces textiles and does better in music.

-SGG had more excursions and skit days though (this might be just junior years)

My (evidently biased) opinion: both schools are great.
But at SGHS your child will have greater chance of HSC success. This school really emphasises leadership and well-roundedness too.

Hope this helped

 

[Bib]

Hi Belize, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and providing me with much clarity for my research. I will have to speak to my daughter and see which one she prefers.

 

[Bib]

Hi Mikasa, thank you also for taking the time to response and your offer for a PM.

It is great to read your and Belizzy's honest account of the schools. As a parent, travelling will always be an issue eg safety and drugs (always drugs!!) being topmost in my mind. I am also drawn to SGG because of its proximity- as it is a 30 min train ride as opposed to SGHS at about 1.5 hours travel one way. Still there will be quite a number of students travelling on the trains and bus to Moore Park. Decisions, decisions...

Last question, are you aware of whether students are tutored heavily whilst in high school? I can try to tutor her myself but it will get to a stage when this may be beyond me.

Thank you again Mikasa and Belizzy hopefully she can make it to one. Otherwise it will have to be a catholic or private school option (yikes)

 

[Venus67]

Both of my girls go to SGHS. Definitely SGHS if your daughter can achieve the required mark.

 

[Bib]

Hi a future and Venus,
Thank you for responding. I have been a bit apprehensive about the excessive tutoring and studying that could occur in some selective schools. However, 2-3 hours does not sound too bad. I suppose for some high school students who don't do much work outside of school, 2-3 hours may be considered a revision session, albeit a paid one well, I will have to put my daughter's nose to the grindstone and hopefully things will work out for her next year. Thank you all again