Hockerill Anglo European College

[Burroo]

We have just heard that our 11yr old son has been offered a boarding place at Hockerill. I am excited by the school but my husband is not convinced. We do not live locally so do not have a "feel" to the place yet. Has anyone any views / knowledge about the school? In particular what sort of atmosphere/ethos it has, and what sort of children it produces?

[sb6699]

It has an excellent reputation locally - everyone is fighting for a place!!!

Their focus is mainly on languages (I'm sure I read somewhere they actually take some of their lessons in German) but it is a very "academic" school in general. My only worry is that it might be a bit of a struggle for a non-academic child who prefers science/art/sports to make the most of their skills.

The children their are encouraged to excel and its pretty strict in general.

Have to say that the children who attend are lovely and well mannered, but then again I suppose that's something that's taught at home as well.

I am very .

We are still waiting to hear where DS has been accepted but even though we live down the road the chances of him getting in are very slim.

[webwiz]

If you want hearsay and gossip I can do that rather than hard facts. Everyone I've met with children at Hockerill is very happy with it - its a smallish school and they seem to know the pupils well. It is academic but they do have good sports facilities and they are a music specialist as well as languages. They have a bilingual section in later years so if you do particularly well in languages and you would do some of your history and geography lessons in german for example.

The bad bits - lots of expensive language trips and they do quite a few short course GCSES which can be a problem if your child wants to switch to A levels rather than staying on for the IB.

[Burroo]

Thanks both.
Have just heard that son (DS - sorry, am new to this!) has also been offered a place at a private day school and are waiting to hear from Christs Hospital.
His preference (and probably ours) is Christs Hospital, but if he does get a place there they have told us that it would be on a full fees basis (more than twice the cost of Hockerill) which although possibly just about manageable would be a real struggle and there is no way that we could then do the same for dd.
Not sure how I can justify that when he has been offered a place at a really good school for much less.
For family reasons we want him to board, as does he, and want somewhere socially and culturally inclusive and co-ed which both schools are.
A week ago I was having sleepless nights worrying if he would get in anywhere; now I'm having sleepless nights wondering how to choose / afford the choice.
May have to start another thread on that one!