Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Great Plum wrote:I think there was a wedding in the chapel only last year... I'm surprised if it changed so quickly... (and as its a Christian place of worship it shouldn't be hard to get permission...)

As reported in the latest Old Blue, their wedding took place in the Court Room.

Oh OK then - I do know that there were some weddings in the last couple of years in the chapel...

sejintenej wrote:

lonelymom wrote:

Great Plum wrote: 1. Bring back Christ's Hospital Enteprises and rent the school out in the holidays for summer schools / weddings etc... I think this is why there is a new director of development.

I've been wondering why CH doesn't do this because it seems like such an obvious money-spinner but I just assumed there was a reason why it couldn't happen.

This question has been raised before and my impression from the replies was that afterwards the houses were left in such a mess that it was uneconomically costly to clear up afterwards

This was done last summer (although reduced number of language students came due to the threat of swine flu)and apparently something in the region of £75,00 was given to the school
It is definitely being repeated this year .

Sorry Janet, was that £75,000 or £7,500? If it's £75,000 and that was reduced numbers then that is just brilliant!!

£75,000 IS brilliant, but it will not make the slightest dent in the monetary deficit which needs to be met if the School is to continue beyond the next 20 years, as I understand it.......

lonelymom wrote:Sorry Janet, was that £75,000 or £7,500? If it's £75,000 and that was reduced numbers then that is just brilliant!!

whoops!

£75,000

I was married in the chapel of Kelly college Tavistock as my father in law was an ex-teacher there. we also used a family friend vicar who was not the resident clergy. All we had to do was apply for a special permission from the archbishop with reasons and pay about £50, then we had full permission for the wedding. I would not have thought the CH chapel would be that different. At the time we were the first wedding for a long time and Kelly had no civil licence in place. Food was handled by the school catering staff (who had their own company for summer events).

I would have thought wedding parties with the Grecians houses rented for guest accommodation could be a great money spinner over the summer holidays

If you think though Kerren, £75,000 with reduced numbers... c.£100 with...

add in 20 weddings / receptions a year, rental of the sports pitches, perhaps a summer seaosn at the theatre, we are looking at easily 200 / 250k - put it this way, that's 10 teacher's salarys or 12 kids through the school annually paid by that. (Or the maintenance of the buildings... etc etc)

Does anyone know whether any day pupils have actually been put forward for a place in September ?

Yes they have, although I suspect that we will have a lot more starting in 2011 than 2010 due to the late notice.

I jus want to check the 2011 places are in addition to the boarding places aren't they. It is just i have been doing all the forms for son (which ask you to explain why boarding would be beneficial) and want to know if there are the same number of places available competitive entry as before the changes

Not sure about that. I think so, but do not know so. Based on this year's figures the competative entry remained over subscribed by about 4 to 1. The entrance papers (that my son took this year) are very similar to 11+ papers you can get on the internet or in WHSmiths. Tough but manageable if your son is bright (SAT predictions of 4A and above).

I jus want to check the 2011 places are in addition to the boarding places aren't they. It is just i have been doing all the forms for son (which ask you to explain why boarding would be beneficial) and want to know if there are the same number of places available competitive entry as before the changes

Day places aside. isn't it the case that the number of competitive entry places available is being reduced by the need to increase the percentage of boarding pupils paying full fees? My sons noticed on the recent New Entrants Day that there are one or two fewer lads coming into their House this September than usual, but they seem to believe that the school is still hoping to fill these places with full fee payers.

I am not worried about his maths (at his primary he was accelerated from nursery to year2 without doing year 1 and is now retaking yr6 next year) as he is already at an easy lv5, his literacy is what he needs to concentrate on as his story telling depends upon his interest in the subject matter - no interest short story - high interest very long rambling unstructured essay Whilst his technical use of vocabulary and spelling is excellent his structure and planning are not.

He really needs to get away from our area or else he will be going to the "sports academy" local comp whose Ofsted says "poor at maths and science and very poor at individualised learning" lovely statements like "the money from the sports specialist status has yet to filter through to benefits in other areas". It is a totally football based school with a five a side company owning and runnin git's games fiels/gym now and he has absolutely no interest in football

He really needs to get away from our area or else he will be going to the "sports academy" local comp

I've never really understood this business of state schools having 'specialisms'. Perhaps this might work in a big city where parents can choose between a number of available options (although evidence would suggest that genuine choice is often illusory). However, in less urban areas where there is often very little choice of secondary education, parents are stuck with the community school's specialist status regardless of whether this focus is appropriate for their own child's individual ability and interest. I know that a friend's daughter, very bright and interested in science and languages, was virtually forced into choosing a creative arts subject at GCSE because her school's additional funding as a specialist arts college depends on a certain percentage of pupils following this route. Madness. No wonder CH is so oversubscribed!