Hi

I really need some help in deciding whether I should stay at St Cuth’s or move back to Kristin. I am struggling to decide which will be a better school for me

I am worried that I won’t be as prepared to excel at IB at St Cuths than if I was at Kristin (I am planning to do IB in the future) When I was in year 8, the standards to achieve 7’s and 8’s were rather high. I remember having to go into great detail, writing 5000 words for my science assessment and around 3000 words for my humanities assessments. This was for criteria B & C. At St Cuth’s (year 9) I find the assessments a lot less difficult compared to the ones at Kristin. The standards are not as high as Kristin. In fact I recall a few of my classmates achieving an excellence grade having gone into very little detail for their research assessment (300-500 words) I truly do believe that Kristin prepares you very well for IB and therefore many people are able to do the rigorous course however I thought the learning side of thing was very independent (perhaps that was because of the research assessments?) and I often felt like I was just being thrown into the deep end by teachers. In comparison, at St Cuth’s basically all of the assessments were criteria A which was learning a topic, studying what you learnt and then doing a test on the topic. However, the teachers are very good and are extremely supportive and helpful in pushing you to do your best.

At Kristin, it was always the same people getting the same awards at the prizegiving. People who are not particularly gifted do not really get many opportunities to excel academically, physically or culturally. They don’t foster an average person well however they do foster those who are gifted very well. I am someone who is somewhat intelligent and at Kristin got mostly 7’s and 8’s but the odd 6’s. However, at St Cuth’s, I find that the school strongly encourages everyone to participate in sports and cultural activities and to just do the best you can. Everyone just wants to do as best they can. Kristin still does encourage everyone to participate in as many school activities as possible. Also, some people just simply do not care about their studies however there is a very competitive circle for those that are intelligent.

Reflecting back, I really did enjoy the culture far better at Kristin than St Cuth’s. You are able to socialise with more of your year and it is not so cliquey. At St Cuths, I think it is very restricted with who you hang out with and there is little flexibility to socialise with people outside your clique. I also find that classes are not as interactive and fun at St Cuth’s. I found class much more enjoyable and fun at Kristin. There is also a sense of belonging and family within in your respective core class at Kristin which is what I like about the school. I don’t know if this is due to the fact that I have been at Kristin longer than I have at St Cuth’s or because of it being co-ed rather than single sex.

I would greatly appreciate some help in deciding whether I should continue to stay at St Cuth’s or move back to Kristin. I am absolutely torn between the two and really need other people’s opinions on this. These are the 3 main things that I am concerned about with moving/staying.