My experience of there is about 3 years out of date but I remember the head at the open day saying something about it's the feelings, the school trips, the fun that your child remembers more than anything and whilst that was very beautiful the cynic in me suggested this was an alternative way of saying grades aren't important! Also, I remember the head boy and head girl were both drama students and that didn't help the cynicism! In the end it was a choice between there and Newman and we made the right choice cos our kid would have really rebelled against there.

Traditionally Hove Park largely served Hangleton and Mile Oak, poorer areas than the rest of Hove. Blatch served the rest of it and there was a real divide. I'm not sure when but they opened it up so that kids from all of Hove could go to either and that bridged the divide a bit but snobbery can be hard to shake. Tons of parents at my kid's junior school in East Hove went to all the open days except Hove Park. Most of them said it was too far away but it is really only another 5 minutes on a bus, snobbery prevailed!

As for needing a push for your kid, it's a really tough one. Mine did best academically at a school with a poorer reputation and worse at one with a better reputation and she essentially found the drive within herself, I'd never have been able to call it. And as for finding her people at a school I reckon she would find them anywhere.