Parent Testimonials
A quote from a Year 6 parent - "With the end of term in sight and our time at St Hilary’s coming to a close, we just wanted to say that whilst we have only been at the school for one and a half years, it has had such a tremendously positive impact on our daughter and our family as a whole, and I can’t thank you and all the teachers enough.
Through the support and encouragement of all her teachers (and learning support!), our daughter academically has risen in all subjects more than we ever expected, but most importantly with it her enjoyment for learning. All her teachers, have inspired her to learn. She wants and loves to go to school every single day! Through the encouragement she has received in drama and music, we have seen her perform in the music concert, at the Godalming Festival (and coming first in one of her performances), experience Voice in a Million and now Joseph. Prior to St Hilary’s, she had never been involved or selected for public speaking roles/assemblies or indeed participated in a drama performance, let alone audition for it! In Art, we saw her work selected for the King Edward’s exhibition, and in PE, there is always a team for her to play in and matches to go to.
Our daughter joined St Hilary's with low self esteem, missing 20% of school and the firm belief that she wasn’t very good at anything; but in her time at St Hilary's this has changed dramatically. St Hilary’s really is inclusive and does try to embrace every child and not just those ‘at the top’. Thank you so very much to you and all the staff. Thank you for giving her the opportunity to experience all these wonderful things in a nurturing, supportive and encouraging environment. You have all had a huge impact upon her and she is an entirely different girl to the child that entered St Hilary’s, and we, as parents are really very grateful."
A quote from a Year 5 parent - "As our daughter now begins her second term at St Hilary’s, we felt it really appropriate to write to you to say how impressed we are by what we have seen of the school in our short time with you!
One of our primary objectives in choosing a school for our daughter was the ability to support her properly given she has some learning challenges.
This is something that her previous school was simply unable to do. As a result of her struggling academically, she had huge anxiety about school, and most days it would be a battle for us to get her to attend. As the academic bar was set so high she never experienced success, no matter how small, and this led to her self esteem and confidence going down massively . She was also utterly exhausted at the end of each school day, and as a result of this, she has never participated in sport and extra curricular activities, but experienced a great many injuries that we now believe was directly linked to her utter exhaustion. In short, school for our daughter in the last few years has not been an enjoyable experience and this in turn has been impacting the whole family.
By contrast, after just one full term at St Hilary's, our daughter is an entirely different girl! We really cannot believe the change. It is almost impossible to describe the difference we have seen and simply how much she now enjoys going to school and looks forward to it. For the first time she is really thriving and relishing in the academic side. She enjoys telling us about her day and all that she has learnt. She feels that she is succeeding in her academic work and takes pride in doing her homework. Her energy levels are completely restored and she now wants to take part in sport - enjoying the netball matches she had in term 1 and in this term rounders. She even volunteered to do early morning tennis! This was completely unheard of 6 months ago. Perhaps too it is because she has never even been placed in a team matches before, and this only goes to show how inclusive St Hilary’s is.
Other things that St Hilary’s do so well are the commendation awards and house merits. Our daughter received a commendation award in her first term, for ‘settling into St Hilary’s’, and it now takes pride of place in her bedroom. She also takes much pride in telling us when she gets house merits. She has never received an award before or enjoyed any visible recognition or success in any subject or sport and the difference it has made in terms of self confidence, belief and motivation is so visibly tangible.
We could not be more pleased with the school, and whilst we don’t know exactly what it is you and the team are doing, it has totally transformed our daughter and it is simply such a joy to now see her getting so much enjoyment from school for the first time.
Please do pass on our thanks to the staff. Their support, encouragement, and commitment that they have shown towards her has made her feel so secure and it is because of them, that her confidence is growing by the day and that we now see the change that we now see in her. We really are so grateful."
A quote from a Year 5 parent - "Our daughter is so genuinely happily at school and each term we think that it cannot get better for her and then it does! She is grinning when she climbs on the bus at 7.45am and she is grinning when I collect her after school and we couldn't ask for more!
It is evident that St Hilary's is a very special place and that the children's welfare is at the very centre of everything that you do. We are very grateful to you and your staff who always seem to go that extra mile and help to make the school the vibrant and nurturing environment it is."