Rosebery School, Epsom

[Baggyoldclothcat]

I am currently looking at secondary schools for my DD who is in year 5. I went to the open day last year and was impressed with the facilities and also the girls who showed us around. Does anyone have any opinions or experience of this school?

[Renniehorta]

I went there for my sixth form although many moons ago. It was brilliant then. I owe them a lot.

[oldqueenie]

blimey! i was there too (about 500 years ago).

[Baggyoldclothcat]

Thank you for replying Renniehorta and Oldqueenie - my only concern about the school was that my rather shy, quiet DD would be slightly overwhelmed by the class sizes. Also does anyone know what the position is as regards streaming? Is this done in year 7 or year 9? Sorry, I'm trying to get my head around what would be the best option for my daughter and not getting very far!

[PatriciaHolm]

Everyone I know who has girls there are very happy with it, tbh. I know little details -DD is only Y1, so its a bit away for us - but I know a number of parents with DDs in Y7/8 who are very happy and none who are disappointed.

[Dozer]

As giddypickle says, the catchment area is small and getting smaller.

Am not sure when it stopped being selective: if this was recently, some of the good results could be due to selection

[oldqueenie]

it stopped being selective in the '70's! until then it was a grammar school.

[Baggyoldclothcat]

Fortunately we are in the catchment area so it is very reassuring to hear all the positive comments.

My DD is currently at an independent school with a class size of 19 so my only real concern is how she will cope with the larger class sizes and whether she will be somehow overlooked given her quiet nature.

[GastonTheLadybird]

I went there too, think it is a great school and would happily send my DD. I never felt that class sizes were too big and had a couple of friends who came from private who adapted just fine.

[Baggyoldclothcat]

Thank you GastonTheLadybird, glad to hear that you enjoyed it and that class sizes weren't an issue. Does anyone have any idea what the situation is as regards streaming?

Rosebery seems like a very good option for us especially as the other schools we are looking at would involve DD getting on a bus at 7.20am

[GastonTheLadybird]

I am pretty sure we were streamed fairly early, yr 7 for Maths and English, probably Science and then there were moves at beginning of yr 8 to reflect yr 7 exam results. Some stayed mixed, religious studies, art, technology etc.

Sure if you phone they can give you the specifics for now though. I started in 1998 so poss quite different now!

[EmsDad]

2.27 miles was the furthest distance place offered for 2012. Is this much different than previous years?

Thanks

[Silverstreet]

Per SCC website it was 3.654km distance in 2012, 3.41km in 2011.

[EmsDad]

Bound to get smaller, the Noble Park development, etc

[Dooood]

We moved recently to Epsom and we were lucky to have a place in the 6 form, but my DD worried.

[SHAHINAKHAN]

Hello www.mumsnet.com/emo/te/1.gif.pagespeed.ce.Pm7krOc06b.gif
New to mumsnet, so a warm hi to all mums out there.
I am in a real fix. working on my daughter's secondary school admission. she wishes to go to an all girls outstanding school and the best one closest to us is the Roseberry in Epsom. The worst part is the distance is about 5 miles to my home.
Can someone guide me, should i even put this school as our first preference on the school admission form or even the last one or just leave it as we will not be considered.
please help!!!!!1

[Teddygirlonce]

You might be better starting your own talk thread SHAHINAKHAN as this is a zombie one.

The worst part is the distance is about 5 miles to my home answering this as I know people whose DDs are there. Think it's got quite a small catchment area . TBQH from what I've been told by people in the know five miles away will be too far away. Just checked the school's website and it would appear "the distance of the last place allocated into Year 7 in previous years is as follows:

2017 2.1712
2016 1.9665
2016 1.9665
2014 2.0142"

However, there's nothing to stop you putting it on your CAF as your rank outsider school option, if that's the school you really would like your DD to go to. Just to be realistic about her chances (or not) of securing a place, come offers day or thereafter, if you've put it at or near the top.

Good luck!

[PatriciaHolm]

5 miles is significantly further than distance admissions have gone for years, as said. You can appeal of course, but you need to have another realistic option as your chances are small.

[SHAHINAKHAN]

Thanks Teddygirlonce and PatricialHolm. I was wondering what her chances of securing a place in the school would be if I put the Roseberry school top on my CAF? I do have options but not many, however I am speaking and explaining to her where we stand and have also asked her to think about a co-ed school, how she feels about it.
Any way thanks for your advice.

[Teddygirlonce]

what her chances of securing a place in the school would be if I put the Roseberry school top on my CAF?

By all means put it top but the schools have no idea which order you've put them in on the CAF - they will only offer your DD a place at Rosebery IF she meet the entry criteria (which based on your distance from Rosebery, she is highly unlikely to).

How many CAF choices do you have in Surrey? You need to be strategic in which schools you put on the list (particularly if it's only three) so your DD has a reasonable chance of meeting entry criteria -
and therefore gaining admission - to one of her/your preferred choices, otherwise she may be allocated one with spare places (which may well be an under-achieving one that you'd not want her to go to).

In an ideal world we'd all like to send our children to the best school possible but it's not always feasible. We live just outside catchment for one of THE best comps in London. It's our closest school BUT we're still a matter of several hundred metres too far away to ever gain entry on distance. DC2 ended up with their third choice school which was the 'bank' one - the dead cert, given catchment area and where we lived. We were just relieved that they got one of the six, particularly as the other five were all varying degrees of 'rank outsider'.

[PatriciaHolm]

Realistically, if you live 5 miles away as the crow flies, then your chances are pretty much zero. Do check, as a PP said, if you are measuring by road as surrey use straight line distance.

[SHAHINAKHAN]

Yes, We have a choice of six schools not three. The distance from the school to my home is given on the Sutton Council Website. If the criteria for admission in a school is just the distance, then as Patricia said, our chances are zero. So we are actually wasting one of the choice given to us. feeling very sad.

[SHAHINAKHAN]

As parents we ideally want our children to go to the best schools, but realistically this is not possible. I would remind myself that my two older sons started with a school which was under requires improvement but then it changed to an academy. Things started to change drastically and for the good. My boys were also smart enough to live upto the challenge. Both of them were school toppers in their respective GCSEs. So no matter which school our children go to, it's ultimately their hard work that's going to take them places. Anyway lets keep praying and hoping that they succeed no matter where they are.