The Raleigh School or sticking to Guildford

[Gusttavo]

We are relatively new to the Surrey area and have a bit of a dilemma in our hands, so any insight would be truly appreciated.

We live in Chilworh and unfortunately our DD did not get a place in our first choice (Wonersh and Shamley Green school), which seems a pretty good school in our area.

Thus, our DD just started at our local Infant school, but those typically lead to Tillingbourne Junior or Holy Trinity Junior schools in Guildford.

We now have the opportunity to accept an offer from The Raleigh School, but this means a longer school run and potentially moving closer to the Effingham/Horsley area.

Does anyone know how Tillingbourne and Holy Trinity compare against The Raleigh School? (The published results from gov.uk show a big discrepancy).

Is it worth sticking around in Guildford and consider a future secondary school intake at George Abbot? or move closer to Effingham for a potential Howard of Effingham intake? Any material difference between those two?

One of us work in London Bridge. How does Effingham area compare to Guildford villages such as Chilworth for style of living and commuting?

We have two other younger kids which could benefit from our DD school choices, so we want to make sure we make the right one. It would be difficult to consider private education for three kids, so selecting a good primary/secondary school is one of our priorities.

Please help!! We have our head spinning at the moment with so many unknown variables :-/

[Gusttavo]

If you can help answer, or have an opinion, on any of the above questions (not necessarily all of them), please leave a message :P Thank you!!!

[YoHoShiver]

You were never going to get WSG from
chilworth- rumour has it there were children in catchment that didn’t get in. Have you looked at the admission data for schools and areas? It’s quite helpful for seeing where you’re likely to get in and where you might have a punt.

[BillieEyeFish]

Tillingbourne is decent as far as I understand and Holy Trinity used to be the Guildford school everyone was desperate to get into, so I’d be happy with that. Will you definitely get into George Abbot from where you are now? Birth rates are low in Guildford for the current reception year so it’ll be a wider intake than this year’s figures (which was a very high year).

[Gusttavo]

@YoHoShiver, there was at least one family who are further away than we are and they managed to get into WSG (looking at previous years intake). The chances were very slim indeed, but we felt it was worth a shot. The waiting list did not seem that long either.

@BillieEyeFish , we definitely would not stand a chance getting into George Abbot from where we are now, so we will have to move in a few years time anyway.

The question making our head spin is whether we stay put and hope to get into "Holy Trinity" later (which is not guaranteed and does not look as good as Raleigh or WSG), or else "bite the bullet" and secure a place at Raleigh, move to Horsley, and have education pretty much sorted for our three kids in the long run (though dearly missing Chilworth). We have no idea how Horsley is like :-/

Thank you so much to both of you for taking the time to respond ;)

[Ratatcat]

You might get WSG for y3 (lots disappear for private) which would then give a sibling place for the others but that wouldn’t solve secondary school dilemmas.

Do you know anyone with older children that can give you more ‘live’ info from holy trinity and admissions and how happy they’ve been?

[Gusttavo]

Thanks for the insight @Ratatcat, it seems consistent with the information we heard from the school (WSG), but you are now tackling the heart of the issue. It is the uncertainty around future school applications that makes us slightly anxious as well as the constantly moving target.

From Chilworth, it is not certain whether we will get a place at either Holy Trinity or WSG at year 3 (only Tillingbourne is somewhat certain), and it is quite clear we will need to move to Burpham in order to get to George Abbot (while the other younger kids will still be in primary education). In hindsight, we should have considered moving to Burpham much sooner, getting our DD into a good primary school there.

School application is just around the corner for our DS who starts Reception next year :-/ it is impressive how early choices can shape so much future opportunities.

[user1467408645]

Burpham Primary is one of the best schools in Surrey however the catchment is tiny so you have to basically live on the doorstep to get in. It's also extremely over subscribed so getting a Reception place now would be tricky. House prices in the area are also extremely high, partly due to the fantastic schools.

[Gusttavo]

Thanks for helping out! This boat might have already sailed. We would have to move really fast in time for our DS to get to reception at Burpham Primary during this year's application process. If we start now, the only way to accomplish that would be via rental, and we would still need to cope with our DD in a different school.

As we have this new opportunity, it would make sense for us to have everyone attending Raleigh, thus reducing the time pressure. We always have the opportunity to try move to Burpham later for secondary if, for whatever reason, we cannot settle well in Horsley or surroundings.

Lessons learnt for others reading this - start early to compare Junior and Primary schools and how they would lead to a good Secondary education, ideally before your first child starts Reception. Infant schools could be great, but only short-lived. The first child school option will inevitably have a strong influence on the choices/options for their siblings, particularly if you live a bit further from great schools.