Please come and talk to me about secondary schools (state) in Oxford.

[jennifersofia]

Trying (in vain) to find out about state secondaries in Oxford. What do you think about Matthew Arnold, Cherwell and Cheney? Any others worth considering?
TIA!

[jennifersofia]

A very unashamed bump -
Are there not any MN-er's who live in Oxford?

[AvengingGerbil]

Or just none who use the state system???
(Bump)

[Pyrocanthus]

I haven't lived in Oxford for some years, but DD would probably be about to start at Cherwell or Cheney had we stayed, as we lived halfway between the two.

Presumably you've tried all the obvious things like websites, ofsted, good school guides? Cherwell generally turns up in lists of the best state schools, but that might be to do with its catchment area. I think Cheney is well thought of, I don't know anything about Matthew Arnold, I'm afraid.

Bumping, really.

[jennifersofia]

Cheers for that AG and Pyrocanthus. Yes, have tried all obvious things. I know there are some recommended (eg Cherwell / Cheney), but just reading it on paper it is a little hard to get a grip on them. There are also anomolies that you can really only find out via people who have gone there - eg. the 'vibe' of a school, how academic it is, yada yada.
The basic things that I was trying to find out are:
a) are there really only two that are worth going to?
b) is the competition so intense for those two that it is v. unlikely we would get it?
c) Can I afford to live in the areas that we would need to in order to go to those 2 schools? (obv. need to find out which schools are worth going to before I can answer 'c'.)

[hewlettsdaughter]

Matthew Arnold has a good rep I think (though I don't know anyone who goes there). We will be choosing secondary school for ds in the autumn (not in catchement for either Cherwell or Cheney).

[jujumaman]

I grew up in Oxford, in those days Cherwell was OK, Cheney was v rough, Matthew Arnold was good, Lord Bill's in Thame was excellent

But this was a long time ago so much will have changed and Cheney has no doubt improved. I'm sure you couldn't go wrong with Cherwell, I know several Oxbridge graduates who went there and all seem pretty well-rounded types. I imagine its catchment is pretty tiny now and houses in Oxford are extremely expensive ie London level. Good luck.

[jennifersofia]

Thanks very much for that - very helpful!

[qumquat]

I have friends who went to Cheney and Wheatley Park (just outside Oxford but not far if you live on that side of town) who both had very positive experiences and my friend who wetn to Cheney went to Cambridge. I don't know anything about Robert Arnold apart from that vast numbers of kids who live near Peers get the bus across town to Robert Arnold instead!