Surbiton High School

@Poppyred25 thank you very much

@Shoga07 I think you will be pleasantly surprised at both the current academic success and excellent teaching. Also it's worth remembering that the current years taking GCSE's include all of those automatically come up from the prep school but going forward the prep school intake is more selective after Reception and the automatic move to Seniors will stop. If your dd loves sport she will adore all the opportunities.

@Poppyred25 thank you once again for taking the time to respond . Its been very useful information. , we are going to the offers open day next week Tues. My daughter likes sports so will hopefully settle down there. I was hoping she would get into G & L. I was concerned about SHS'S academic success, as they are around no 73 on the league table of best 100 schools but great to hear their pastoral care is good as this is very important too.

@Shoga07 also to add SHS has 9 Oxbridge conditional offers this year, (it's on their website) & I believe LEH have around 12 although this isn't on their website. I don't know what your first choice school was but the academic gap between SHS & LEH is closing.

@Shoga07 congrats to your dd on getting the offer. Has she been to an open day or offers open day? If not there may be 1 next week. SHS are very good at selling their school particularly to dd. There should be around 7 classes starting in Sept organised by postcode so your dd will be with people she lives near. It's a sporty school with extra netball, hockey & gym clubs after school that anyone can join but there are also choirs & a percussion club at lunchtime and a year 7 drama production. iPads are used for teaching in an effective way & lead to less carrying of text books. The teaching is very good as well as pastoral care with a head of year 7 who is very approachable. It's a busy school but everyone seems to find a friendship group & extra curricular activity to get involved in.

Thank you Poppyred25, I'll review the Tiffin SW London thread but just wondered if anyone has a DD going to SHS and can offer some insight into the school. My DD didn't get into our preferred choice of school but has been offered a place @ SHS.

@Shoga07 there are lots of reviews of SHS on the Tiffin SW London school thread that filled up a week or so ago. As their results came out 2 weeks ago a lot of the threads have moved on to more recent school results. If you have a specific query please do post as their are plenty of SHS parents on these threads.

Any reviews on Surbiton High School please?

you're right Sunshine. thanks.

Kalifornia, you need to visit SHS and make up your own mind, it's a great school with fantastic results, the musical theatre productions are outstanding. They offer scholarships at entry level. KGS has the same distance of travel to sports facilities, it's not an issue especially if you are local to Kingston.

should i avoid this school and go for state option coombe girls? (i have a bright state school child with a real gift for creative wriring and fees will be a stretch...)
thanks for any advice!

And you signed up in your own name to slag it off?

Waldgrave. Go for it. Private schools appear to come with
Extra bells and whistles and gloss but they don't always deliver
On the academics. On top of that so many kids at private are secretly
Tutored which makes you wonder who is doing
all the good work. Schools teaching or parents
Pay- Packet. If you have a perfectly good state option imagine all you
Could bolster to that with extra curricular yourself outside of school
And disposable income for rest of the family. That's my opinion anyway having seen it front he inside of private preps and then discovering that state and church schools nearby so many kids do better in the end...because the parents can AFFORD all the extra clubs and tutors as they aren't so strapped for cash. Are you expecting a scholarship at SHS or just a place?

There are always arguments for and against. I think if we were in catchment for a really great state school and the private school fees would be a stretch I'd go for the state option. Waldegrave got 51% A*/A at GCSE and SHS got 70% which is a sizeable difference but one is academically selective and one is not. For a middle of the pack child I'd want to know if Waldegrave will get the best out of her. It's often easy to see how the top sets are stretched and the bottom sets are supported but what happens to those in the middle? You want a school who will enable her to realise her potential. Also academically she may be towards the bottom of the year group and you have to consider the impact on self esteem (having said that she may find new subjects she excels at). So, that's no help really is it? 😀

Are any of you with Surbiton offers contemplating state options or just private schools? DD is middle of the pack academically but strong on extra curricular. She's been waitlisted at Surbiton and we are waiting for a few others or similar academic standards (we didn't go for the likes of LEH or SPGS obviously). We are smack in the middle of the Waldegrave catchment area. Currently grappling with whether we should go that route and save ourselves close to £20k per year. Trying to work out if the opportunities are that much better at the likes of Surbiton or St Catherine's/Ibstock than at Waldegrave, which gets such good reviews.

we didn't apply to WHS.

Hi do you know you didn't make it in WHS? The letters don't come out until Tuesday...

oh are you waiting to hear from Putney & Ibstock? on first reading i thought you meant she got a wait-list place.

they're all tough schools, the waiting lists should move.
Are you waiting to hear from any others? St Catherine's?

Didn't make it for Wimbledon high. Waiting in Putney high & ibstock places as well...waiting game...

i love it too. it is going to be a hard decision if she gets more offers. where else are you waiting for?

Amidawish , St Catherine's is a really excellent school. Good luck.

KGS and St Catherine's Twickenham

Amidawish congrats. Us too. Can u ask which other schools
You applied for/hoping for?