Late Boarding School app DD (yr8) for Sep 17

St Catherine's Bramley - near Guildford?
Very nice school, academic and sporty with lots of lovely girls.
I work at a private day school and despite being after our usual testing dates we are still getting the odd application. If there are spaces the school will want to fill them.

Try the Leys in Cambridge, it's co-ed, fairly academic and sporty and my brother was very happy there.

Try Wychwood school Oxford , small flexible boarding very supportive and very lovely girls

Not a direct answer but DS was unlucky with the. cohort at his prep school. After much angst we moved him to another prep - transformational within half a term. Our move was at a terrible time in terms of the normal timetable but there were a surprising number of short notice places at reputable schools. You need to work the phones/ visit and butter up the head and admissions person and have positive reasons about why boarding will benefit DD, the move is the right thing for her to develop academically and emotionally, all that she can offer the school in terms of art, drama, sport, music, whatever. Don't dwell on the negatives at the current school. Good luck!

Have a look at Oundle, nr Peterborough, really easy from North London and perfect for an academic child with amazing sports facilities.

I know lots of girls gone through or going through CLC. The school has many good points but would be full boarding which means that for your DD she would n't have the reassurance of weekends at home as for weekly boarding. CLC has also had some pretty bad cohort years with all sorts of issues including with the girls that come from London so I am afraid it would be the luck of the draw for your DD. I don't think boarding makes certain girls grow out of the nasty or problem phase sooner. Things do usually improve by year 11 and the sixth form though.
Since your DD is very bright and you live in London nothing stops a return to London for somewhere like Westminster for the sixth form if she does move. A lot of girls do want to change for sixth form from all girls' schools in any case.

Have a look also at Cheltenham Ladies College. I'm a former pupil and what I loved about CLC is that it was academic but not over-pressured and I have the impression that is still the case. They are also very strong in lots of non academic areas (my contemporaries are architects, designers, musicians etc as well as the usual load of doctors and lawyers).
Someone suggested Rodean up thread which is also worth a look. All of the old girls I know seem to be hugely enthusiastic about the place and the girl I know who is there now loves it (her family is based in London and she gets delivered to Victoria most weekends).
My experience of boarding was that we grew out of the bitchy clique phase somewhat earlier than seemed to be the case at girls day schools, so I hope the move will be a positive one for your DD.

Queen Anne's School in Caversham would be worth a look too.

Queenswood School in Brookmans Park near Potters Bar fills the bill. Enough academic pupils but not pushy academic. Sure to have places and you could look round anytime. Lots of girls from North London. Weekly boarding the norm. This would be my top pick.

Also, Headington, St Edwards, Oxford, Wycombe Abbey (more difficult to get into of course), Haileybury, Rugby and possibly Stowe spring to mind. All decent schools will have academic children, but some have more than others. Finding the right ethos and superb teaching is more important than vast numbers of academic children. How well you fit in is vital.

No harm in asking and having a look at some boarding schools at the same time as trying to tackle the underlying reasons for her friendship problems. Sometimes it can be being unlucky with the cohort. Does her school have a largish year 9 entry that might change the dynamic?
If exploring boarding I would advise weekly boarding in view of her history and therefore a school without lots of full boarders or again she might be excluded from cliques. Headington school in Oxford? Always worth ringing admissions for very competitive co-eds like Sevenoaks or Brighton as she is clearly very bright and last minute places are n't impossible. At the very least by ringing and asking these places your DD will feel listened to and that there are other options. Visiting some boarding schools may help her perspective on what is going wrong at her present day school.

Victoria not vice!

Phone Roedean. They are trying to attract London girls, have a chaperoned service to London vice on a Friday and are very understanding as to why you might need a place at short notice. Admissions head is lovely and the head is trying to increase the level of academic achievement so an existing Londay day pupil might be up their street. The exam is this weekend though so phone tomorrow!

Sorry, don't know why I was reading that as bullying, but the issue's the same, isn't it?

The problem is that if she's having problems with bullies now, when she can get away from them at home time, what would it be like if there were bullies in boarding school?

I know little about it, but Bruton School for Girls has a good reputation.