Girls Schools South West London and Guildford way

Hi there, does anyone have any recommendations for mixed schools in the Guildford area- up to an hour drive away? There seem to be many very highly rated single sex schools and I am unsure why? Having gone to an all girls school myself I am keen for DD to go to mixed..!

I second some comments above, Tormead is a great school to consider and not one to discount. The academics are definitely good, whilst it takes girls from a wider intake, therefore you can really see that they really add to the girls academically. A large % of the L6 are on academic scholarships for getting 8 or more A*s too..I do hope if they don't change the rules on that amazing incentive! Of course it's pushy on academics, but not excessively so, and each girl is treated as an individual. I've always been incredibly impressed by their pastoral care and extra curricular stuff. There's also a new Headmaster coming from September. He is coming from Latymer Upper which seems to be an outstanding west London school, the new head also seem to have a great reputation (excuse my internet stalking!). At the end of the day Guildford has a number of differing schools for differing girls, there's the right one for you our there!

Interesting about the perception of not enough sport..... I suppose they don't have as much as some, and concentrate on others (like gymnastics) much more. However my DD thinks there is way too much! But then she doesn't like sport. She does loads of drama and music though.

@halftermbreak

I've replied to your PM with more thoughts on St Cats

My daughter is at SWPS in Chertsey - not on your list but we are very pleased. It’s very grounded, it’s cool to be clever, 50/50 split for state/private entry into year 7. The girls are nice and normal, and very supportive of each other. DD loves it

I have friends with girls at St Cats who are very happy - lots going on and a good mix of boarding vs day, UK CE foreign/diversity

My DD was at St Cats from Y7-Y13, leaving a couple of years ago.

The school has some outstanding strengths and my DD, who is unusually well-balanced and insouciant, was very happy there. However, I wouldn't recommend it: the pastoral care doesn't adequately address mental health issues, attitudes to feminism, sexuality, gender, race and 'white saviours' are vintage early 90's and its ethos lacks compassion.

I'm happy to provide a more detailed and balanced review if anyone wants it.

My three DDs went to Sir William Perkins's School. Very grounded, lots of opportunities in sport, drama, music. I recommend it.

I think the Hampton boys tend to meet up a lot in Kingston, although that may be just the ones I know!
I think one of the downsides with LEH is that there's nowhere to go after school. DD went through a phase of a quick after school starbucks etc and it was a quite nice social thing to do.

Just as an aside - Tormead is not on your list? Any reason why?

@myfriend, it sounds like LEH would be a good fit for your dd too and the bus with Hampton makes it a bit more social. Most of the time its a really quick journey from Esher too.

OP: My girls were at the local primary school and didn't really have to adjust in the way that you suggest because there was very little by way of drama or competitive sport in their school!

More generally, one daughter had stood out academically at primary school and hated it. She was very shy and just wanted to be the same as everyone else. GHS was perfect. She never shone there, because it was not in her nature to want to shine, but she was very comfortable surrounded by similarly bright classmates and ended up at Oxford.

The other was less bright and did feel a bit overwhelmed by some of her classmates. She was later diagnosed with dyslexia, which helped her confidence a bit and made her realise that she wasn't stupid. She had five offers from RG universities and is now happily at her first choice.

As to what girls at the other Guildford schools think, I'm not sure I'm in a position to comment! I think Tormead is an excellent school but it suffers because many parents apply, like I did, as a back up to GHS. I hope that doesn't mean that the GHS girls consider themselves superior to the Tormead ones, or that the Tormead ones feel inferior, but I think that could be a risk for some, especially those at Tormead who have older sisters or prep/primary friends at GHS, or those at GHS who have siblings/friends at Tormead.

St Cat's is a bit different I think. The impression I always got was that the girls thought themselves a bit superior socially, but admittedly that's from a fairly small sample! I know one parent who chose it over GHS because she wanted a more isolated location and didn't want her daughter to be in the town and to travel by train, and I did get the impression that some St Cat's parents were a bit precious and over protective. Again, a small sample!

One thing that might be helpful to know is that GHS is really good at induction for new year 7s. It might not be an issue for you but there are quite a few children who are the only one going from their school, and don't have a ready made group of friends. Mine were in that position, although they did know at least one other person from extra curricular activities, which helped.

They have three days of netball just before the beginning of term, so by the time they start school they will already have made new friends and become used to the commute. They also split up the girls from the junior school so that there an equal number in each class in the senior school, and they allocate the rest according to their travel patterns. My girls were in the same class as others who lived in the same area, including the ones they already knew. They all travelled in by train together, so quickly built up a strong friendship group.

Sorry. This has turned into a bit of an essay! I got carried away.

PS both my daughters had friends who lived in Esher but most GHS girls live closer to Guildford. There would definitely be lots of driving up and down the A3 if your daughter went there.

In other directions, my daughters also had friends in Woking, Farnham, East Horsley, and as far south as Petersfield, so you'll probably end up driving much further than Guildford.

If you like St Cats and KCS and want other similar options then what about St John's Leatherhead which is co-ed but flying at the moment and have heard of very happy parents. The Senior management has a few ex GHS teachers including the Head who was deputy at GHS. I think the deputy head of St John's came from King's. I know it doesn't mean it will become those schools but certainly means likely overlaps in ethos and ways of running it.

I think you will like GHS based on what you said you like about St Cats. Unless it has changed, it was always known as super academic and scary but once inside was so relaxed, full of opportunities, good facilities and a focus on wellbeing too now. I think St Cats/KCS type of schools do the social side better because of the slightly more formal and traditional aspects of those schools. I think the more old-school house system style schools do more in terms of focusing on manners, confidence, managing friendships and mental health (not through talking non-stop about mental health and self-care but teaching habits like keeping busy, getting involved, enjoyment of being part of something bigger, talking things through with housemasters/mistresses etc). But this is on hindsight and comparing my own two DD's schools somewhat.

I have experience only of GHS. We live south of Guildford so most of your list wouldn't have been an option. St Cat's was, but I was put off by the fact that it is not well served by public transport and by the fact that it is a boarding school (I had a concern that day pupils might be a bit left out at a boarding school).

The quality of sport at GHS is excellent, particularly netball and lacrosse. I'd say there are good opportunities for competition across the ability range in the lower years, but less so as the girls get older where there is more of a focus on the best players.

Music and drama are also excellent, especially music, with several orchestral ensembles and numerous choirs, as well as smaller ensembles. These cater very well for girls at all levels of ability.

As the girls get older there are formal opportunities for socialising with the boys from the Royal Grammar School (as well as lots of informal socialising on the train): these include some mixed music and drama activities, including annual music tours, and mixed general studies lessons in the 6th form.

My girls were very happy there and I would definitely recommend it. NB the youngest left a couple of years ago so I'm not completely up to date.

DD is at WHS and is very happy. Lots of the girls have brothers at KCS. The only thing I’d say is that there don’t seem to be many girls ( at least in DDs year) that come from Esher etc. About half seem to come from Wimbledon and then most others seem to be from Putney, Wandsworth, etc with a handful from Fulham. There will be girls from other areas of course but in terms of having friends vaguely locally it may not be the best choice. I think boys at KCS tend to come from further afield as there are so few boys schools around.

If you live in the middle are you around Epsom? You have skipped straight over Sutton High which is between Guildford and WImbledon. Less academic than Wimbledon and therefore easier to get into much less of a pushy vibe. Plus of course some outside space.

WHS hockey and netball teams are excellent, their B teams are often set to play A teams of other schools to be of equal ability. Most girls in the first years of senior school are able to play if they wish as they have A to E teams playing matches.