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Original poster

Sutton High School

60 replies

mimsical76 · 24/01/2021 20:28

Hi everyone,
My DD has received an offer from Sutton High, for entry in year 7 in September 2021. We are still awaiting results from another school. Can anyone please tell me what it’s like compared to Surbiton High (which I didn’t particularly like)? Though it seems, like parents are more drawn to Surbiton High rather than Sutton High, is there a reason for this? GCSE results seems quite similar.
Many thanks. Smile

OP posts:
Losingthewill01 · 26/01/2021 07:47

Yes we are also at a small indie school so wanted the transition to be as painless as possible!!. Good luck in your decision.

Original poster
mimsical76 · 25/01/2021 19:21

Hi Losingthewill01
Yes, I had the same feeling about Sutton High. Feels very warm and friendly. My daughter is also on the shy side, the smaller class sizes would definitely suit her, especially as a transition from her current prep school which is small. I also like the fact that it is a GDST school, which builds strong, confident women!
Thank you again! I think that if we do get an offer from Emanuel, it’ll be a very tough decision. x

OP posts:
Losingthewill01 · 25/01/2021 18:32

Hi. We have been offered a place at Sutton high for year 7 and liked it so much we have accepted even before we hear from the other schools she sat exams for. I have found the head to be so approachable, friendly and genuinely seems interested in both the pupils and the school. I had a zoom meeting with her prior to accepting and she was so lovely. My DD came out of the exam after it was her first time ever seeing the school and said it was her favourite! She kept going on about how friendly everyone was and how nice the school looked. I like the fact that it is on the smaller size as all of the reviews I have read have emphasised it as very nurturing. My DD is quite shy and would get lost in a big school so the smaller size and family feel I think would suit her. We live in tooting near to Hayden’s road station so the Sutton train journey is only 20 mins. Good luck in your decision making. Only you know what feels right for your own child. Dawn x

Corblimbea · 25/01/2021 14:51

This definitely gives us our answer as kings Road area etc would be hard to Sutton - thank you.

Original poster
mimsical76 · 25/01/2021 11:27

thank you Singingrain1223.
I hadn’t realised that Surbiton High has a much wider catchment area!

OP posts:
Singingrain1223 · 25/01/2021 11:11

@mimsical76 , I've got a dd at SHS who has been there for many years, in her year the dd come from Kings Rd via Putney station, east sheen, Richmond, Ham, Hampton, Guildford, Cobham, New Malden plus all the many other local area - Esher, Twickenham, Wimbledon, Kingston etc. It's basically the school bus routes plus direct trains to Surbiton or Kingston. It's a much larger catchment than Sutton High.

Original poster
mimsical76 · 25/01/2021 10:56

Thank you for replying. I hadn’t thought of the difference in areas, as they are both very suburban to me! I also felt that Surbiton High was too corporate and didn’t like the fact that at open day only the top girls were asked to talk.
It is a long wait, I am on tenterhooks about Emanuel 😬 but maybe Sutton High is good alternative if she doesn’t get an offer. Their GCSE results are again not too dissimilar. Good luck to you!! 🤞🤞🤞

OP posts:
Corblimbea · 25/01/2021 10:30

March 1st! A long wait. Somehow Surbiton is seen as a SW London school and talked about a lot on the SW London thread and Sutton isn’t ‘in the mix’ there - even though geographically it’s just as ‘London’ really. It is the same at our prep - everyone applies there. But really they are both the same 20 minutes from Clapham junction by train. Just not on south west trains - maybe that’s why. I think Surbiton is touted by london prep heads as ‘the’ back up for an all girls school. They seem to offer everyone every year. Sutton seen more as Surrey school maybe. Surbiton felt corporate to us. We are considering Sutton even if given the grammar as it was the only school DD saw and we got a good feeling on the online events.

Original poster
mimsical76 · 25/01/2021 07:39

Hi Corblimbea, thank you so much for your reply. I felt very much the same way about Sutton High compared to Surbiton High. I also have an aversion to very sleek presentations and marketing! I was just wondering whether I had missed something as almost half her year group applied to Surbiton High.
We are waiting on Emanuel, a school we all really liked. But it is totally oversubscribed and this year they have received an unprecedented number of applications for very few places. So it feels like a long shot at the moment 😔
When will you hear from the grammars?

OP posts:
Corblimbea · 24/01/2021 21:44

We are also holding an offer from Sutton and considering it very strongly. I didn’t like the size of Surbiton - we decided not to apply - but I think some parents choose it due to location and size. I think the schools feel different. We have a few friends with DD at Sutton who are very pleased with it and see it as ‘on the up’ - it’s much smaller year groups than at Surbiton and our daughter really had a good experience on the entrance test day there and said it felt friendly. It’s also a Gdst school and Surbiton is United learning - so that’s a difference in terms of all girls focus. We are waiting to hear from grammars before deciding. What other school are you waiting on?

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