Notting Hill & Ealing high school

NHEHS is always oversubscribed though. Occasional places are often filled quickly. My experience is that most girls are relatively local or live along the district line.

Latymer Upper, Godolphin or LEH are all much more academic and larger so have students travelling in from much further afield because of this.

I would say that the other schools mentioned by you above would not serve the same area so can't really be compared. I don't know anyone who applied for any of those schools and NHEHS

I don't think parents/dc want to travel to another part of London for the sake of facilities without an easy journey . The ease of commute to school is often key which is why the schools on the SW train line are so popular or the enormous school bus links like LEH/ Hampton. Claremont Fan/ St John's leatherhead and Epsom college have repositioned themselves by opening up direct school minibus routes - often straight through from Richmond (affluent area).

I think location is definitely a big reason. It's a mile from the tube (a 15-20min walk) which means that, realistically, unless you're local, it's probably not going to be high on your wishlist. It's quite a lot smaller than the other indie girls' schools (600 versus 800 in the senior school) which some might see as a good thing, but equally to some it might not. When I went to an open day, I was quite surprised how small the site was. I'd imagined there'd be tons of space in leafy Ealing, but it feels really cramped and there's no outside space at all bar three or four netball courts (which are shared with the junior school). It has less space than every other girls' indie school I've seen. And although it has the new glass frontage and performance hall, a lot of the facilities I thought looked pretty tired. I know they've demolished the Junior School and are rebuilding from scratch, but the senior school needs a pretty good overhaul too.

But it is interesting that NHEHS still has the reputation of being one of the "lesser" GDST schools, even though its results are strong, and last year were better than both WHS and Putney (by miles, re Putney). I wonder whether part of it is just an affluence thing: Putney and WHS tend to attract a slightly more affluent cohort who can afford to live in those more expensive areas?

What schools are you comparing it with that makes you think it isn't as popular?

@Workhar , I think it's the location and make up of local population. If you live in somewhere like Surbiton the transport links into London and out to Surrey are excellent as well as the high density of schools within a few miles of the train station. SW London attracts more families than other parts of London partly due to the high number of schools. Plus Richmond upon Thames and Kingston have amazing state schools and the attraction of Tiffin.
I think NH&E gets lost in the mix.