Outstanding state co-ed school in South London/ Surrey direction

Where do you move to in the end?

Couldn’t! 😂

you could pay me to send my kids to Kingsdale!

What school was this referring to? Sorry I’m lost

Soooooo true!!!! You just never know until you roll the dice. We are moving to Epsom from Beckenham and are in the catchment for a good girls school already. Our Brian’s are pickled.

ultimately we’re the stereotypical Londoners looking for bit more space

Honestly, I hear this too. I also hear people who say Rosebery is amazing. I think, unfortunately, it really does come down to the school and the child and how it works out. It's not as clear cut as "this school is bad" or "this school is good".

You should go and look at them. they all do open days and it's really helpful to see them in situ as it were, and to hear the teachers and students speak.

Blenheim is the co-ed school on the other side of epsom (not sure where you are) and has a fairly large catchment zone. I have heard from parents who hate it and from parents who love it. So again, I think it comes down to you, your child, and how that school would work out for you.

I know you shouldn't base everything on the league tables, but it can help for a starting point - here's the new Times one. Just select State and are at the top to filter. Personally I find this the easiest way to start as they have locations and you can see the changes from the year before www.thetimes.com/best-schools-league-table?filterId=the-top-independent-secondary-schools

Thanks for this! That’s really helpful as I didn’t understand any of their admissions info!

so basically I have a very slim chance, I just want co-ed! Heard Rosebery girls can be very mean to each other

For a choice of excellent schools, with Surrey on your doorstep, you want to be in the boroughs of Richmond or Kingston. Your budget wouldn't give you the run of the boroughs, but could see you near Greycourt in Ham, for example, which has an excellent reputation.

You should start your own thread.

Broadly, in theory, you can get into St Andrews if you are not religious or catholic. BUT, their criteria, from when I looked at them last year, are quite comlicated. So your best chance is being catholic and actively involved in your local parish. I forget exactly how they define that but I seem to recall being catholic in itself puts you further down the criteria list than being catholic and actively involved in your parish.

If you are not catholic, then your chances go down a lot. I seem to recall some years they have all intake as catholic and others they have a few that aren't - but it's less than 10% (I believe). If you're getting in on a year where they don't have a lot of catholics, then being religious in another religion is less important than being formally of another religion. ie I think they take any baptised Orthodox next after catholics, then they carry on down the list of christian options and so on.

can you get into St Andrews if you're not religious? Im confused after reading their admissions info

Staff bullying staff to the point of depressions d. Nothing do. Witnesseds and previous victims too scared to come forward. Many teachers are leaving and the school has a problem with ignoring or covering up bullying
As for me randomly posting, it’s that what this site is for when something g needs to known

@claireac bit random to come on an old thread to bash blenheim? Are you saying chidlren bully staff? Or staff are bullied by other staff? Bit confusing

It's a huge school and I know a lot of families there and it's definitely a mix of happy and not happy. I think that's inevitable with a big school though - if it works for YOUR child, great. But it might not.

Those that witnessed lied and it was known they had

Heard that Blenheim high school doesn’t care much about bullying for staff and seen posts that students feel same. A friend was treated very badly and staff are too afraid to whistleblow do lie if questioned fur a grievance process due to repercussions

Just to say that St Andrews in Leatherhead is Catholic, not CoE. But it is indeed an amazing school, I’m told.

Add to this a few stations (but on a faster line) Petersfield has The Petersfield School part of Bohunt Academy, Ofsted outstanding and lots of excellent primary schools in the area

haha. I guess SW London is considered not sufficiently high brow?

The Epsom schools are good so I'm not surprised your friends aren't using grammars unless they specifically want to. The CoE co-ed in Ashtead/Leatherhead (St Andrews) is one of the top non selective state schools in the country. And Blenheim has got better every year for the last few although still not at the academic level of some of the others (we know lots of families at Blenheim though and they're happy with the school, mostly). And of course, the single sex schools - Rosebery and Glyn - have both long had excellent reputations and results.

DD wants to go to a grammar school but I'd be quite happy with either Rosebery or Blenheim for her if she doesn't get in.

Thank you, I lived in Wimbledon for most of my life so bit scared to move out too far and too quite area.. but I think it’s time to move somewhere quieter and family area but in a small town or village…
i’ll look at these schools..

I'm sorry, I was genuinely trying to help. I'll not post again as I don't want to derail. We were downgraded though because doing something like a KWL grid at the end of a unit didn't give enough information about what children had learnt - they expected some sort of quiz or test. That's my experience and most of the schools I work closely with nearby do similar. There was a lot more to my post about why I wouldn't worry too much about Outstanding vs Good. I thought it might help the OP.

Ah we have good friends in Epsom but their children go to schools in Epsom and I don’t think they ever mentioned grammars. I suppose the naming is a hangover from when Sutton and Kingston used to be part of Surrey before London nicked them. Although I have met people from places like Wimbledon and Croydon who absolutely insist that they really live in Surrey!

All the schools here are amazing to be honest - all the people listen already

Yes, it is a bit confusing if you're not a local. We are in Epsom. There are so many grammar schools that we officially can apply to - 7 I think although that's for both boys and girls. It's a bit more complicated by the fact that we have to do the application via Surrey but people get through it.

I work in education and frequently use the Ofsted handbook. Nowhere does outstanding mention testing every term from Y1 up. Don’t misinform people.

We live in Sanderstead - we have two Outstsanding primaries on our doorstep, and a high achieving (non selective) Outstanding state secondary, along with being within preferred admission distance for a number of the Sutton grammars.

Trains into Victoria or London Bridge both take less than 30 mins from Purley or Sanderstead stations.

The downside of course, is that you're in Croydon Borough which puts people off as they assume everywhere in the borough is the same as the town centre; and the local council has declared bankruptcy twice (I think) in the last 5 years.