Secondary Schools In Exeter

[Swells24]

Hello,
It seems we are among the many who are relocating to Devon : ) We are going to be moving into our new house in January (hopefully). Anyway I need to get our secondary school selections admitted. However, after narrowing down to three I was hoping to have some local insight into the schools, so if you can help please do share your knowledge. We're thinking of: St James, St Lukes and St Peters. These are in Exeter....Thank you so much for your help.

St Peter’s has the best reputation, but I think it’s harder to get into.

Also, no state schools have 6th forms in Exeter. They all go on to the college. College is great for some, less so for others. Schools outside Exeter do have 6th forms. (Assume you already knew, but just in case helpful for someone else reading the thread and planning a move …)

Thanks for the advise…

At Peter’s is/was a church school- is harder to get into.St James is a very good school-my DD went there a few years ago- not as big as the others.No to St.Luke’s
It honestly also depends on your catchment area -

May I ask St Lukes is a definitive No with you!? What was it you didn’t like about it? Thanks

St Luke’s was deemed inadequate in its last ofsted report from what I remember,however,it is now part of the Ted Wragg Trust,which means they will throw the kitchen sink at it to turn it around.

I went to St James and can confirm it was horrendous when I went to school there. Bullying, and children always messing around in class and in trouble. Mightve changed now but my mum went there too in the 80s and she said it was the same back then too!

All the Ted Wragg secondaries use the cookie-cutter Ready To Learn behaviourist approach, if that's something that would concern you. It's a pretty hostile environment for neurodiverse children and I'd steer clear if you care about critical thinking, or research skills, or creativity of any kind, or essay-writing. They go in for a lot of rote-learning, look/cover/write/check homework even in Y11. And be prepared for liberal use of isolation, and a leadership style based on an absentee superhead and a team of non-teaching bureacrats.

@sadpapercourtesan

All the Ted Wragg secondaries use the cookie-cutter Ready To Learn behaviourist approach, if that's something that would concern you. It's a pretty hostile environment for neurodiverse children and I'd steer clear if you care about critical thinking, or research skills, or creativity of any kind, or essay-writing. They go in for a lot of rote-learning, look/cover/write/check homework even in Y11. And be prepared for liberal use of isolation, and a leadership style based on an absentee superhead and a team of non-teaching bureacrats.

I have a relative who works in one of these schools, and would disagree wholeheartedly with this. OP, all the high schools in Exeter are very over subscribed, so you may not actually have a choice.

It depends on the area you'll be living to be honest. Both myself and DH are born and bred Exeter and went to St Luke's and St Peters respectively. From friends with teens St Luke's has gone down hill since the mid 00s and St Peter's has got better. DD is in a feeder school for St Peter's and will hopefully attend there when it's time for secondary.