Posting for traffic - which secondary school in Winchester /Southampton / surrounding area do you think the children are happy in?

[Shinnoo]

Apologies we've just heard mil has had a serious fall so we will be relocating to that area sooner rather than later (fil having cancer treatment ). Obviously a very difficult time and we are agreed it is right to move. Ds is year 6 so we hope if we move right into catchment of a happy secondary he will settle more easily. Without going into details we can be flexible on housing so any of those areas with the happiest secondary will be our number one priority as will be in easy reach to help the pils. Any help would be much appreciated, thank you.

Not Southampton. Winchester is lovely as are the surrounding areas. Peter Symonds in Winchester has a good rep and I have taken work experience students from there and always found them to be lovely. Fareham is good too with good schools.

Depends how much money you have. Kings in Winchester, Mountbatten in Romsey and Thornden in Chandlers Ford are generally regarded as consistently the 'best' schools in the area. Are they the happiest? That really depends if the school suits your child so who knows?

However if you miss the admissions deadline - which it sounds like you will do - then it will just be a gamble on whatever is the best school you stand a chance of getting a place at, in which case I think Mountbatten is a good bet.

Peter Symonds is 6th form not secondary.

The Winchester-Romsey-Chandlers Ford triangle contains a number of very good schools, though housing can be expensive. Southampton is more patchy on schools. You will be a late application so may find you don't get first choice initially but there seems to be a bit of churn both before y7 starts and in y7.

My DDs are at/have attended The Romsey School and their pastoral care is very good (we have made good use of it).

None of the schools locally have to my knowledge a reputation for unhappy children. I think it is more a point of finding the school with the ethos that fits with you. For example Mountbatten School in Romsey, and The Romsey School get similar results but seem quite different in lots of ways.

Application deadline was 31st October so you will be going on waiting lists now. I would make a shortlist based on information online and then go and visit them. I know someone who moved into Chandlers Ford after the deadline last year, they were initially offered a school in Totton, then got bumped up to a school in Eastleigh, then got into Mountbatten well before the end of the academic year which they decided to stick with. (Thats why I was saying Mountbatten is probably a good bet.) Allocations are done so early and schools are so big now that there is quite a bit of movement.

I went to Romsey School and then on to Peter Symonds Sixth Form. Very easy bus route between areas. Both expensive to buy property in and very middle class. I’ve moved out of area now but my nieces and nephews attend Mountbatten in Romsey and they love it. Niece has SEN and brother raves about the pastoral care.

I'm in Southampton and visited 7 of the bloody things in September/October (as pp has mentioned, school applications were in on 31st October so you may have less choice)

It all depends where you are in the city as it's mahoosive but the two I saw which I thought were excellent were Regents Park (in Shirley which is sort of east of the city) and Cantell which is by the University.

I'm sorry to hear about your MIL and hope her recovery goes well - one of the good things about being in the city is that the General is an excellent hospital and a South coast specialist in several areas.

Tell us more about what you think makes for a happy school and what your ds likes? There are some fab schools in this area but depends on the individual as to which I think would be happiest.

I went to Henry Beaufort (family home in village out of that side of Winchester) and then Peter Symonds but that’s was a looong time ago!

My Ds is in yr8 at Henry Beaufort, I'm really impressed with it. Dd is in yr11 in a unit at Kings School and it seems really good as well.

My DC have all thrived at Upper Shirley High School (USH) and been happy there. Good housing stock in the catchment area, community feel and and it’s 5 mins to Southampton General Hospital.

Thanks all so appreciated. Makes a hard time much easier to navigate, i know who I'm calling Monday. Many thanks

Sorry X posted - thanks all for well wishes for pil.

Ds can be easily discouraged but if he feels confident he's interested in books, history , geography, science. I think in a fairly pupil friendly setting he would thrive and I say that cause he scares easily and can get very stressed and then turned off learning, if that make sense.

So OP, what will make your DS happy?

A formal school with strongly enforced uniform rules, or a school which is more relaxed?
A school with regular homework so he knows what's coming, or one with less homework where it might be more haphazard?
How much emphasis on Sport or Music?
What extra curricular access?

What type of place do you want to live as a family? Romsey is quieter than Southampton or Winchester.

x-post

Mountbatten, Cantell, Hamble have best pastoral rep.

Thornden v academic focussed (relies on good catchment).

Would avoid bitterne park.

I think it depends what you need from a school. DH is a teacher so we have insight into a number of schools in the area.

Thornden isn't great at the pastoral side of things and it currently has a drug problem which it doesn't seem to be on top of. Probably normal in an affluent area though and could also apply to schools in Winchester, but it depends if your DS is likely to become susceptible to that. It's also living off a 10/11 year old Ofsted inspection and is massively overrated.

I'd avoid Mountbatten too as the HT is very unpopular with the staff and rules with an iron rod, so staff morale is low. But then I have a friend whose DS is having a terrible time at Romsey. Kings seems to be in a bit of a mess from what I've heard, curriculum-wise. I also know two people who went to work there and left after a few weeks as they found the atmosphere toxic.

If I was starting now with secondary schools I'd seriously consider Toynbee in Chandlers Ford. Everyone I know who has DC there raves about it, the progress results are fantastic and rival Thornden's (and aren't supported by home tutors!) It also seems to be very well led by SLT and has good pastoral support.

CrystalTits Interesting about USH, when they got the new head 6 years or so ago a lot of staff left (as he forced a lot of p/t staff to go f/t among other things) and they really struggled to recruit for certain jobs - particularly science and IT. Pleased to hear it has improved since then.

Its so hard with schools as what looks all lovely on the outside can be hell on the inside and actually some of the less shiny on the outside schools have better genuine outcomes for the students.

As a late applicant I would stick to Hampshire and not Southampton. Whilst there are some good schools in Southampton, they are often over subscribed and as a late applicant you will be at the bottom of the pile and with your family situation you don’t want to be stressing about school places. The lesser thought of options around Winchester, Eastleigh and Chandlers Ford are on the whole schools people in other parts of the country would love to have on their doorstep. I would also look at Perins in Alresford which is north of Winchester.

There are some very knowledgeable people about the schools in that part of Hampshire in secondary education and I would definitely post there.