Any ideas for boarding schools 90 mins from London?

[justuptothebrimplease]

Am so hoping the collective Mumsnet mind will help match my daughter to the right school as I really don't know where to start!!!

I'm looking for a 13+ co-ed weekly boarding school place for our girl. She is very strong on sports, drama music and art and middle of the road academically. 112 sats score.

She's outgoing and makes friends easily, but is a sensitive girl and would suit an environment that has a high standard of pastoral care.

We aren't into hothouse environments, and obviously her scores aren't high enough for the most competitive schools in any case, but we would love to find a place where she can be gently encouraged rather than strongly pressured to do her best.

We are looking roughly 90 minutes travel time around London so Surrey, Sussex, Oxfordshire etc etc and will probably rent a place near the school in any case.

I'd be so grateful for any pointers as all schools seem to say the same thing about themselves!!!

Thank you so much

Any

Woldingham? Caterham? DB was at Christs Hospital and flourished artistically but he was also strong academically, not sure how it is if you’re not such a high flyer

Christ's Hospital - Horsham. ( And there's a train direct from Victoria). Not run of the mill but good sports and drama, excellent academically but really strong on inclusivity and helping kids become the best versions of themselves.

Can I ask whether you are dead-set on co-ed? My dd goes to Roedean and it is absolutely fantastic in terms of the sport, drama and pastoral. It is not at all academically pushy, evidenced by the broad range of scholarships they offer - our dd is there on a drama scholarship.

A lot of people don't seem to be able to locate the South/South West of London!

I couldn't work out whether it was the south of England and SW of London or the south and south-worst of London only... I thought the former as Oxfordshire is not in the south-west.

Kings School Ely, Perse School Cambridge, Leys School Cambridge.

Charterhouse, Caterham, Hurstpierpoint, Ardingly, St John's Leatherhead, Epsom College. All lovely schools.

@2reefsin30knots the original brief mentioned Oxfordshire which is nw, the op then changed their mind

@justuptothebrimplease so not Oxfordshire? I wouldn't limit yourself so much for boarding as the right school is so important, around london many of the schools are new to boarding - day schools that added a small boarding element rather than true full boarding schools. Think about what is right for your dc

Westonbirt or Sidcot school fit the brief.

Epsom College, Charterhouse, Hurst, Cranleigh, Ardingly.

My apologies, auto correct seems to have ditched the additional West in my South/South West/ West of London.

To be crystal clear, we are focussing the search primarily on 90 mins from London - including Surrey / Sussex / Kent / Berks and Hampshire / Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. We live in SW London and Cotswolds currently and will swap Cotswolds place to be near new school, but needs to be close enough to be accessed from London at a push.

I very much appreciate everyone's advice and sorry about the rather nonsensical brief!!!

Luckley in Wokingham. Formerly called Luckley Oakfield.
A nurturing environment with weekly boarding. Is now co-ed which it wasn’t when my daughter attended.
Well worth a look with your requirements.

Priorsfield

My DS is a bit of an academic high flyer which is why we chose Winchester over the others. Tbh it wasn’t that difficult to let the Eton and Sevenoaks offers go, but my heart (and also that of DS) still longs for those amazing assessment days at and visits to King’s Canterbury, which was originally our backup choice of convenience. Teachers are great, facilities are good (apart from the long queues at the shared dining and no separate prep rooms, but these flaws are shared by most boarding schools within 90mins from Ldn), I think the only thing holding them back is a less competitive intake. All of this results in a very normal, grounded, happy and driven school. If my DS weren’t at the top of his game academically, I would have chosen it over all of the others in a heartbeat.

Kings sounds amazing, thanks so much for this tip

St Edward’s Oxford (aka Teddies). Excellent school, good pastoral, good academics but not hothouse. It’s easily accessible both from SW London (including a coach from South Ken or Putney on a Sunday evening) and from the Cotswolds, so you wouldn’t have to relocate. It also fits the brief in terms of weekly boarding, Co-Ed, etc.

Mill Hill? Majority of pupils are day pupils but some board.

Benenden is lovely. Biased because I went there and turned out fine, but it is lovely. Not flashy. Girls wear no make-up and it’s all trackies and jumpers after school.

Eastbourne College - my sporty/middling academic son and his cousins (girls and boys) have all loved it there.

Epsom College

Kings Canterbury or Haileybury.

Where did her brothers go to school?

Epsom College used to be rather selective (which usually means academic) how selective are they nowadays?

Teddies in Oxford is a really nice all-round school, it has good teachers but isn’t academically selective. Weekly boarding, coed.

Seconding St Edward's Oxford.

Might be too far for you but Bryanston in Dorset is very arty.