Hi!
Both my daughters have been/currently go to St swithuns. My elder is 21 in her final year at Exeter and my younger is 17 in her AS level year (year 12 - but called L6 at St swithuns)
Although i am probably bias, i can genuinely say that 99% of the girls that go there are very kind, respectful, bright young individuals. At any all-girls school you will find bitchiness as hormones are raging and all! However, Swithuns has had probably one case of bulling in the past 25 years. All the girls are very close and bond well as, being all girls, they become very comfortable with each other. My younger daughter always tells me that it is a godsend that she doesn't have to put on make up everyday or constantly try to impress anyone!
And just to say, yes there are girls whose families are very well off but, ironically, they are not stuck up at all and are actually very modest.
Swithuns has full boarding and weekly boarding, as well as being a day school. The boarder/day girl ratio is about 50/50 and the good thing is that there is not a divide between the boarders and day girls and there are no 'cliques' - all the girls are friends with each other and are very close.
The girls all work very hard and get good results - the teaching is second to none - and nearly all the girls come out with A/B grades at a level.
In year 10 - start of gcse courses - the girls take 9 subjects including maths, english, a language (either german or french and if they are allowed too, spanish as well) and at least, a science - either combined science, all three sciences, biology and chemistry or physics and chemistry (science department is strongest in the school).
Then the girls, if they stay in sixth form, take on 4 and are offered new subjects like politics, philosophy and ethics etc...(Girls also have to take General Studies)
And then for A level (final year) - they drop one and continue with 3.
The school is recognised for it's Lacrosse teams and it's outstanding performing arts school facility.
Housing system - In year 7, day girls are put into the house 'Chilcomb' and boarders into 'Le Roy' (your stereotypical Mallory towers dormitory!)
Then in year 8, they move on and up to the senior houses. Boarding houses are Hilcroft, High House, Hyde Abbey and Earlsdown and Day Houses are Caer Gwent, Davies and Venta. These houses compete in competitions for house tennis, house lacrosse, house netball. And also at the end of the winter term - the six form in each house are in charge of organising either, House song or House Drama (it alternates each year). This is a fun end of term competition that all the girls look forward too.
I can say, hand on heart, that i am glad i ended up sending my daughters there - they have made life long friends and it will definitely be a part of their lives that they will never forget.
I also have two nephews at Winchester College. Winchester College is the 'brother school' to St. Swithuns. It is an academic school but it produces lovely young men (complete gentlemen). All the boys board their and on saturday mornings they have 'chapel' and they have sport matches in the afternoons. The boys and girls from SS mix at 'socials'. My younger daughter is friends with all the boys in her year from Winchester and they all get along very well. I think, being at an all-girls school - she likes the fact that she can just have 'boy' friends that she is comfortable with. And yes, their are a lot of relationships formed and this shows that there is no missing out on any socialising with the opposite sex which i think is important. However, they are all really close, brotherly/sisterly friends as well. A lot of the girls brothers/cousins etc go to Winchester and so naturally, everyone knows each other.
I think the boys are not 'steered in one direction' - they are all individual and have wonderful personalities. My nephew is very cheeky and charming with a girlfriend of 2 years from St Swithuns but he also is very bright, with a scholarship at Winchester and he hopes to go on and do medicine at Oxford. The boys are placed into different houses but they are all great friends.
If your son turns out to be sporty - At Winchester, they have their own game, like harrow and eton - it is called Winchester College Football (but 'Winkies' generally). It is a combination of football and rugby and their is a huge, greatly anticipated match between two sets of houses, Commoners (in red) and OTH (old tutor houses - in brown).
There is constantly plays and musicals going on in the QE2 theatre at Winchester from casts of 4 people to casts of 50.
I think the thing that I love about Winchester and old 'public schools' is the experience. The amount of history and culture at the schools is amazing.
KES is a great school and a lot of my friends daughters and sons go there. However, most left in the sixth form for a different 'experience'. Their main sport is hockey.
The sixth form college, Peter Symmonds, is very good. A lot of girls go from Swithuns there in sixth form and it is known to produce excellent results. Peter symmonds provides for the majority of students from the state schools, Westgate, Kings, Henry Beaufort etc. However, some students go to Eastleigh College or Sparsholt Agricultural College nearby.
If you want any more information about either school please just ask!