Private Schools In Surrey

[quanth]

Dear All

Can someone who knows various schools in Surrey give me any rundown on the ones that have been recommended to me for a daughter who is a bit of an allrounder, going to do quite well academically but probably a bit short of being a straight A student, she likes music and drama, horse riding and general sport. She's 9, and we are probably moving to Surrey (optional where in Surrey really) from up north, it's daunting picking 'the right' private school in a county you don't know. The ones recommended have been Notre Dame, Manor House, St Teresa's and St Johns, I'd like her to go quite soon (within a couple of years or so) from senior school upwards, she could board but probably won't want to... and could go into the prep school for s hort time, depends on the timing of the move. Not seen any yet, will do in the coming months.

Can anyone share an opinion on these schools please? All views welcome, especially honest ones :) Any other private schools in the county please share view son those to.

I thought ST John's was only girls in 6th form. Notre Dame and St Theresa's are both Catholic (if you wanted mixed I'd look at St George's Weybridge). Where in Surrey are you going to live? Cobham?
You could look at Tormead, I assume she isn't academic enough for GHS or St Catherine's?
If you were going more Haslemere you could look at Royal school, or for Godalming area Priors Field.
Not all of these (including St John's) have preps, ST John's is definitely 13+.

I don't know enough to comment on ethos etc, but St Johns is now co-ed throughout the school. Has been since last year. Don't know whether it "feels" co-ed yet, mind you. Sometimes that can take a while.

And yes, it is 13+

There's Cranleigh too-has stables, thinking of her liking riding. I went there and hated it but I wasn't very confident which didn't help. Fine for someone with enough attitude to get by!

I think you need to tie it down a little more by area of Surrey.

But if you have free choice of where to move to, you'd probably want to locate near the Guildford schools. Provding your daughter is academic enough that gives you several brilliant schools in the immediate vicinty. Academically, GHS is the most demanding to get into and Tormead and St Catherines are ultra high standard too. Major difference is that St Catz is a bit out of Guidlford and is boarding/day mixed (and because of that day girls stay late and do prep there)

If you're more in the direction of Kingston/Hampton you should look at Lady Eleanor Holles, which has not been mentioned yet.

And you might like Freemans at Ashtead too. And in the south of the county, just over the border in Hants is Churchers....

If you can narrow down your area a bit more we could help you more....

Manor House a gorgeous small school but sport a bit lacking if that is important. They do turn out riding teams for competitions for thos e with their own horses

Would second the recommendation for Prior's Field, which is very nurturing and does have quite a few horsey girls, school riding, etc. Also agree that you need to be academically very good to thrive at GHS or St Catherine's, and to a slightly lesser extent at Tormead; girls I know of are very happy at P F, St Theresa's, Farnborough Hill (technically in Hampshire, but only just); people I know have generally not chosen Notre Dame, although maybe there's an element of following the crowd in that, I don't know. There's also Sir William Perkins in Chertsey - good school but a bit more urban and so not horsey; strong on drama, though. Because there are so many girls' schools around Surrey, people can choose a school that really suits their daughter, so they do vary quite a lot in their atmosphere etc. As mummytime says, not all of these have preps.

City of London Freemans has a lower & upper school. It's co-ed with very strong drama, and although academically successful you don't have to be a straight A student to go there.