Recommendations for schools near york

[schoolmonster]

We live near York and love our house, we do not want to move. However, the state secondary options near us are not great. So we are looking at independent schools for our boy. We are not religious in any way so have ruled out Minster and St. Peter's etc. I have also ruled out QE based on pervious threads on here. We are mainly thinking about Pocklington and Bootham, we haven't been to visit any yet. Does anyone have any opinions on either of these or any other recommendations for us to look at?

St Peter isn't a religious school is it? If it is, it's news to me.
It's certainly worth considering, it is very popular.
Bootham is Quaker?
I know Pocklington and it's a nice school, but I wouldn't travel there from York unless you were on the very east side of it.

Also don't think St Peter's particularly religious.
Bootham is Quaker, small & has reputation for catering to the individual. Not big on team sports.
Pocklington - have a number of friends with DC there. All speak highly & like the Head. Good academically but also v good with, for want of a better phrase, the academically average & very good sport esp cricket. I looked at it for DS and would have been happy for him to go there.

Hi!
Bootham is quaker my dd goes to a quaker school and loves it. They are expected to sit in silence for 30mins every Thursday. And they are accepting of other religions however do be prepared for lessons to be about the quaker ethos. St. Peter's isn't overly religious my dd has a friend who goes there and they have chapel every other day only on a morning but it's nothing different to what bootham do. Pocklington is an excellent school

Thanks for the advice. We are in the very early stages of looking and I presumed St. Peter's was religious because of the name mainly. It's reassuring to know that it is not overtly so. We live South of York. Pocklington would only take about 30 mins cross country which is about the same as York but without the traffic.

St Pete's is a fab school, have lots of friends with dcs there and all very happy. Results good too.
Bootham gets much more mixed reviews, I know 2 people who have withdrawn their dc due to bullying and another who son is still there but had some fairly unpleasant racist bullying. The culture there is very different, minimal uniform and first names for staff. Not big on sport.
Pocklington parents always speak well of their school, and I know folk who make long journeys to get there. The school has a lovely atmosphere when you go as a visiting parent (opposition) as does St Peters.

No other recommendations either if you are south of York. Draw isn't worth putting on your radar, and if you are 30 mins from pick you are far too far away from the leeds and wakefield schools for them to be feasible, ditto hymers at hull.

Draw, bloody autocorrect! Drax.