Moving to Elmbridge Surrey

[5exybomb]

We are moving from Stratford upon Avon to Surrey next year for my husbands work reasons. I was born and raised in Cobham Surrey,I went to school at Royal Kent, Oxshott and then St Theresa’s, Effingham. When I lived in the area it was a friendly town with a real community spirit. That was 16 years ago, how has Cobham changed since – is there still a community spirit? What is Oxshott like now? Will I get a shock?
I have seen previous posts related to schools in the area and wanted to know what has changed since I was there as I’m sure its changed since my day! In my day, St Theresa’s was awful, I was desperately bullied, terribly unhappy and hated every day. I am therefore never going to send my daughters to that school!
We have a DD1 who will start secondary when we move, and a DD2 who is a baby but will go to school in 2017. We have a DS but he is at boarding school in year 10 so his schooling is not affected by the move.
Schools I am keen on for DD1 are Manor House or Tormead as she is academic but not to the point that she needs to be in a school where academia is the be all and end all as she has many talents in music and drama too. She won’t board btw and I don’t want to send her to Notre Damm or St Catherine’s.
For DD2, I was thinking either Danes Hill or Felton fleet. Felton Fleet I am aware I will have to get registered now- its majorly expensive so is it worth the money? I have read Danes hill is very WAG. I am not a WAG, but have no issues with the car I drive, etc I just want a school where my child won’t be bullied and will be happy.
Does anyone have an update on what the aera is like and recommended schools? Thanks

I think the area has changed quite a lot in 16 years - whilst there is still a community spirit there are many more evidently affluent residents (I'll stay away from the WAG tag but yes thinking on those lines !!) and Cobham is turning into a strip of cafes and restaurants - many established shops have been priced out - the long established shoe shop the most recent casualty.

The favoured schools amongst these groups are definitely Danes Hill, Feltonfleet and Notre Dame. The girls at Manor House, Tormead and St Ts are prob a more mixed bunch, but the schools very different. I am not sure why you wouldn't consider sending your younger DD to the junior school of the intended senior school ? If your dd is musical/drama orientated I would also look at city of london freemens in Ashtead if you don't mind mixed.

I'd go and have a look at the others, they are very different ! ST T's has changed a lot but can see for anyone it would be weird to revisit the scene of unhappy school days on a daily basis !

If you like Manor House why not send both girls there? Far easier for you, no entrance exam stress further down the line etc

MH performs brilliantly for essentially a non selective school with great value added scores at GCSE

Sir William Perkin's School is a fantastic school.

I agree with holidaysroaming re the atmosphere in Oxshott & Cobham. I prefer Oxshott over Cobham, but you certainly have more facilities/shops etc in Cobham. However, the traffic was bad 16 yrs ago & its even worse now, so do think about your commute/school run options. The road through Oxshott to Danes Hill is at a crawl in the mornings, and if you have any problems on the M25, you are stuffed. Ditto the traffic through Cobham High Street & the Portsmouth Road. Therefore, if you are driving, I would try & get both of your children in at the same school if possible - it really can take so much out of your day dropping them off at different schools.

Danes Hill is a fantastic school, I was impressed with their teaching & their facilities, but we decided against it in the end due to the slightly snobby attitudes of some of the parents we had met (some, not all - please don't flame me for that one!), plus having to move schools at 13 (and the travel time involved!) Feltonfleet just didn't have the right atmosphere I felt, all a bit impersonal, so we ruled that out straight away.

Have heard excellent reviews of Manor House, not so much of Tormead - most people I know chose Notre Dame, Rowan or Surbiton High instead.

We know a girl at Manor House - it's a nice school but not at all academic. If you look at the leavers' destinations for year 11 almost half of the year group go on to study art, media studies or PE for A level. If the op's dd is academic then it's probably not the right school for her; I think great value added scores are more important for an average or low ability child.

You need to read the destinations page a bit better clavinova - most are doing these as their 4th subject. 20 out of 34 leavers listed are doing at least two facilitating subjects at A level.

A lot going to state sixth forms though!

There are a lot of great State Sixth forms around! And all the private schools lose some to state sixth forms, and the other private schools tend to have sixth forms (unlike Manor House). You also get a wider choice of courses at state sixth forms, never mind the vast choice at the Sixth Form colleges.

Tormead - changed heads fairly recently. Those who liked the last one might not like the new one, and the new ones reforms will take a little while to work through. The building work will massively improve the school and how it functions. It is also convenient for the train when they are in secondary (but so is Manor House). Tormead also has school coaches now.

Manor House is a lovely school but it doesn't have an academic reputation. I have read the destinations page again - 4 subjects are listed for AS levels I assume - there is far more art, media studies, photography, business studies, textiles, PE etc than you would expect from an academic school and there is no long list of girls getting 9/10 A*/As which is common place around Guildford.

Clavinova you have got to remember that MH is non selective so of course the results are not comparable with the Guildford schools. What they do well is to get the best out of each girl so yes there are those that get strings of A's (last year they even supported one girl through a couple of A levels as she was ready for that) but they also add value to the predicted scores of those who would never aspire to that kind of level at GCSE. MH dies not market itself as an academic school but that doesn't mean it's not a school for academics!

Also look at the stats for academic scholarships to eg St Johns, Reeds etc. as well as Art and other awards.

Thank you for your very helpful comments. I hadn't thought of traffic and cannot believe its so bad now! Yes we will be driving so that's important.
What s Oxshott village like? What shops are there now?
the reason I didn't think of sending DD2 to Manor House is because i ideally wanted to send her to a mixed school for the her prep years. Are there any other decent mixed schools to consider? Not keen on catholic schools, having gone to one myself!
What do the girls turn out like at MH?

Oxshott village has a very good butchers, local store/post office, pharmacy, dry cleaners, indian restaurant, the Vic, a hair/beauty salon and that's really about it I think.

I was going to suggest St George's in Weybridge, but if you don't like Catholic schools, then that's no good. What about Milbourne Lodge in Esher (prep only, but it is mixed) or Claremont (goes all the way through to 18 but I'm not sure about how academic it is)

Sexy- a very good co-ed Prep you could consider is Downsend in Leatherhead.

MH girls generally are well regarded (but I would say that as I live with one )