Crawley / Horsham schools???

[mrscostello000]

We are currently deciding whether to move to Crawley or Horsham in the next few months before son starts reception.
Has anyone got any experience of good primary and secondaries in this area?
Heading more towards Horsham as seems a little quieter yet still commutable to London for my husbands job ( I'm at home ) and he doesn't drive so trains are v important.
He is catholic so kids are baptised so any heads up on the catholic schools would be good although the only catholic secondary I seem to be finding is in Crawley which would mean a commute for him.
Any experience on forest boys or tan bridge?
A mum I got chatting to explained tanbridge as an alerts tube school but no idea what she means!

Alternative even!

There are two good Catholic Primary Schools in Horsham, St John's which is the bigger one & St Robert Southwell. St John's is closer to the town centre, it's in Blackbridge Lane, whereas St Robert Southwell is in Lambs Farm Road which is more North Horsham/Roffey.

With regards to the secondary school a lot of those pupils go onto St Wilfrid's in Crawley (by Bus) or either of the town secondaries, Forest (boys only) or Tanbridge (mixed).
I have no knowledge of the catholic primary schools in Crawley so can't help you there. But being a Horshamite would say come here rather than Crawley.

Thankyou very much for your response, I've seen Robert southwells have mixed ability classes which put me off a little so am heading for St. John's even though looking at house prices we are more likely to end up in North Horsham!
I hear there are no " bad " primaries in Horsham but surely some must not perform as well as others?!
What are the secondary reputations like? Even from London I've heard how good Millais is but havent heard anything about forests / tanbridge house other than tanbridge being " alternate " which I'm confused by!
Surely at Wilfred's will be full of children from Crawley so I'm imagining not having many places for Horsham kids?

There are no bad Primary schools in Horsham and it is very much down to personal preferences when deciding on where to apply as well as catchment areas as they are usually very full.. St Wilfred's allows for children to come into the school from Horsham as it has a diocesan admission system I believe, as does Holy Trinity in Crawley which is the C of E secondary. Millais has a very good reputation I agree, Forest is considered to have improved a lot recently & Tanbridge is a good school as well. Thinking ahead to 6th form, none of the Horsham Secondary's have 6th forms & it is expected for pupils to go to Collyers College in Horsham, although there are alternatives in Crawley & Billingshurst. My dad's went to Millais & both attended/attend The Weald in Billingshurst for the 6th form.

Thanks very much for reply!
We will be living in the littlehaven side of Horsham, which secondary do kids this side generally go to as all the secondaries are over a mile away, so not sure about " catchment " areas as such.
As long as the school was doing well and suited that children this is obviously far more important than any religious preference!
We are renting so could obviously move again if needed :)

Generally Millais & Forest from that area, good luck with your move to Horsham.

Hi everyone, my husband has been offered a job in Crawley industrial estate and we have started to look at schools and areas to possibly move temporarily and then possibly buy a house. I understand that Pound Hill, Maidenbower are better areas of Crawley. From reading some of the old posts I understand that Horsham is nice and I am also looking at areas of Burgess Hill, Hayward Heath in South and Reigate in North of Gatwick. Our primary concern is getting a good school for our 8 years old. I believe these places should be 30-40 minutes drive from husband work. We like a lively town but at the same time wouldn't want to hear motorway traffic at night time nor any crime prone areas if you know what I mean. Any suggestions for areas with facilities and good schools within 10 miles radius will help us a lot.

Thanks in advance.