Weekly girls boarding 8+ fairly close to london

[smilesandsun]

Hi,

Any recommendations of girls boarding schools within reach of london for weekly boarding?

thx

Godstowe

Cheam in Newbury,is a great school.Mr and Mrs Harris from Sandroyd arrive to take over in Sept.. 2016. it may be even better then if that's possible,they are fantastic.

thanks. they both look interesting.

Anyone have any dealing with Godstowe and comments on it? It would be convenient for us.

Brambletye in West Sussex. Really lovely small but nurturing school.

thanks. Any others out there? Would love to hear of some personal experience.....

I have an 8 year old DD at Brambletye who flexi-boards 2 nights a week (she's super-sporty and super-academic, so has really late finishes both nights due to extra-curriculars). She really, really loves it - and there's a good mix of day, flex and weekly boarders. Only a few full boarders though.

What are you looking for?

Im looking for somewhere holistic I guess where my daughter can get a taste of everything not just 'hot house' london day school environment.

Queen, does your daughter come back to london? Or are there other london kids?

St Swithuns is down the M3 and has weekly boarding, good mix of academia & sports.

I keep hearing that Walhampton in the New Forest have acres of land, lakes for sailing and canoeing, stables and great extra curricular activities.
I have friends in London with DSs there and the children are accompanied by staff on the train up and down (1.5 hrs to Waterloo) at the weekends. My friends chose it for the exact same reason you mention above OP. They have weekly, felxi and full boarders.
They rave about its facilities, pastoral care and academic achievements, so much so that if I had another DC I would definitively have had to have a look at it.

I've had professional dealings with Brambletye. The girls were always just lovely, so kind to each other. very well rounded and bright.

Brambletye is very much the opposite of a "hot house" - its really fab at finding something for every child to excel at, and goes out of its way to foster that. So there are very musical, very artistic, very sporty, very theatrical and very academic children all doing equally well there.

I love the fact that the new headmaster, 1.5 terms in, knows every child by name, and what they are interested in. And the setting is spectacular - fresh air to breathe, acres of grounds to explore - so sailing, riding, tree-climbing and den-building are as much part of the experience as anything else. It's not perfect (perhaps less academic than some of the London preps, not as good with girls sports as boys), but I like it.

There are a few London children, but more at 11+ years. Most children are reasonably local, with some overseas children (we are both locally and London-based, depending on what day of week it is!). But even the local children do some boarding.

Cheam, which someone mentioned upthread, is also very good, albeit a bit more "monied".

I have friends with a DD at Godstowe - they are very happy

Hanford always looks ideal but I think its full boarding and probibly too far for weekly from London

I've been to Hanford and it does indeed look lovely and if we lived closer I'd be very interested indeed. Though it presently doesn't have weekly boarding with transport etc for london children.

Walhampton loos nice I have requested a prospectus.

any more thoughts?

Or indeed schools that go through to 13 perhaps in london?

You should definitely look at Cottesmore. My DD is 9 and absolutely thriving there. She raves about every lesson being really fun and the sports staff have really made the most of her. It has the feel of a cosy family yet gets excellent academic results; take a look at the ISI and Good Schools Guide assessments of it. It's so good I've now decided to move my other daughter there too. They are near Gatwick and have an escort service back to London so very easy for a London family.

Oh and they go through to 13.

Kent College Pembury?

You can indeed come home at weekends from Hanford. There are also coaches to London every two/three weeks.

In London, Fulham Prep and Newton Prep go to 13, and they are trying to encourage more girls to stay after 11. No personal experience (yet) but others seem happy.