St Catherine's vs Rydes Hill in Guildford

[kooGU]

My DD(4) has been offered a place by st Cats for the reception entry in 2019 but we are torn between Rydes Hill prep and st Cats. Our gut feel says Rydes hill as it seems very good school and more down to earth whereas st Cats for us has an image of being very posh. We are hard working parents who have to scarify for private education so a bit worried there might be a teasing/ bulling going on among girls in st Cats for not being so wealthy....Our first choice is GHS but still waiting to hear from them. Unfortunately we have to make a decision between these schools first to secure the place as the deadline for acceptance is coming before hearing from GHS.
Any opinion please?

Where do you live? St Cats is not an easy school to access in the mornings, traffic is terrible! I think in general St Cats is rather more moneyed than Rydes, because of the boarding school element, but I do know quite a few children who have gone to both, and to be honest, you will find a mix of parents at both. Same for GHS. Did you look at Tormead and discount it??

OlderThanAverageforMN
Tormead is actually the closest from where we live but after a couple of times of visit, we weren't impressed and decided to discount it. I have heard about awful traffic especially the way back from st cats to Guildford in the morning. That is definitely one of the aspects to think about as I have to shoot off to work after dropping kids off!!

If you live in Guildford I wouldn’t dream of doing the school run out to Bramley for St Cats. Rydes hill is a very nice little school and I’ve heard really good things about it but being only prep you will have to rethink for senior. Lots of girls from RH go on to GHS, Tormead and St Cats. There is also a reasonable amount of movement between the girls schools around Guildford when a child didn’t get on for whatever reason at one of them ( GHS to Tormead, Tormead to St Cats etc). Out of interest what put you off about Tormead?

St Cats has had a bit of a reputation for being snobby and I have heard of some unpleasantness between girls and also between mummys but you’ll get a bit of that at all the private schools I’m sure. It’s a very good school with lots of happy girls.

DD's both went to Rydes, and then one went to GHS and one to Tormead. I didn't choose St Cats, because of location, and also the other girls that went there those years weren't very nice, but I stress, this is only from DD's own classes, so purely own experience.

Just as a point of interest, IME more girls from Rydes go to Tormead than any other private school, then GHS, then St Cats. Quite a few go Farnborough Hill and also to Priors Field. So thinking way forward, you may end up in secondary, where you wanted to go in primary, so perhaps it is not so important if you do not get your first choice now.

P.s. I prefer Tormead to GHS although older DD did very well at GHS, Tormead is a nicer school.

2 DDs at St Cats Bramley. Love prep school, nurturing and lovely teachers. My DDs are aware of a few girls that have swimming pools but at prep age aren’t aware of those few that are lucky to have affluent parents. A lot are both working parents and school tries to cater for it with option of drop off at 8 am, and doing after school Cat Club (until 6 pm).... but I would say it is too long a day for those in reception (and school holidays are difficult to juggle when working). The St Cats Senior school is a different kettle of fish and it really depends whether it fits your DD at 10 or 11.... roughly 10-12 out of 44 in year 6 leave to go to other schools that might fit their needs/DD better .. boarding etc.... so at reception stage I would focus on prep and whether it feels right. The Prep school is wonderful for my DDs but I don’t think senior school is right fit for them.