Advice: prep schools in Woking & Guildford

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I’ll shortly be moving to Surrey with a 5 and 2 year old (both girls). I’m looking for a prep school (thanks to their dad’s work funding) which is likely to accommodate an in year reception place plus a good nursery for the younger when she turns 3. Location is flexible as long as in west surrey or nearby.

Must be:
Highly likely to give siblings a place
Be academic but not too pushy
Have good facilities (music, sports, drama, IT etc)
Ideally have a community of local families rather than people commuting a long distance
Not be elitist
Encourage the children to become their own personalities, build confidence and expand minds. Prepping for standardised testing is not my number 1 priority.
Be worth paying for.
Give excellent, regular feedback to parents and share information about what the children are learning.

Open to single sex or mixed. Prefer 2 form entry but open minded. Would love one which goes all the way to secondary but a prep is fine.

Any help much appreciated. Thanks

Okay most Preps don't have Nurseries. So that will limit you, especially with a 2 year old. You could look at Ryde's Hill, Hoe Bridge, and maybe Glensk. Not sure about others (or even if they go as young as 2).
If you are coming from Overseas are you interested in an American or International education?

Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry when I said nursery I just meant something the year before reception. So something my youngest could start once she’s turned 3. Do most prep schools here start from reception only?

I’m ideally looking for a British school as we’ll be here permanently - but open minded.

Thank you

Those preps with nurseries - Cranmore, Longacre, Ripley court, St Hilary's, Greenfield, hoe bridge. Glenesk is nursery up to age 7. Norte dame I think? Lots of choice. Best girls schools academically Guildford high and st Catherine's don't have nurseries.

Do Guildford high and st Catherine’s have a siblings policy? I want my girls at the same school? And is there any likelihood of an in year reception place being available? Thanks

I doubt Guildford High does, as it's very academic indeed and only girls who score well in the exam will get through. If you are looking for a secondary that's friendly and not overly academic Notre Dame, St Theresa's and Manor House are all reachable from that area. You could find out what preps feed into them.

Ghs has 10 girls applying for each reception place so usually reception is full but relocations do happen of families it's rare but does happen. Ghs will also not have full classes if not enough girls are of the standard you do get an odd girl starting in year 1 or 2, most often they have two other school aged sisters from our experience. There is no sibling policy some siblings do get rejected, most don't. St catz I've never known of a sibling getting in. However st catz there is no automatic entry to the senior school.

For an in year place Tormead and all the other schools listed plus Manor House (I'm not a fan of st Teresa's) if you need nursery too.

Woking has Halstead (all girls), Hoe Bridge, Greenfield and St Andrews. Girls all successfully move onto a range of senior schools including all the Guildford girls schools. There are plenty of preps and all through schools in the Guildford area. I’d look at where you’d like to live / commuting needs etc.as well as schools.

I'd start with the basic questions: all girls or co-Ed?
To 18, 13 or 11?
How academic?
Sports and other activities?
Town or countryside?
Religion? (Some are Catholic others more C of E).

GHS doesn't have an explicit sibling policy but most siblings get in (they may move on to another school before 11 if it suits them more).
Lots of girls go to GHS etc from a range of nurseries including the usual Pre Schools, as well as places like Drayton House.

Where do you want to live? Traffic can be a big deciding issue in such young girls.

Will the fees continue to be paid if you (DH) changes jobs?

My DD's went to Rydes Hill and then on to GHS and Tormead. Rydes is a cute small school, very individually focused on each child. They have great Music and Drama provision, ballet too. Sport less so as their grounds are small, but their netball teams do quite well. Nursery provision is from 2 1/5 and you can half days or full days. I think they now run a nursery all year round. Year 6 girls are all very confident happy girls, and go on to all the top indies in the area. It is a catholic school but we aren't, and in our classes most weren't.

In Woking St Andrew's is a popular local school. Very happy with it for DD and answers lots of your musts. Tons of music, sport, drama. It has a lovely spacious nursery too from 2.5.
DDs friends are good fun and they work hard. I'd say the school is very down to earth and DD loves going to school.

I know a few people who live in Surrey go to Pennthorpe, it's in Rudgwick, not too far out of Guildford. Goes from 2 years to 13. Just got excellent in recent isis report. We love it there.

Pennthorpe is an option if you live in Cranleigh, but not for Guilford (or Woking) - it would be an awful journey at the start or end of the day, and there are a lot of much closer Preps. Even the Haslemere ones are a much easier commute.

Unless you're dead set on co-ed, I'd go for Halstead. Lovely school that builds confidence in all girls. Nursery from 2.5 years

Not sure if you have made up your mind yet but Ripley Court School is a real hidden gem - its in the countryside, loads of space and outdoor activities including forest school and great approach to learning. All the children seem very happy there. The nursery is absolutely fantastic- cooking, forest school, French, swimming and ballet....I wanted to go there!

St Hilary’s in Godalming is non selective age 2-11 and will be taking boys into year 3 in September this year. Feeds into a huge range of schools from Churchers College, to Priorsfield to Guildford High to selective boarding schools across the UK

Another vote for Halstead.

Hello, would love to hear more about Pennthorpe please in terms of academic support for kids at all levels of ability? What are the teachers like? Is the school organised in their administration and communication with parents?

If you want a co-ed that is non selective with great facilities, take a look at Greenfield (woking)-they have just moved site. They have children of all abillities there, they really nuture them whatever their ability. They seem to find something that makes a child shine be it academic or art/music etc. We left a few years ago, so may have changed but well worth a look at.

@Lightbulb88 I'd start your own thread with Pennthorpe in the title.

This is a zombie thread!