St Swithun’s, Lords Wandsworth College or Churcher’s College!!

[Clairedelaloon]

Hi there,

Looking to get any feedback on the above schools. Our daughter is currently at Princes Mead in Winchester yr 5 and we are about to have to make the decision of which senior schools to sit entrance exams for. Feel very mixed about it all as feel all the above schools have pros and cons but would love to hear from recent or current parents how their children got on/are getting on! Thank you 😊

I have two boys at Churchers - one joined in Junior school Yr4 and the other Yr7. They are now in Yr7 and Yr11.
We can not fault the school. When we/ the boys have had issues they are swiftly dealt with. Communication is very good. Academic standards are high, but the kids are not put under excessive pressure, rather encouraged to challenge themselves and improve their own performance. My boys have both been involved in sport and music which has been superb. Can’t comment on drama as they’ve not done the extra curricular stuff. There are loads of clubs to suit all interests. What else would you like to know?

Churcher's have their annual open day on the 29th June. They are selective but not super selective and offer great extra curricular activities. Work is about to start on a DT and music block.

Is Churcher’s pretty balanced in terms of girls and boys?
Always thought my girls would go to a co-Ed school but trying to weigh up benefits and cons of single sex school like St Swithun’s as well?

I would say 60% boys 40% girls in my Ds year but can't speak for all years. It's pretty balanced.

I’ve one of each at Lord Wandsworth, we have traveled a lot so have experienced many different school and we are all really happy at LWC. It is quite a sporty school but my non-sporty kids are flying, there are lots of non-sport options. Day and boarders are fully included into the houses and the pastoral care is really great. As above happy to answer questions.

Thanks theletterZ is it pretty evenly split between boys and girls at LWC? I love LWC and really like the head, my only worry is that culture of the school will lead to my daughter wanting her to board and I really don’t want her too. I’m guessing that a lot of people that start as day students quickly start to flexi board?

There are slightly more boys than girls but not such an imbalance that you notice.

My two stay overnight occasionally, which keeps them happy, but they do have a lot of fun boarding so quite a lot do. Equally lots don’t so it really is totally up to you.

I'm also a Princes Mead Mum with DS1 in Year 2 at Churcher's and DS2 in Year 6 at PM.
DS1 has made friends at Churcher's, loves the sport and greenpower club and is keeping up academically, but is not enjoying the school as much as we hoped. He feels stressed by the workload and worries about getting into trouble (he had a good report in Year 1 and has never had a detention, but we can't convince him that he shouldn't worry so much). He was very happy and thoroughly enjoyed school at PM. I'm going to get more involved at Churcher's this year, to form my own opinion about the culture of the school, but at present, we're considering every other option (Lord Wandsworth, Gregg and the Winchester comprehensives) for DS2.