Sutton High Junior or Seaton House School - any recent opinions?

[karmi2010]

Hi everyone. Does anyone have a daughter in Sutton High Junior or Seaton House School? Do you like it?
We are in Carshalton and will need to apply for a reception place next year. Our nearest state schools are church ones and we are unlikely to get in (we have not been given a nursery place in any of our nearest schools this year). So I have decided to look at private schools for our daughter. Sutton High Junior and Seaton House seem to be our closest private schools and I would really appreciate some up-to-date opinions on them!
From my research so far, it seems that Seaton House is the most academic one and considered the best in the area, and Sutton High Junior used to have not very good reviews but has improved greatly and is now considered very good too, is that right?
We are equidistant from both and their fees for the first 3 years are the same, but Sutton High has much better facilities and even the swimming pool, whereas Seaton House is much smaller but seem to have better reputation locally?
Thanks so much!

I always think of Seaton House as a bit of a "hot house," and one that I would avoid. If I had to choose, I would pick Sutton High.

Have you been round to see which one you'd like? Seaton House has a reputation for being a hot house and obviously lacks proper facilities. Sutton High is a GDST school and it's a big chain that's generally pretty popular with families. Both are single-sex

Your other option would be Collingwood (Carshalton side of Wallington): co-ed, small and homely. You could also consider Bansted Prep (further away than Sutton High but very little traffic so a quick run): co-ed with a few acres of facilities. I've also seen school buses ferrying children from Beeches to prep schools Purley way but probably a bit unnecessary given a choice of 4 more locally.

Leeds2, JoJoSM2 - thank you so much, this is extremely helpful!

I was also going to suggest looking at Banstead prep

Many thanks musicinspring1. Unfortunately, I do not drive so Banstead Prep is not really an option.

I know someone who had a child at Seaton House and they were still tutored all the way through year 5-6 to prepare for the 11+ (which I think most girls were) - to me it doesn't say much about a hot house if the girls still need additional tutoring.

I’d say that lots of tutoring is a sign of a hot house. It’s all about the focus on academic attainment rather than being an all arounder.
I really really doubt there are many parents sending their daughters to Seaton House for music, art or sport. However, many do it with the view of then getting their daughters into a grammar school (which are a very frequent destination for SH leavers).

Seaton House preps for grammars and other Inde entry. Sutton doesn't and 'assumes' entry into the senior school (that's not 100% guaranteed though).
Both nice schools. Sutton bigger but friendly and better facilities.

What is the plan for secondary school? The south London 11+ scene is pretty horrendous in terms of separate entrance tests for each Inde school plus interviews and grammar school tests...it could be one pressure that's removed by choosing Sutton.

thank you very much, CassianAndor, JoJoSM2 and bpisok

ideally, I would like my DD to go to one one of the co-ed senior schools - Alleyns, CLFS, Kingston Grammar or Caterham. None of them are close enought to commute at primary level though, so I was thinking of either state school + extra tuition (if we get offered one of our nearest state schools, which are all quite decent), or one of the local private schools.

If you want to continue in the independent sector, I’d probably lean towards Sutton High or Banstead Prep. Seaton House would be a top choice if aiming for a grammar.

many thanks again, JoJo!

Hi, just came across this thread. You’ve probably already made your decision by now. My daughter is at Seaton house but we are now looking to move her elsewhere as Seaton used to be a terrific school but has had a recent change of headteacher and not the same anymore. The new changes and lack of parent and headteacher communication has changed everything.

Hi @sosafannah,
In the end we put down deposits at Seaton house and Sutton High for Sep 2021 start as were in two minds! Yes we have been following Seaton House closely re: development plans and we are a little concerned and also I tried to contact the Head a little while ago but had a bounce back?! If you don’t mind me asking, where will you be sending your DD as we have only been in the area since Feb and due to the pandemic have not really been able to visit other schools to get a feel?

@Capriscorp1 how old is your DD? Is it for reception?

Hi, yes it is for reception next year.

@Capriscorp1Sutton is getting a new building and forest school for Reception and Nursery students this summer. We are local so we were consulted as part of planning application and it looks like an amazing project - you can see it on their website. they’ve also just got a new wraparound care zone which we visited during the planning consultation meeting. I’m looking at y5 and 7 for my daughters this year. The other appealing thing is that they now guarantee places into their secondary school for their prep girls. I know Seaton is also amazing and we looked at it 6 years ago - it’s much smaller so the facilities aren’t great, but the girls seemed lovely

Thank you that’s really helpful to know I will take look at Sutton again as I did not know the extent of the new facilities, they sound fantastic.

Hi, I thought I would respond as well as I was the original poster :) So, I put my child into Seaton House first (for nursery), she stayed there for a year and did not fit in. I cannot really fault the school as it could be that she was just a bit too young (2.9) and wasn't quite ready. So I moved her to Sutton High for Pre-Reception, which was much better (but she was a year older so could have just grown up). DD enjoyed SHS, they had weekly swimming, music, French and lots of sport and art, but she didn't make many friends and generally did not like going to school. It was also difficult for us commute-wise (I am single and work in London FT, so my mother had to take DD to SHS by bus and with traffic it took them really long to get there). We were very lucky to get one of our closest state schools and DD now goes there for Reception, she is absolutely happy and thriving and loves going to school every day.
Having said that, SHS is a great school and we will be applying there for 11+ (or, possibly, 7+ if I feel that the state school does not push my DD enough from Year 3 onwards)

Bringing this thread back... any updated views on the new head and teachers? Is it still a reputable school that achieves, girls happy etc? Or better off at cuddington or avenue?

Sorry i meant at Seaton