Glastonbury/Street/Wells area........comments on secondary schools please

[spellbound]

dh is likely to be transferring to work in the area some time over the coming year. dc 1 will be Year 7, dc 2 in Year 5, so need to look at secondary schools. Also (planning ahead i know!) 6th forms as I gather many somerset schools are 11-16 only? Indepenedent sector is a possibility (though would be a real stretch financially) so would be keen for any comments on that too. I have a cousin living in the area who says although there are some well-known independent schools in the area, they're pretty crap value for money and the state schools are fine! Any thoughts???

Millfield School is in Street itself. Hugely expensive; fantastic facilities. V good sporting reputation, not very academically selective I think.

Sorry,should have said, don't know anything about anywhere else as we're not that neck of the woods, but we did visit Millfield once for a school sports thing and the facilities are amazing!

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I know plenty about schools in Bruton, as does PPH, but it would be a bit of a drive. Millfield is exactly as snorkle says- if your children are good at sports then they do sports scholarships.

I think in Wells it's pretty much Wells Blue (state) or Wells Cathedral (private) but again take everything I say with a pinch of salt

Millfield still very good for sports/arts/music/academic/chess etc bursaries
if they're good at something there'll be an award for it.

Yeah, I've been told by others that Millfield is worth it if your children are great at sports and get a bursary but not worth it otherwise. Why are people mentioning Bruton? What sort of school is it? Never heard of it! Wells - I've been told the Blue is damn good - I looked up OFSTED and they got outstanding so maybe that's an option. Thanks for comments so far and keep posting!

www.sexeys.somerset.sch.uk is the school in Bruton I think.

Bruyton is a goos d school, there's also taunton School and a few other in taunton (ExP went to Taunton)

Crispins in Street seemed good (worked at the fe college nest door), that's nto private but they used our facillities (Strode) which i think was good for them.

11 - 16 is right bar the private schhols, but some of the country;'s best FE colleges are in Somerset. Bridgwater College is extremely highly rated and has a vast range of courses, SCAT (Tautnon) is great for Arts etc and Strode itself is academic. So it balances nicely I think. All asilya ccessible from Street.

Millfield- high rep, but as local kids growing up the rep was for drugs, sex and alcohol!! Taunton kids were a bit staright laced to put it mildly (at least the one I nearly amrried and the one my sister did)

Wells cathedral school ecellent. AS is Queens in taunton

There's others- CAstle cary- hang on....

Bruton has a number of private schools which seem to have a good reputation. I know people who send their kids to the primary school there (state) rave about it too. Don't know much about Millfield except it looks bloody amazing (aren't there stables for the pupils's horses - or is that just a myth?!)Wells Blue has an excellent reputation - oh by the way it has a 6th form and guess what - their A level results are better than some nearby fee-paying schools!!!! Does that help your decision?

Yes

Hazlegrove, ahve visited- very jolly hockeysticks, girls seemed to like it

Bruton school for girls - no idea

PArk School - has a good rep (knew some parents pf kids)

I'd ahve opted for the blue school, I remember when we used (can you guess I grew up in Somerset? LOL) to do inter school things, they always seemed evry.... aspirational

Peachy is that good aspirational or bad?!Have to admit am leaning towards Blue school from looking at OFSTED etc Also had a quick look at school fees for some of the independent schools- gulp! If the local state schools are fine then I can't see why anyone would pay that sort of money! Can you tell me more about the 6th forms as well - Peachy - is Strodes a 6th form college or higher education or both - sorry I'm not clear. And when you say academic, do you mean subject range/results/both?

Bruton has Bruton School For Girls (fabulous old girls, ahem, but not fantastic academically though I think it's improved a lot and has a lovely environment), Sexey's (was fantastic academically) and King's (much less so). My mum used to teach at the primary and it was good, but too far from the area you want I would have said. Hazlegrove is a prep school so no good, and closer to Yeovil so really not appropriate. I agree about the Blue school, sounds like your best bet

(The stables aren't a myth, btw. Nor's the polo pitch. Or the heated rugby pitch. Or the two golf courses. And most of the students aren't from the locality so the 'if the local state schools are fine then I can't see why anyone would pay that sort of money' line isn't really relevant.)

Strode is further education I think, so sixth form and vocational, but not higher ed unless it's changed a lot. It's quite good I think.

Yes, a whole equestrian centre .

I still rip the piss about the heated rugby pitch
(bunch of jessies)

Did you go to school around there too then?

Strode does ahve some higher ed courses actually (I was ona dmissions LOL), mainly people go to bath though don't they, there are two universiteies there. By academic I mean that whilst bridgwater si a wide focussing college that covers everything from Sn to exA levels and some HE, Strode is mainly focussed (on A Levels, the kids did tend to do well though.

GOOD aspirational!

Oops sorry, I stand corrected

no, DH did his sixth form there
explains a lot

Actually thats useful to know about the independent schools taking most of their pupils from outside the locality, because to be honest I think I want dcs to be at school with the people they're living amongst. If a big part of the schools intake is the overseas rich then not really my scene tbh.

Aha, I thought maybe we were leading spookily parallel lives.