Blundells or Exeter School

[NomadicMe1]

Can anyone give me their view in either Exeter School or Blundells and which villages are nice to live in near either school.
Our son has got into Exeter starting in September it we re struggling to find a property. Worried about the Tiverton expansion project happening around Blundells too - any help would be much appreciated!

Blundells has always been popular - sporty but not overly academic, all rounders feel. Not sure about Exeter, a friend has DC there and seems happy enough - academic probably tops sport from what I can tell from her but I may be wrong? There is a new head which can bring change as the old head was very well regarded might be difficult shoes to fill.
Colyton Grammar is the best school in the area if your DC can get in there, like winning a golden ticket though!

Thanks for responding! Are you local - do you know which villages are nice to live in - especially to raise 3 kids in?

Nomadic, have you settled on Exeter or Blundells, or do you have children at both? Will you need the school bus? Then you might need to consider internet speed, and what's on the market at all(the market down here has been incredibly hot and most good property seem sold and rentals are very hard to come by). If anyone in your household plans to WFH, do check the internet speed before you buy/rent. Very few villages, and even fewer hamlets, have good enough internet around here to allow you to do video conferences reliably all day. If you need reliable zoom etc, I would look at Tiverton or Exeter proper, that also gives you reliable 4G mobile reception as back up. If you only need access to Exeter, Topsham is very popular. For Tiverton, Bickley and Silverton are pretty, both would give you access to Exeter. I quite like the new developments in Tiverton, they seem nicer than comparable ones around Exeter. At least it creates houses. As I said, it's almost impossible to buy or rent anything decent down here. When a family house comes up for rental, 1 day later, agents stop taking appointments for viewings.

I went to school in Exeter, and had friends at Blundells. I think Exeter School is the more academic. We lived in a village about 15 miles east of Exeter, and I got a school bus from the local town. My friends lived all over Devon, from Tiverton in the east to Dartmoor in the west, down to Sidmouth, and up to Crediton, and of course some lived in Exeter itself.

I didn't really know anyone outside of school until I was 16 and started going to the pub, luckily at the time (for me!), my village's pub was a popular destination for the young uns in the area, my friends in Exeter had loads of local friends, and the city was small enough that they could have quite a lot of freedom. But it meant lovely weekends and holidays for me, or lots of taxi-ing and sleepovers for my parents, and I learnt to drive VERY quickly so I could get out and see more of my friends (and work - I'd often be working the first few hours of a shift just to cover bus fare).

So if I were doing it again, I'd try to live as close to Exeter as possible (or in Exeter if that's an option), and would probably choose Exeter School over Blundells. But this is based on pretty out of date info!!

Some schools do a school bus with a fairly large collection area and the train station in Okehampton is about to reopen which may help with getting into Exeter for uni/work.

They are quite different schools. Both great, but different! I have 3x DC at Exeter. Exeter is more academic. I know plenty (well, 4!!) of families who did not get into Exeter so therefore went for and got into Blundells. Blundells is more of a boarding school, so there’s Saturday school and weekly boarding. Exeter is 100% a day school. The new head at Exeter senior school is amazing and a real inspiration for girls / internationalism (she was head of St Paul’s Girls, Sao Paolo). The head of the junior school is also a woman and also great. Personally, I find living in Exeter itself is wonderful, but I echo all that’s been said above re house prices. They’ve gone mad since Covid and a decent family house is now £800k / £900k plus, which is silly!!
Colyton is, as another poster said, more academic again. Personally, it wasn’t our choice but we have many, many friends who go there and love it. Many also choose Maynard for girls. It’s very similar academically to Exeter (DD’s best friend is there and apparently the head showing people round says that if your daughter is las academic, try Blundells!) but personally not for us as it’s single sex.
In summary - both great schools. I would and did pick Exeter, but honestly children are really happy at both schools!

Oh and re villages, good choices are Thorverton, Brampford Speke, Whitestone and Woodbury. So many places in Devon are really wonderful, but a quick / very easy commute to Exeter is normally a priority, especially as many families (inc ours) need the train to London.

Hi all,
I know this is an old thread but how hard is it to get in to Exeter School? When we visited the school didn't seem oversubscribed in most years so what are they aiming for typically, the top 20%? 50%? We have a year before applying but trying to gauge how much of a fall back plan we need.
thanks,