I've name changed as this is very specific!
We live in Bexley and are so confused by secondary school choices so interested in any opinions around our potential school choices.
My son failed the Bexley 11+ (there is a back story but I won't go into as it would make the thread very long!) so Bexley grammar schools are not options. Out of the comprehensive options our favourite is St Columba's- we are practicing Catholics so he is pretty much guaranteed to get in there. I liked the ethos of the school, teachers were impressive, the boys were very articulate and there seemed to be a good focus on academics. Locally it doesn't have a great reputation though, I'm not sure why? I think it wasn't the best historically but that was then not now.
Our other option is Wilmington Grammar for Boys. Despite failing the Bexley test my son passed the Kent test and got a score high enough that he would highly likely get a governors place at Wilmington. On paper this seems by far the better school- academics are better, it has a good reputation locally and they seem to have a good balance of pastoral care vs pushing to get the best from the kids. The thing is I went to see it yesterday and was a bit meh about it. Potentially because we missed the open day so had no headteacher talk, it was just a walk around with a year 8 boy who was very nice but just showed us different class rooms.
So I'm just not sure which way to lean. I think the catholic school would be more comfortable for him- friends will go from his primary and it's closer to home, whereas the grammar would potentially be better for him academically but it's a longer journey and would be a much tougher transition.
Any opinions on either of these two schools would be welcomed!