Magdalen College School, Abingdon School or RGS Guildford?

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DS got 11+ offer from Magdalen College School, Abingdon School and RGS Guildford. We are thinking of changing house, so will move to Oxford or Guildford if choosing one of them.

Whilst MCS is an amazing school with stronger GCSE/A Level results, I heard Abingdon’s extra-curricular activities are very good and RGS also has very high reputation. Just wondering if both Abingdon and RGS are far less stressful than MCS? Re extra curricular, DS loves tennis and football, but not at the top level.

DS has done so well in 11+ exams, we are just scared of getting this decision wrong. Considering the house costs, looking for a new school for DD etc (prefer Oxford as more schools for girls), any thoughts or experiences from parents who know either of schools will be truly appreciated!

Well done to your ds, I think it's unlikely you will find someone who is familiar with all 3 schools. As a general rule if a dc has achieved well in entrance exams they won't find an academic school stressful instead it will be a challenge they enjoy.

Can you reach 1 of them from where you live at the moment rather than moving or do you also have a state school option where you live as you don't have much time to make a decision (unless you pay a deposit for more than 1 school and decide in April).

I'm sure housing and a school for your dd will end up being the deciding factors esp at Abingdon is going co-ed.

I agree that you are unlikely to find someone with experience with all three.

All I will add is that Guildford has some great schools for girls!

I grew up near Guildford and now live near Oxford with a boy holding places for both MCS and Abingdon so have vague knowledge of all 3 although nothing recent re the RGS.
MCS and Abingdon do have a bit of a different feel - MCS being right in the city centre- with all the transport issues that brings (and feel a bit crammed in on the site), whereas Abingdon campus is big and green in comparison. Abingdon the bus network is vast and all the boys stay for the extracurricular provision whereas MCS seems more variable and the late buses don’t seem to run anymore- not an issue if you buy in Oxford and your child walks or cycles but not great if they are coming a distance and the public transport doesn’t go door to door because with extra curricular stuff they do long days. So between the two it might actually depend on where you want to live. We have friends with boys at both who seem very happy. some say that Abingdon is more of an all rounder school and MCS more quirky very clever boys but they don’t actually have boys at MCS and the ones I know who go there are great all rounders.

Abingdon traffic preferable to MCS traffic

Hi OP, I find myself in a similar situation as well. DS got 7+ offer from both RGS Prep and MCS. We are thinking about which school to pick as well. We love both school, but prefer MCS as MCS seems does better overall. DS likes both as well. Have to admit living in Oxford is going to be a huge challenge. We are checking houses to rent at the moment just to compare. It seems difficult to find a decent one near both schools. In terms of rent, I think both Guildford and Oxford are expensive, but the school fee of MCS is so much higher than RGS.....At the traffic in Oxford is just bad.

Many thanks for all the above replies. We are living near Wokingham. There are bus routes to both MCS and Abingdon, and can take the train to RGS. So we don’t need to immediately move house in the short term, but DS has to get up quite early in the morning to catch the transport. We are considering moving somewhere near Oxford, which might be a bit cheaper and save some time for travelling, but still need to decide on a school.

This similar to a previous reply l posted on another thread. We ended up at MCS after the cc failed to give my son a grammar place despite a great 11plus result...
My son has been at MCS for over 3 years coming from a local, to us, primary school.
It was absolutely the best choice we made - there is loads of extracurricular activities for the kids to involve themselves including lots of music and drama, sports.
My son was worried about the academic pace to start with but the school was very supportive and he settled in quickly - this was despite his last 2 years before joining consisting of one online lesson a day compared to MCS junior school who had had basically normal teaching. He is now comfortably at pace with gcse but the school clearly does not pressure him and in fact told us to be hands off re academic and he has been encouraged to analysis his outcomes and implement changes himself ( which l wish l had been taught at that age).
He even didn't revise for one set of exams but we kept quiet ( very hard!) and the school didn't penalise him for it - just chatted about what he might of learnt from it and now his revision is much better!!!
Of great importance is that he has lots of friends in different groups and they are all really nice kids and are pleasure to be about with much laughter when they are together. We live outside Oxford and he travels in on the Oxford tube from lewknor which is convenient for us but there is a school bus which he caught the first 2 years which also has a late bus post activities.

Hi I thought I could shed some up to date info about Abingdon as I have a DS in year 11 with his GCSEs just round the corner. When DS was in year 6 he held places both in MCS and Abingdon we currently live in North Oxford Summertown so are also familiar with the area as well. The main reason why we chose Abingdon over MCS was the wide variety of opportunities your DS could have compared to what we believed was an old tired system by MCS. Don't get me wrong MCS is regarded as a acemedically tougher school with high expectations but we have many family friends with DC at MCS who are not happy and are typically stressed out worrying about constant exams - many are leaving for Sixth form. On the other hand Abingdon is also respected as a very academic school but I believe with a much better even balance from sports to arts and academics. Not too brag its facilities are considerable more modern and better equipped with a large campus and sports facilities like Tisley park which has 2 hockey pitches, football astros, stadium and even a running track. In addition Abingdon have been great at support DS they offer many extension classes constantly teachers really love and bring so much enthusiasm to each lesson. It was our best decision to choose Abingdon over MCS.

Across various threads on MN you seem to have multiple children across varying year groups and have recently found a daughter too. Some of this doesn’t seem to match and the convenient spread of boys and girls (in able to comment on the St Helens and St Katherine’s posts) seems incredibly coincidental.

Apologies if you do indeed have children in all the key year groups at Abingdon, plus a daughter looking for year 7 (what a spread!), but it does seem odd tbh.

Also, your Abingdon spiel is very corporate speak and doesn’t ring true of someone actually expressing an opinion. I’ve been on MN for years and I’ve seen these types of posts before.

If you work for Abingdon, that’s great, just tell people, if you have been asked to post on here by Abingdon, also fine, just be honest, if however you do have all these children at key junctures that align perfectly with Abingdon’s move to co-ed, the I, once again, offer my apologies!

throwing my hat briefly into the ring here

MCS boys-only until 16, Abingdon going fully co-ed in Sep. Latter will cause chaos - question is how much and for how long.

Abingdon is WAY better for sport - better facilities, has more all-rounders (reasonably bright kids who are good at sport too) and fields more teams. Its rugby and rowing programmes are top level. In this respect it has more in common with RGS. MCS is hampered by its intake and the fact it borrows facilities scattered all round the city.

MCS is in central Oxford, really hard to get to unless you live very locally, and it is incredibly expensive to buy locally. Abingdon is surrounded by villages with more reasonably priced housing and generally less bad traffic.

MCS is an academic machine - much more selective entry than Abingdon & gets way more into Oxbridge. Lots of south Asian families, big focus on maths and science. Whereas Abingdon has a lot of very bright east Asian boys who attend as boarders.

If your priority is strong pastoral support and a nurturing, student-centred environment, then in my personal experience Abingdon may not be the best fit. We currently have a son at the school, and while there are many committed teachers and the academic standards are undeniably high, we have found the pastoral provision to be limited and not as responsive or proactive as we had hoped.
Safeguarding procedures exist, but the culture does not always feel aligned with what many families expect today in terms of emotional wellbeing, communication, or holistic care. The school’s traditional ethos — can, in my view, make it difficult for students who need more nuanced support to feel fully heard or supported.
From my perspective, this same culture raises genuine questions about how well the school will adapt to becoming co-educational. I personally worry that the transition may be challenging, particularly around developing an environment where girls feel equally supported, understood, and protected. That shift will require significant cultural change and, in my opinion, may take time to embed.
In terms of extra-curricular activities, it is worth looking carefully beyond the marketing. While there are opportunities available, my experience has been that after-school supervision is not always as structured or closely monitored as one might assume. On several occasions I have noticed boys hanging around in town after school hours, with no obvious adult oversight. This may suit some families who prefer a more hands-off approach, but for others it may feel inconsistent with their expectations of pastoral care.
If your sole priority is academic results and a highly academic environment, the school may well suit your child. If you are looking for a school where emotional wellbeing, inclusive culture, and robust pastoral care are central, I would strongly recommend visiting, asking detailed questions, and forming your own judgement.

I would say Perse instead

Just announced MCS now going totally co-ed as well so that will be a shit show for a while.

How about their famous choir?

Happy to connect with someone who has moved nearer to Oxford for MCS. My son starts in Sep 2026. And we are contemplating it over a local grammar, as moving is a huge task.