If Surrey is so rich, why are the community schools so awful?

[Tweaker23]

Sorry, whiny thread, but I'm in NE Surrey (don't want to be too specific about location) and the local community schools are SO mediocre and half-arsed. I don't want to send mine private for political reasons (and also cos I can't afford it ) but wonder what Surrey's excuse is for the schools around here being so poor? There are a few pockets of deprivation but it's hardly the most difficult area.

Doesn't help that most of the local non-privates are religious (CofE and Catholic), and so my kids are effectively barred from them anyway (which makes me wonder why they get my tax money, although that's another story I guess...)

Am I just unlucky or is this a Surrey-wide picture?

Well I'm in SW. You could send your kids to all C of E schools here, if you lived close enough, and most Catholic Primaries. The best secondaries are on the whole community ones. Some of the best primaries are Community, others are C of E or Catholic. There have even been C of E that I wouldn't want to send my kids to.
The big problem is there just isn't enough primary school places.

Oh and the one school this way which no one wants their kids to go to, secondary and C of E.

I suspect you're near me. I think it's partly because Surrey's so rich - so many people go private that the comprehensives are not truly comprehensive. We have no good secondaries near us - unless you're Catholic, which we're not.

Are you talking about walton by any chance?? x

I think it's a real Surrey-wide issue. Primary schools around us (West ish Surrey) are great but I wouldn't touch Seniors with a bargepole. Catchments for the good secondaries pretty tight too in an already expensive area. We're moving away from Surrey partly for this reason which is very sad.