Schools Southampton / Portsmouth

[spaghettihoops16]

We live overseas and have made the decision that the DS's 10 & 13 and I will to head to back to the UK for education purposes probably net summer. DH is from the Fareham area but I'm not and not overly familiar.

One of the things I learnt through on line schooling is that DS13 works much better one-one and I feel a smaller class environment would work better for him. He's bright but still needs a little extra help. I feel he'll do well in his own time but not an A* student.

DS10 is very clever but has a tendency to be a bit lazy. He has amazing knowledge and vocab, but doesn't want to write it down. I'm not overly concerned as I feel he'll get there with or without us nagging him.

Both very sporty. The younger also a musician.

I'm looking for recommendations on schools please. Either independent or local either on the Southampton or Portsmouth side. I've looked at Meoncross, Boundary Oak, Brookfield (DH's old school) and Locks Heath Primary buy haven't spoken to any.

Google and I are struggling as I really don't know what I'm looking for. We planned to research / visit this summer but we choose not to travel .

Any feedback or recommendations you have would be really appreciated. Also, if you've repatriated to the area I'd love to hear how it was for you and the children.

Many thanks

This recent thread might be of interest, discussing schools in mainly the south Hampshire area, particular focus on Gosport/Bay House.

If you’re considering independent then you can probably afford to live in catchment for a good primary, so it’s secondary you need to focus on. Small groups in the U.K. is not really possible in the state sector. If independent then the main ones are King Edward in Soton (but academically selective), or The Gregg School. Portsmouth has the grammar schools (which are independent). Fare ham is, I think, Henry Cort. Probably one of the better schools in that area is Swanmore.

Oops. Thread here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3988364-Best-state-secondary-schools-in-Hampshire-and-can-we-afford-to-live-in-catchment

The big private school in Southampton is King Edward’s. I know several children who have gone there because their parents felt that they wouldn’t flourish in the (good) local schools. I know less about the Gregg School which is also in Southampton. I only know someone at the girls’ school in Portsmouth which is no good for you...

State school side there’s a world of choice but will be limited as to where you move to. You should be aware that unlike much of the country, state school provision in Hampshire is (I think exclusively) based on 11-16 schools and some very good sixth form colleges. If you’re used to an area with 11-18 education (even with a shuffle between schools after GCSEs) this might seem strange..

What sort of place would you rather live in (town/country/city) as that might shape your choices.

Thank you so much for this link! I searched but nothing came up.

Also sorry about the typos....!

No problem - it wasn’t the easiest to find and I knew it was there! Maybe focus on where you want to be and look from there, eg if you want to commute to London I would probably say Southampton side, and even as far north as Winchester (very good state schools). If you want to be rural then I’d definitely go north of Fareham and look in the Swanmore catchment. On the last thread people really liked Bay House and the Alverstoke area of Gosport, but for me I wouldn’t want to deal with getting in/out of Gosport. It’s a pretty nice area to live on the whole, I don’t think you can go wrong focusing on amenities etc