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Original poster

Advice on schools: Westgate vs St.Bede

6 replies

petiteHBB · 19/09/2025 18:03

Hello,

We are relocating to Winchester for my new job with two young children. DS will be entering year R in 2026 so we are comparing and selecting primary schools. We will go to the school open days but still would like hear your thoughts, if you have children attending these two schools. We’re not familiar with the UK education system so any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated!

We have some questions:

  1. How competitive it is to get into these two schools? Do we need to live very close to the school?
  2. Does the lower school of westgate share the same building/entrance with the higher school? does this cause any issues to young kids? DS likes to copy other kids (especially some bad behaviours) and we are a bit concerned that he may copy some age inappropriate behaviours from much older kids.
  3. How much religion related activity in St.Bede? we’re not religious and don’t want DC to get confused.
  4. what are the key elements we should keep in mind when choosing a school for DC?

Many thanks!

OP posts:
leafinthewind · 19/09/2025 18:16
  1. Depends on the year. Last few years, Westgate has been trickier to get into than St Bede. Both share a chunk of catchment.
  2. Westgate Lower has a different entrance and different start and finish times. The big kids will be around, but they're quite separate - the Upper School is on the other side of a lane which cuts the campus in half.
  3. St Bede is a CofE school. The vicar of St Bartholomew (who is a lovely woman) is there quite often. It used to be that the vicar of Holy Trinity was more involved, and that pissed me off because HT doesn't believe in women's church leadership. But those days seem to have passed. Nevertheless, it's pretty traditional and there's an awful lot of Give Me Oil in My Lamp. Didn't love it; didn't hate it, from that point of view.
  4. Key element for me is the school run. Make it short and sweet! You don't want your little kids crossing the railway bridge on Park Rd where there's no pavement, for example.
Original poster
petiteHBB · 03/10/2025 13:30

leafinthewind · 19/09/2025 18:16

  1. Depends on the year. Last few years, Westgate has been trickier to get into than St Bede. Both share a chunk of catchment.
  2. Westgate Lower has a different entrance and different start and finish times. The big kids will be around, but they're quite separate - the Upper School is on the other side of a lane which cuts the campus in half.
  3. St Bede is a CofE school. The vicar of St Bartholomew (who is a lovely woman) is there quite often. It used to be that the vicar of Holy Trinity was more involved, and that pissed me off because HT doesn't believe in women's church leadership. But those days seem to have passed. Nevertheless, it's pretty traditional and there's an awful lot of Give Me Oil in My Lamp. Didn't love it; didn't hate it, from that point of view.
  4. Key element for me is the school run. Make it short and sweet! You don't want your little kids crossing the railway bridge on Park Rd where there's no pavement, for example.

Thank you very much for the reply. That's very helpful!

We were checking the wraparound care as both of us are full-time working and no family near by. It seems that St.Bede has limited places and not clubs. We have the impression that we might not be able to use the wraparound care 5 days a week. Do you know if that's the case? Many thanks! @leafinthewind

OP posts:
leafinthewind · 03/10/2025 21:19

It's been a while for me (youngest is 13) but I did indeed end up with piecemeal wrap around care. When I was using it, there was breakfast and after school club everyday (earlier finish on Friday) but it was hard to get a place. I had to take Fridays first and then sit on the waiting list for the other days. But that was years ago now

Harrishare30 · 17/10/2025 11:05

Just to add a couple of schools to the mix. I wouldn't discount Western or Weeke. My family member is in the catchment for Western and the Westgate School and has chosen Western for their child. I also have a couple of friends who has chosen Weeke over The Westgate School.
I would view all four of these schools, but bear in mind the catchment areas for secondaries if you have a preference for Westgate.

Original poster
petiteHBB · 03/11/2025 10:30

Harrishare30 · 17/10/2025 11:05

Just to add a couple of schools to the mix. I wouldn't discount Western or Weeke. My family member is in the catchment for Western and the Westgate School and has chosen Western for their child. I also have a couple of friends who has chosen Weeke over The Westgate School.
I would view all four of these schools, but bear in mind the catchment areas for secondaries if you have a preference for Westgate.

Thank you very much for the comment. Yes, we'll view all of them and choose the one that suits DS the most.

OP posts:
Original poster
petiteHBB · 03/11/2025 10:32

leafinthewind · 03/10/2025 21:19

It's been a while for me (youngest is 13) but I did indeed end up with piecemeal wrap around care. When I was using it, there was breakfast and after school club everyday (earlier finish on Friday) but it was hard to get a place. I had to take Fridays first and then sit on the waiting list for the other days. But that was years ago now

Sorry for the delayed reply, I'm not very active online. Thank you for the information! very helpful.

OP posts:
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