any experience with indipendent schools in cardiff?

[SAMS73]

We are thinking of moving our DD to private but cant decide which school. The fav are St Johns or Howells. Need some help in the choosing the correct school.

We went to Howells as most of our friends children go there but havent been to St Johns. Not considering Kings Monkton or cathedral. TBH didnot expect St Johns fees to be more than Howells. We would be stretching to send her to private.It is a very valid point and exactly the one which has been nagging us as we would want her in a co-ed.

The other thing which we worry is that most of the children in Howells may come from a very wealthy background but we are after academic/music education.

how old is your dd?

8 years.Hoping to make the move in year 4.We were against the idea of private but we have had enough of state school now . St john s uniform apparently can be bought in any supermarket and the only expensive piece of uniform is the wool blazer but in Howells apparently all the uniform includig the swimsuit should be from John lewis and can cost arounf 600-700 pounds. Kings Monkton is imnpossible due to the commute and that was the reason not to consider it and we did not think about the cathedral as they dont do more than GCSE and need to make a move then if we stick to private till then.
St Johns is very academic from what we gather and it was one of the reason (the other being easy commute) to consider. She is musical ( although I wouldnot say expectional) and we thought we would support her extra curricular activities outside the school. Most of the children in private school do these sort of things outside any way.

I just gathered that St John dont do any scholarships from year 11 but howells does.