primaries in Guildford / Woking area

[Cie]

Considering a house move and bit overwhelmed with thinking about schools (my two aren't at school yet but ds will be soon). Does anyone know anything about primaries in this area? First choice is good state, then co-ed prep, then single sex prep. I've got a girl and a boy. I'm keen to know about reputation / general feel for schools in the area to give me a bit of focus beyond results / Ofsted reports. Can anyone help make my research more efficient!? thanks!:)

Pewley Down good state

Tormead and Guildford High good girls prep

Lanesborough well thought of for boys (but I don't like it personally )

But Woking is better re house prices. Guildford houses very expensive.
Others may know more about Woking schools

thanks - v helpful. We're also looking at places in-between so if anyone knows anything abuot village schools and / or preps outside the main towns that's of interest too.

pagwatch why don't you like the Lanesborough, I've only heard good things?

I am probably v. biased.

I only know the school via the boys that attend one of the senior school they feed into.And because I am local and pass the school regularly.
The boys seem to arrive with air of entitlement and the parents seem incredibly cliquey. This isn't apparent amongst the boys or parents of the other local preps ( and not just the ones my DCs attend/ed)
Obviously I may be wrong. And obviously many of the individual boys are very nice.

But I may well just have a skewed view and I could be wrong. Often am.

thanks for clarifying. I did ask for opinion after all!

Halstead is a nice all girls prep in Woking.

Pagwatch any boys prep you would recommend? I'm looking at Cranmore, St Hilary's/Aldro/Cranleigh option (although Cranleigh will probably bankrupt us if went through to the senior school). Others we haven't look at are Ripley Court, Belmonts, Barrow Hills. Feel bad with DD at top girls prep if DS went state.

If you are considering state please be warned that Surrey has shut and merged several schools and there are a shortage of places so you will need to considered the admissions criteria very carefully!

Below are a few village schools in the Woking area -

Knaphill Lower School nr Woking - www.knaphill-lower.surrey.sch.uk/ good ofsted although last done in Feb 2007, biased coz I went there in the 70s!

St. John's Primary School - www.st-johns-knaphill.org

Horsell Village School - www.horsell-village.surrey.sch.uk

Brookwood Primary School - www.brookwood.surrey.sch.uk

I haven't had a DS in local prep. Ds1 went to co-ed prep at City of London School in Ashtead.
I have friends with boys at Cranmore who love it and their boys seem nice rounded and happy. But thats all I know. Others should have much better info.

Good luck with your research

Guildford: Pewley Down/Holy Trinity - look and see if you like their philosophy, approach but RGS head does.
St Nicholas, a nice little infants, feeds into Holy Trinity or Queen Eleanors
Queen Eleanors - I know people who have fought to get their kids in, it has a reasonable reputation and lovely grounds.
Boxgrove - is expanding from Reception this year to accommodate the extra pupils
Northmead - has a good reputation
St Thomas of Canterbury - friends love it
Bushy Hill - I don't know much, but I do know someone who moved to be in its catchment.

If you are definitely going private for secondary, then you can live in the villages.
Ripley Primary is becoming an all through school, but I don't know much about it. But it is in a dodgy area for secondary catchments.

One thing to be aware, is there is much greater choice for Private girls schools than for boys. Some boys do do State school until 11, then if they don't get into RGS do a few years at Prep before going to Reeds, ST Johns etc. at 13.

thanks Mummytime. Will follow up. When you said Ripley primary was going all through do you mean going til 11? Do you know anything about this school?

Also, when you said you could live in the villages if you were going private for secondary, did you mean the village primaries were by and large ok? (And that it was catchment areas for secondary state schools which were the biggest factor)?
thanks!

I haven't visited Ripley primary, but it has a lot of local support. It is going to be a 4-11 school eventually, its adding a year group a year.

The big problem of living in villages is that you might not be in catchment for a good state secondary. (A lot of people from Shalford for example are being offered a secondary beginning with B, which isn't even easy for kids to get to without parental lifts.)

Although for example; the Horsley's do feed into the Howard, which is a good secondary. Most primary's are okay, and are worth at least a good look.

If you want state secondary you need to live in the George Abbott catchment area so Burpham is the best bet.

We are going to live in the villages and do private girls and probably boys and commute in, many of the primary schools in the villages are only infants so 4-7 and not in catchment area for good secondary. There are prep schools in some villages.

Alternatively the Horsley's for the Howard as mummytime said.

Fiddledee, thanks, when you say 'commute' in do you mean travel from the villages to Guildford / Woking town for schools? And if so, is traffic pretty average or are there some awful rush hour hotspots to be aware of? (I think we're likely to be East of both towns). Sorry, pretty detailed I know, but always interesting if people know the town areas and there are soem obvious problems.

Lots of secondary pupils commute by train, there are some private school coaches too. Traffic hotspot in Guildford is London Road near the High school, due to High School, Tormead, Lanesborough and some George Abbot parents.

Hello. I'm new to Mumsnet, but hoping to get some advice.
We are thinking of moving out of West London to Surrey and thinking of Brookwood / Horsell / West End areas.
Main priorities are both primary and secondary schools as I have a 9 yr old and a 6 yr old, plus easy access to the train station for my commute back into London.
We have a budget of approx £850k and I'm hoping that will get us a decent sized 4 bedroom house. Does this sound reasonable for the area?
Any advice on schools and location gratefully received.
Many thanks

Greenfield in woking is absolutely amazing!

I've heard good things about st Andrews as well (a friends' children go there), but Greenfield is more down to earth in terms of parents, birthday parties eyc

Pirbright is a lovely village and an easy commute from Brookwood to London if you need it, nice state school too (which normally has a few places).

You're better off looking at the secondary options and working back from there. The primaries are generally all pretty good whereas there is more difference in the secondary choices.

West End has Gordon’s School, which is a very sought after secondary. Holy Trinity, West End is the primary. There is new building going on at the moment in the area. Bisley is the next village along from West End and also has a primary school. Brookwood, Knaphill, Bisley, West End, Lightwater and Bagshot are along the A322 road and Lightwater is very close to the M3. Camberley has two popular secondary school- Collingwood College and Tomlinscote School, as well as Kings International. Brookwood has a good train service to London, via Woking. Winston Churchill and Woking High are the secondaries for that area. There are primaries in Brookwood and Knaphill.