Surrey schools (guildford area and beyond)

[londoner01]

We are moving down from central London, where my two daughters are are independent schools. We have bought a house (after a long search for anything vaguely affordable!) in Guildford, we love the town and are very excited.

We are currently renting out the house until we are ready to move. We will be hopefully moving in time for the next academic year. (Sept 2011).

We have registered DDs for some entrance tests but havent been able to look round all the schools. We like the look of schools which are modern and with the times, good facilities, supportive and caring, mixed or single sex (preferably latter). Our girls are academic, not extrememly outgoing. Eldest not mega sporty but would like to have the chance to have a go and is very arty. She is pretty academic and hard working. Youngest not that outgoing but varies in different sitations and can see her quickly growing in confidence at school (but only 3 yo at the moment tbh!).

We are looking for state or private schools with good reputations. My youngest will be starting reception and other daughter starting Year 7, so secondary school.

Any opinions on... (for primary)
Holy Trinity Pewley Down School, Sandfield Primary, Boxgrove, Northmead?
Then...
Guildford High, Tormead,Rydes Hill, St Catherines, St Ives, St Hilary's, Danes Hill, Rowan, Notre Dame?

Ideally for primary we don't want an extremely posh, traditional school (wouldn't fit in!) but do want a good atmosphere, academic, good facilities, happy school where our child will be supported and known as an idividual.

Then for secondary we are looking at
George Abbott, Guildford County, Christs College
But ideally..
Guildford High, Tormead (but there is something im not sure about with tormead), Priors field, st catherines (but seems vv posh!), -which other girls private seniors are there?

For secondary we want a school where DD will achieve her potential and be supported and pushed, lots of opputunities, mixed or single sex, a school which will really bring her out of herself and give her confidence.
...
Not too much to ask!!!
Also generally any other school recomendations!
Thank you!

Guildford is a wonderful choice- absolutely lovely town, lots to do and very friendly. Not too posh surrey middle class I promise!
my daughters have been at GHS but I obviously have heard about the reputations of other schools.

Guildford High is great and sounds good for your daughters, very hard to get into but if they are academic they should be ok.
Lots of support, the Junior school has changed head since my DDs were in it. Very academic, not huge, but not tiny- about 50 girls per year, but in reception/younger years smaller. Lots of sport, music, art- excellent facilities. I'm not sure it is quite right for your description of what you want for your youngest, but the senior school certainly is!
Senior school at GHS i would say is even better than juniors. Girls as they move up the school do become as you wanted, known as individuals. Support is really outstanding and pastoral care has been faultless. Academic-couldnt be better! Sports like you wanted- if your good at it lots of opputunities, if your not still lots to do. Art is good, really modern positive atmosphere and certainly understand teenage girls and what they want and need.

I would say look more at Holy Trinity Pewley Down, they have a very innovative learning by doing, love life happy positive atmosphere. Some like it, some don't but all the children I know who go there love their school. Its quite a relaxed atmosphere e.g. teacher's first names but children are well behaved and have a zest to learn. My friend loves it and says her children are so happy there and doing well academically. You can get your child into GHS from there but not easily. Boxgrove also good reputation but more traditional, know a girl who went to GHS from there. Supposedly a very good school. Don't know about other two you mentioned.

Tormead is different from GHS, less acadeic but still good. Its a bit of a love-hate in someways but I know girls there do well. Quite a small site. St Catherines seems posh I agree- it is part boarding part day. Priors field meant to be brilliant for less academic girls- Meant to be very supportive as smaller and each girl really known. Its also very in touch with the girls.

Rowan is good if you want to go onto GHS as now is a member of united church schools, same as GHs and so is a 'feeder'. Although I'm told not nice grounds?!-but might have changed in last few years. St Ives meant to be lovely as is St Hilarys- and both feed to GHS.

George Abbot/County both have fantastic reputations but esp Gabbot hard to get into. County smaller, both good results and excellent state schools. Christs not heard good things about but do know it has a new building- they completely rebuilt it!

Im sure others will give you other opinions/places to look at! Hope this helps.

BTW girls from Pewley Down Holy Trinity, go on to: GHS, Tormead, St Catherines, Priorsfield, St Thereseas and Manor House; as well as George Abbot, Guildford County and St Peters. If your house is close to Gabbot then it is a good option.

Pewley Down Holy Trinity is a bit like Marmite, you either love or hate it.

I have friends who choose George Abbot above sending their DC to private schools. It has a very good ruputation.

Thanks! What is it about Holy trinity pewley down which makes it so marmite?
The website it looks really good.

We are unsure about size of George Abbot but know it has a fantastic reputation. Guildford High seems good for secondary but unsure about Primary- any other state or private options for primary other than those mentioned- or more opinions on them? What about Sandfield its location looks good for us?

PDHT is a tough school for kids who are not too confident, quite chaotic and there is a bit of sink or swim feeling to the place. But it can be quite inspirational and they do somethings very well.

Personally I think as they have a very middle class, smart group of kids with very involved and committed parents they are able to experiment. In a tougher area don't think it would work at all!

Good luck and welcome to Guildford, it is a lovely town.

Are you close enough to Burpham to get in?

ALso- danes hill we were reccomended but looking at the website think it looks a bit too posh for us and im put off by phrases like 'characteristically our chidlren our outgoing and confidnet' on the website obviously thats good but to me that spelels out bullying/cocky/naughty...but maybe reading too deeply! Also not sure about their leavers destinations. Our friend says it is brilliant though.. any opinions?!

We are central guildford, near(ish) epsom road.

Other option we were thinking is to put youngest into pewley down/state infant (st nicholas also looked lovely?) then move them after infants once seen where eldest has ended up and got more idea of the area if we want to go prvate or state route etc. so also infant schools an option!

Oh to answer your marmite question about PDHT and from personal experience

PD and HT have recently merged so that is coming together. The head teacher has not been so involved over the last couple of years, leaving things to deputy head teachers.

As it is a bit chaotic things can slip through cracks and if your kid needs to know that on Tuesday she will do maths, games and music then it can be quite confusing when suddenly they have a different teacher and are going off site for a nature walk.

They have a very positive attitude to special needs and it has a reputation for being good with kids with special needs. However, that means it can a bit of beacon for children who fall into that category and does have a higher proportion than normal of special needs. That is not a criticism just a fact.

The ongoing positivism can be sometimes quite draining, when sometimes your kid needs to be told off for having been naughty and not talked at for half an hour about the importance of being nice to people.

That was the negative sort of BUT

• the teachers are so involved and do really (mostly) care about the kids
• all clubs are free (other than a couple)
• totally flexible before / after school care
• they do loads of outdoor stuff
• they try and make sure all kids get a chance to shine not just the academic or sporty kids
• no shouting
• very positive
• loads of ways for parents to get involved
• no homework until 6th year (+ or - depending on your view point).

Long message, probably totally outed myself now

Moid - I don't think you have as I could have written a similar post. I love the off site stuff, they use the countryside as an extension of the school. Snow days involve whole school snow play.

As a parent at sometime you will want to scream because your child suddenly needs a costume or something for tomorrow!

The head does spend months at the end of each year trying to get the perfect match of teachers in each year group, and then trying to match the pupils with teachers. Real strengths include the SEN team, you have missed out if your child doesn't at least go to a spelling booster or something; the librarian, what she doesn't know about children's books is tiny; the infants Deputy head who is just natural with that age group.

But I can understand parents who don't choose it. It is very different.

I presume your youngest has already got a place in reception as all the assessments (GHS, Tormead and St Catz) have just finished, I know as DD went through the process. Has that helped? St Catz was my second choice but its poshness put me off and I preferred a central location that my DD could get to on her own.

Secondary - well it will be partly decided for independent schools which your DD will pass. Heard brilliant things about Priors Field. Also look at St Teresa's but may not be academic enough and also a bit of a hike. I would have George Abbott as a back up if you are in the catchment area.

Good luck the assessment process seemed great fun for my DD but completely nerve wracking for me!

Fiddledee- yes DD has places for reception in those, but some of the other schools st hilarys, st ives, danes hill and a few others we contacted and they've said they would be able to do a late assesment and we shouldnt rule them out.
For secondary the entrance tests mostly seem to be in Jan, we are hoping to go look round some more shortly. Although very interested in George Abbot- however, any thoughts on George Abbot Vs Guildford County Vs Christs??

londoner01 - you could be out of catchment area for George Abbott - just changed the rules so now Ripley kids get precedence. So about 20 kids jump to the top.

County is very musical / dramatic - smaller school and more manageable. I have friends with kids their who are very happy there. The head is not as dynamic as George Abbott's. No personal experience but it has got to be more fun to walk to the County through the centre of Guildford than the long hike out to George Abbott.

Is christs a no-go area?! the website makes it hard to tell, but no one has mentioned it. Also what about St Peters? We arent catholic though...

Tormead 100% 5 GCSEs A- C, Royal 100%, Priors Field 95%, Manor House 91%, St Thereseas 83%, George Abbot 75%, County 71%, St Peter's 69%, Christs College 37%. Guildford High and St Catherines are both 0% (I assume they don't release their results or do IGCSE or both). Source is the BBC website.

To get into St Peter you need to be Catholic or at a feeder Catholic Primary, lots of Christian but not Catholic parents are disappointed they ca no longer get in (as is the school).

Epsom Road is a long road so you may be in catchment for Gabbot. To be honest there are only about 10-20 pupils from Ripley, I think it will make less difference than the new houses such as Boxgrove Gardens. It will mainly be the town centre end which is even more excluded from George Abbot.

If you are living on the Epsom Road I would not want to do the commute to the Haslemere schools. If you can walk to GHS then that would be good to avoid that particular mornng snarl up. I would be choosing between GHS/Tormead and HTPD depending on which suits you and your children more. With an option to transfer to Manor House/St Thereseas if they are not happy at GHS (there is a bus to St Thereseas from Merrow which my friends 7 year old takes).

Good luck and welcome to Guildford!

Interesting to see that George Abbot is so highly thought off. Many (many!) years ago I went to the 'rival' school down the road, back when it was posh (st peters and merrow grange) GA was awful then.

thanks- so christs college definately not.
DD doest like the look for tormead for some reason, and im not sure either. We looked round and just didnt feel right- but any opinions? also guildford county? - i think my DD would cope better with a smaller school than george abbot, and I think we are on the edge of catchments looking at maps.

Any opinions also on Rydes Hill (another catholic though), st hilarys or guildford high juniors?- i love ghs seniors but juniors wasnt 100% convinced!
thanks for all your help!

A friend's daughters went to Rydes Hill then on to Farnborough Hill (then Gabbot for sixth form). I wouldn't jump to the conclusion your daughter wouldn't cope with the size of Gabbot, but things do change a lot, I would also wait to be too set on a senior school.

I have friends whose daughters are at Tormead and happy, but they are in the senior school now and I don't know the new head.

St Hilarys could be a bit of an awkward commute, though I have known some go to Barrow Hill, Duke of Kent and Long Acre.

I hope this is ok () gatecrashing this thread but we are also moving down to Guildford at the end of next academic year and have been looking at Primary (incl.PDHT) and Secondary as well but we have two boys so the school I'd love to get any feedback on is Lanesborough as it seems to offer a very friendly and nurturing atmosphere. Again sorry for the curved ball but would really appreciate your thoughts......thanks.

rubitout- My son was at lanesborough (he is now at university so while ago!) but he loved it. It certainly helped him into RGS, good location and very much a boys prep school. Now it has a new female head who is meant to be fabulous, and has improved pastoral care aspect. My son did very well there and I know most boys do, although not garenteed into RGS, and less get in as they used to with the old RGS head.

Londoner01-Tormead i know the feeling, i think it is cramped onto the site in some ways, but does have a reasonably good reputation, v different atmosphere to GHS for some reason. Less pressured atmosphere when looking round (although i know from having DDs at GHS that GHS is not pressured at all). I know girls there who love tormead but i also know for the sixth form huge numbers leave as they dislike it or would prefer college (the sixth form was down to only about 30-40 in each year recently compared to GHS which seems to maintain the majority and has a growing sixth form of 100 per year).
I would look at priors field for a less academic than GHS type alternative to tormead, it has a brilliant reputation.

George abbot has an incredible reputation, results fantastic as is care etc. size i agree worries me but those there dont see it as an issue.
Christs yes probally not best- new building likened to a prision by pupils, results much lower than george abbot, teaching is said to be poor.- also at wrong side of guildford for you anyway!

Primaries-
St nicolas if you wanted infants is meant to be a lovely little infant school, traffic to get there would be tricky but feeds to HTPD and Queen eleanors (but thats onslow-wrong area for you).
St hilarys meant to be ok -gets them into GHS and top private schools. Rydes hill very posh and catholic.
Bushy Hill also has a decent reputation, nice building and good teachers but not as good rep as HTPD.
Danes hill i would avoid after rumours ive heard (although just rumours!) rowan good to go onto GHS but very far away for you.

Have you considered Longacre in Shamley Green for Nursery / KG upwards for your second child? Very lovely small school and get good 11+ results

Thanks to both of you for your feedback on Lanesborough and also suggestion of Longacre which I will check out. It really helps to have some feedback when you are going in blind and know no-one in the area. Thanks again.

Thank you for all your opinions as rubitout said, its a huge help! :)

Hi there, its worth knowing about Bloo House, a small independent school in Esher, Surrey. Their website is: www.bloohouse.co.uk