Moving from South Africa...choosing school and place to live??? Nightmare

[gailbee]

We're moving in the summer '11 from Johannesburg to UK. Advice and on the ground intelligence would be sooo great.

I have two sons (8 and 10) going into year 4 and year 6, and I've been surfing the net to look at private schools in the Surrey area - only private because I don't have an address and it seems to get into the good state schools you are not guarenteed a place.

I've narrowed down my search so far) to Ewell Castle School, Danes Hill, Parkside but I just don't know how these schools really are 'on the groun' and also to find a good school then to buy a house in a good area close by.....but I also need to commute into London for work and woulod ideally only want a 30 minute journey.

Any suggestions, advice/help etc. would be great!!!

Hi. Don't have any advice but didn't want your thread to go unnoticed. It's hard adjusting to life in the UK so and any supper you get on here will help you enormously.

Hi,
We moved from SA to UK 5yrs ago-and like you we came over not knowing where we were going to live.
My hubby found a job 1/2hr train ride from London so we moved to Hertfordshire-as easy access to London and main motorways.
Private schooling over here is not cheap...we private schooled for a year in her 2nd year of school but it really did cost a fortune.
Do you have a job to come to? Family here?

It took us a while to settle but now I'd never go back.

My sister teaches at Cranleigh School. It takes boarders and day children. Seems a lovely school in v. pleasant ground with lots of sports facilities. Cranleigh and surrounding villages a great place to live. Half hour or less drive to Guildford to get train to London.

Just saw you only want half hour commute. Reigate Grammar a good school with its own prep school. Reigate a pleasant town.

If at all you can manage go for Kingswood house in Epsom it is a boys private school.

We moved from Epsom 3 years ago and I still miss that school in my opinion it is EVERYTHING a school should be. Epsom and surrounds is expensive but a lovely area you could go as far as Esher/Reigate/Banstead and still get easilly to the school.

www.kingswoodhouse.org/

the school has this lovely tradition that when the big boys move on they get to scrape their name into the school building so you have loads of old names in the redstone makes for a wonderful feeling of tradition. School dinners that good my ds still says he misses them. and the school rolls with the punches so to speak (like the day it snowed they pulled them all out into the snow and did lessons outside using the snow) they have their own private pool and does swimming 2-3 times a week in it and have the boys out to do pe/sports every day beliving boys needs to be kept active.

Fantastic school cant reccommend it highly enough.

BTW Ewell Castle has a good repuration and I knew people whom had kids there whom was happy with it. It is larger class sizes than Kingswood house and I know parents whom moved their to KWH after having started in Ewell Castle hearing from friends about what their child had happen. (but this could also be other reasons I am aware)

1 set of parents when we went there drove from Wimbledon every day because when they moved they didnt wish to movefrom the school liking it that much)

Epsom/Ewell/Banstead area is good for comutes and will be around your ideal distance with trains to Ewell/Epsom - London Waterloo every 15 mins.

Thanks, and finding this site has been great.

Hi sahs1969...I am so pleased to hear that settling does happen and the fact that you won't go back is encouraging. My DH left UK in the 80's and he was tentative about 'going back' but I think life with kids etc. will be very different.

I like Hertfordshire, stayed with friends in Hatfield when I was over many years ago; it's just now most of our friends live in the Surrey area and will be good to be closeby. Won't rule it out though. Thanks for your feedback :)

Hi puffling, many thanks will go and check out Cranleigh!

Reigate has come up with some of the other research I've done and yes I think Cranleigh a little too far....can't rule anything out though. My ds1 is a good swimmer and enoys art and learning guitar. My ds2 is not really sporty but likes drama, chess and gymnsatics and is learning to play drums, so in looking for a school I would like to know that they can continue with these or similar activities

Hi Lonnie, just checking was there an incident at Ewell Castle? or did I misunderstand....

Good to hear about the areas you recommend and I've gone to have a look at Kingswood House - does look great. Would you happen to know where the boys go after this particular primary school?

BTW, the travelling info is really useful! I can't imagine commuting for hours on end - my office will be in and around Liverpool Street Station and I would want to be able to get home during the day in a practical time frame.

Reigate Grammar is competitive to get into and he'd be taking the exam around this time next year. they intake from their own prep Reigate St Mary's, Micklefield in Reigate, local state primary schools and other independents further afield like KWH and even as far as Dorking and Guildford(reasonable train ocnnection). Ewell Castle is nice, felt small and friendly, if a little old fashioned, but is spending money updating its facilities at senior level. I think it suffers in comparison to Epsom College (which has intake at 13+) and is very sporty and academic (and £££) but is on a much smaller scale and perhaps more down to earth so would suit some boys much better.

Hi Gailbee
Kingswood looks great. There is a list of leaver's destinations under parents in the drop down menu at the top. The senior schools appear to cover a cross section of abilities and they have gained some scholarships. Interesting to see they list 2010 separately as I think it shows what is happening now rather than putting all in the data in together which can hide results.

Hi goinggetstough; many tx, I found the section for leavers.

On the one hand I think it may be good to attend a school from the on set which has a senior school attached, for easier transition but on the other hand the focus on prep is probably also a good idea. I supose it will crystalise when I come over to visit and get a feel for myself at the variuos schools.

Hi Lizs, that is valuable feedback about the entry to Reigate, thanks.To me, without having walked around yet, Ewell Castle & Kingswood seem to have a good feel.

Any insights wrt Danes Hill or Parkside?

Hi again I came to check if you had responded.

Yes Kingswood have a large spread over where the boys move on to but it is also worth noticing that it is both a school that specialises in high achivers and also in children with dyslexia so children in each end of the spectrum of abillities. When dd went there (yes my dd she was there for 6 terms the preprep is co ed though dd was the first girl they had in the school) she was unable to recite the alphabet properly she left 6 terms later able to read, she is dyslexic but this school gave her back her confidence and gave her this amazing gift to think Learning is FUN)

From memory the boys feeds to

Epsom Collegue (obviously the big one near by)
St Johns Leatherhead
Whitgift (Croydon)
Trinity
And I think Weybridge

but there is a lot of private schools in this area, they can train for common entrance at 13.

One of the reasons dh and I will not consider moving to Reigate (20 mins west for us) is because we know that we would want to send ds back to Kingswood house. I honestly cant reccommend this school enough it also has this lovely sense of transparency you never feel they are anything but trying to do the very best for your children. There is this lovely athmosphere and I love how they expect the boys to have manners and be polite Their enthutiasm for their students is so amazing and you just feel they want the very best for your child no matter their abillity.

No there was no insident at Ewell Castle the parents simply decided that what their friends was reporting their son was experiencing at KWH was better than what Ewell Castle provided.

I looked at Danes Hill it has beautiful amazing grounds but two things put me off. 1 it was very much a high achiver school atmosphere and 2 it was nearly £1000 more a term (this was now 4 years ago so may have changed) that is all i can say about it I have no further experience about it. I know one set of parents didnt send their child there as they felt he would not have the abillity for what the school wanted.

I have no info about Parkside at all

The Head at KWH is just so lovely and it is never to much trouble for him to try to work something out for you. yes Im waxing lyrically but this school really is amazing

If our finances changed for the better I would move heaven on earth to get ds back into this school. It is just everything a school should be. I still have contact with one of the parents whom send their son there the year before we send dd there and he is still there in year 7 and they still love the school.

If you email the school I bet they will answer any questions you can think up

Dear Lonnie
So helpful thanks so much! [bgrin]
I am over in UK end of March to visit 4 schools incl. Kingswood Hse so I am looking forward to that...where they are currently in SA at school, manners and discipline are fairly strict and they also attend mass once a week (although we are not Catholic nd it is a Catholic school, we are CofE) but I think this also instills good values, so I don't want to loose that. I hope that once I've walked around these 4 establishments and asked enough questions I'll 'just know' what will work for my 2 ds's.

We then decide on school and a find a house that's affordable nearby with a garden for 2 dogs and possibly 2 cats. My boys are used to having an au pair as I work, so I don't want to be too far away but we certainly will not have millions to spend.
Adventure!
Be well and thanks again

You could have a look at Parkside, Cobham lots of the brothers from my daughters all girls school go there. Towns close by are Cobham, Weybridge, Oxshot, Esher, Walton on Thames. Walton is a 25 min train journey into Waterloo, London, four trains an hour minimum. Then you would get the City line (one stop) over to the city as many people do who live around Walton/Weybridge. Cranleigh is the other school, already mentioned but I don't think the train line is as good. St Georges in Weybridge, very academic. Danes Hill Oxshot again easy to commute into London. All these areas in Surrey go into Waterloo rather than Liverpool Street. If you want Liverpool Street easy commutes you are looking at Essex. A school in the area I would avoid is Feltonfleet, has a bad reputation for bullying.

Beauty of Weybridge if you want to avoid high school fees which would be around £12,000 a year minimum for each child, is the excellent state senior school, Heathside. It is rated very highly in the league tables. If you live in the right catchment area you are guaranteed a free place. You can see catchment areas on the school website. Also once you move into an area you will be allocated a school. Weybridge has excellent state schools for primary as well.

Don't forget that with the London Overground service now running, you also have the option of an easy commute in to Shoreditch High Street (close to Liverpool Street) from Crystal Palace, Sydenham or Forest Hill (I think about 25 mins from Sydenham), where you'd have the Dulwich schools as an option. Depends on how much money you have to burn on property - SE London obviously generally cheaper than the bits of Surrey that you're talking about!

I think it is a good idea to get a feel of the schools to me that always says a lot when you think " this is good" I am off course convinced you will say that Kingswood was the best laughs

City of London Freemans)not in the "City" goes all the way through to 18. Near Ashtead station (Surrey).

Hi daisysue2, this is great feedback thanks...I was actually going to see FeltonFleet and your input about the bullying is most valuable, the last thing my 2ds's need to contend with is this!! I heard about Parkside from someone else, their fees are really high so may need to think about that one.

I most certainly will go into Heathside and take a look more closely at the schools in Weybridge area.

Thanks again

Hi gailbee,
We moved to Ewell this year and put our boys into years 2 and 6 of Ewell Castle, and I can honestly say it has been a success. They previously attended a very prestigious school in London, with lots of facilities and the fees to match, but this whole experience has taught me that rolling playing fields and swimming pools are not everyhting. the staff could not have done more to make the children feel welcome, and, shock horror, I actually think the standard and style of teaching is a lot better. the boys are engaged, happy and motivated, even in subjects they hated before, and that's nothing short of amazing, especially when making the move to the last year of junior school, which is tough. Good luck!

Minestrone, d'you have any feedback on ewell castle juniors for girls? Considering for (much younger) dds.

Gailbee, how daunting for you, hope your visits help. We have recently moved to epsom area from london and are enjoying it a lot, is v friendly with lots to do for families.

Just spotted. Do realise Cranleigh has no train line! I think it went in the 60s. There are some campaigns to put one back (and some against it). But the route of the old line is now a footpath/cycle track, so it would be difficult.