First choice: Lanesborough. What would a good second choice be?

[Auroborea]

Hi, I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on this. We're looking for a school for my DS for a 4+ entry next year. We would ideally like a strongly academic school that would maximize his chances of getting into RGS eventually. We've loved the look of Lanesborough and got him down for an assessment there - this is definitely our first-choice school. However, in the eventuality that he is not selected - he is very bright but a Summer birthday and can be quite shy when he first meets strangers, so we have no idea how he will do on the day - what would be a good fall-back option? We were thinking Cranmore, but I'm now worried by the stories of bullying on this site. Is this the general perception? We are not averse to state primaries per se. Our closest one would be Merrow C of E, then Bushy Hill. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions would be very gratefully received.

Advise Glenesk School, East Horsley, if you can do the journey.

Longacre is meant to be very good.

Ripley or Longacre definitely

Not much choice is there for boys - Cranmore, Hoe Bridge in old Woking, Longacre, Ripley, Glenesk, St Hilary's in Godalming until age 7 then some go to Lanesborough but many to the Aldro. You could also look at Feltonfleet in Cobham if you wanted to travel that far.

But both your state primaries are fine and RGS does take many boys from the state system, I'm not sure your chances are much more improved by going to the Lanesborough but there are a large number of other benefits.

You could look at Holy Trinity Pewley Down, people do sometimes get in from near where you live, and the head of RGS rates it as a school.

Schools change, the head of RGS will almost certainly change by the time your DS is going to do his entrance exam. I would look at all the local schools and try and choose the school that you think will best suit your child whether private or state. Heard mixed things about all the schools, including Holy Trinity as it doesn't suit all children/parents.

I wouldn't want my DS to go to such an academic school as the Lanesborough if he didn't suit it.

The last head liked HTPD too! But there will be changes of heads at various schools over the next few years.

Many thanks for all your comments! Will definitely have a look at HTPD, but I think we are too far East to get in. I like the look of Glenesk, but it seems from the website that when they start there they can do only a certain number of mornings, which is not great for work. Are Longacre and Ripley strong academically? DS is definitely very academic, but can be shy with strangers and in large crowds, so small and nurturing would be an advantage. How about Hoe Bridge - any experience or word-of-mouth as to what it is like? On Cranmore - is there a consensus that it's not a great option? Thank you!