Griffin house school Buckinghamshire

[Cheburashka86]

Just wondering if anyone knows this school or has children there? If so, do you rate it highly? It looks very small which I see as a positive but may have some drawbacks too. I'm planning to go to the open morning and would be interested in what you think of it. I have a DS who is five and am considering moving him from the local school, as I really dislike the large class sizes (but don't know if I'm being too precious about that).

Or the Gateway school in great missenden?

Just bumping this in case anyone can advise

Apologies just seen this and new to MN. I have 2 children at Griffin House and I can honestly say its superb in every way. Excellent head (Mr Walford) and small enough to feel very friendly, while also being v good academically.

I can't praise it highly enough and now we'd move hell and high water to keep them there.

Re: Gateway, did look round there, Godstowe and St Theresa's but felt very drawn to GH from the start.

Griffin House suffers from non existent sports teams, lack of good music and traditionally very small numbers of children higher up the school, especially boys. Many local state schools are better and gave brighter children in them.

My younger DD went there for EY and it soon became evident that it suited some children that needed nurturing but others needed a wider opportunities. The numbers soon dwindled. It is not in the same league as Godstowe.

If you want cheap and cheerful it delivers but if you want top academics and top senior schools (fee paying) it’s not the place to be. Godstowe is way more prestigious but costs more as you would expect. The Gateway hoovers up the 11 plus brigade or look at The Beacon if you have a boy. It really depends why you are paying for a prep school.

It certainly does a lot better in the league tables than most of the local fee paying schools and no competition wih the state options. I think there will always be a certain amount of bias from those who used EY and chose (for whatever reason) not to continue, as there is the other way from those with children at the school.

All I can say is in personal experience of 2 children there for 5+ years now it is excellent and a relatively hidden gem (and more than happy for it to continue that way but the recent jump in numbers suggests probably not).

When we were there hardly anyone got the 11 plus and none went to top class senior schools such as Wycombe Abbey. It really depends what you want and it certainly does not have better educated children than local primary schools. Parents often deluded themselves about how their children would get to the grammar schools and then ended up at the secondary moderns like everyone else. Our year group ended up with 4 boys in Y6 which was not a healthy number for all sorts of educational reasons. When my DD left the school there were 4 children in Y6. Most of the girls had gone to Pipers Corner in Y4-5 because they couldn’t get in at 11 plus so they went into their prep dept. In my view it’s a nice little school with no frills. There are many local state schools that are similar and some have way better teaching.

Exactly what Bubbles said. PP sums it up perfectly.

I have experience of GH (which was Ladymede) Godstowe, Pipers & Wyc Abbey as well as Gateway through my years as a childcarer.

Gateway is either loved or loathed, it's Marmite IME.

Pipers isn't as academic as Godstowe, the latter is not very discreetly linked to Wyc Abbey which is on a level with Headington Girls.

Griffin House seems to me more about pastoral care.

I'm a firm believer in trusting & following your gut instinct.

Impy: Wycombe Abbey is creme de la creme of girls boarding schools and very academic. Headington Girls is less prestigious but good nonetheless!

Yep I know of a student who went to Gostowe then WA who qualified in Law @ Oxford, she is now being sponsored to do a 3 year PhD (I think?!) in a 12 month period. One very smart cookie.

She did sports at the Abbey that I have never heard of before !