Fosse Bank School v's Schools @ Somerhill HELP PLEASE!

[Funkyfemale77]

I would be SO grateful for any parents to be in touch that have children at Fosse Bank School in Hildenborough . . . . We are really struggling to decide between Fosse Bank and Schools @ Somerhill . . . I am leaning more towards Fosse at the moment but Somerhill is still a strong contender - anyone else had the same dilemma very recently 2017/2018? (I've seen older posts on here from 2014!)

Many thanks for any advice x

Hi

First off just to say you need to go with your gut. People are loyal to their schools and will give you strong opinions for and against schools. They are both good schools but very different. What works for one child will not work for another. We have been at Fosse for 5 years now (our eldest has now left and moved onto grammar school) and have been very happy with it. The head changed around 2014 and it is a very different school. It is a small school and never claims to be anything but that. You will never get classes larger than 18. It is also only a prep school so there is no issue about you discussing openly with them about your choice of seniors (be it 11+ or private or whatever choice you are considering). It is co-ed throughout and children get involved in everything from music concerts to being on sports teams in matches to go on personalised school trips etc since the size of the school means everyone gets a chance. I can go on and on but it is a lovely school and everyone knows everyone in the playground which is really lovely. Pastorally it is excellent and they really are able to cater for every child.

Somerhill is basically three schools as you probably know. The split at year 3 means boys and girls are separated. For things like sports they will be picked on ability so if you have a sporty child they will get on the A teams but vice versa if you don't they may not make so many teams. They have a very good reputation across the board. The boys stay til 13 so not sure if they are so keen for boys to do 11+ but the girls all leave at 11. It has a slightly more competitive edge to it than Fosse. Again some children will suit that and some won't. They year groups at Somerhill are much bigger than the year groups at Fosse- again it is personal preference as to what you are looking for.

They are really quite different schools. I am obviously biased - we looked around all schools in the area when we moved from London and Fosse won hands down. It was exactly the type of school we were looking for and I felt it gave the personal experience for each child that we were looking for. Taster days are useful for the child to see which school they prefer.

HTH. Happy to discuss further in PMs if there is anything else you would like to know.

Good luck with the decision. To be honest you are choosing between two very good schools and you just need to pick which one suits your child and you as a family.

ML Kitchen. Thank you VERY much for your thoughts. Apologies it has taken me so long to reply - the message alert was sitting in my junk folder!

It is such a difficult decision. An awful lot of Mum's in the area highly recommend Somerhill and I am hearing a lot of negative comments about Fosse :( 3 Mums moved their children from Fosse to Somerhill.... Ideally we would not want to do that. Of course go with my gut; but equally it is very hard to ignore the comments when those Mum's have experienced it! Not easy at all. Many thanks for your thoughts; we are grateful. x

FukyFemale77 do you mind me asking which school you ended up going with? We are in a similar situation, moving down from London and looking for a school for our two DC's, eldest to start reception in September and younger to pre-nursery. We have looked around Somerhill, St Michaels and Holmewood and Somerhill stood out as our favourite and we have a taster session booked in for May. I hadn't looked at Fosse but perhaps i should do?
Thanks!

100% go and look at Fosse Bank. It is like a mini Somerhill but with a much more family feel! It is still my preferred choice! Our little one not due to start for a year or so yet so we are still going through the deciding factors... Good luck. Let me know how you get on x

JBMall have you look at Rosehill School (not far from Holmewood).

Rosehill was our first choice and we thought it was absolutely fabulous but is a total nightmare to get to from the Southborough end of town. The traffic is horrific...... I could not fathom sitting in traffic for that long for the school runs :( So we then moved on to look at Somerhill and Fosse as it is easier to get to down the A21 one junction.

Hello, we are in similar situation and just wondering what school you went for and why etc?
Also interested in views on Hilden Grange.
Thank you :-)

Hi. We are also in a similar situation and just wondering what schools you chose and why?

We are moving from London to Sevenoaks.

We are also looking at Sevenoaks Prep, St Michaels, Russell House, Hilden Grange and Hilden Oaks.
Our daughter is very bright and we feel a bit of pressure to find a school that will push her and keep her engaged and interested.
Also have a younger boy (too young to tell if he’s academic yet), but would ideally like them in same school for primary years, so only really looking at co-ed for now.
Will consider Granville if highly recommended and other schools don’t seem to match our daughters personality etc.
Thanks so much in advance

Just wondering if anyone chose Fosse and if there is any recent feedback, particularly for key stage 2?

@MummaOf2gb both my daughters went to Granville and it was very engaging for bright girls. They had a great experience and the girls go on to a variety of great schools.