St Mary's vs Oxford House

[raven99]

Hello all. I am really confused which school to send my daughter to - St Mary's girls school or Oxford House Colchester. She will be going into year 4. There are spaces in both. I do want her to go for 11 plus. Do other mums have experience of either school and can let me know pros and cons of each. Which would you choose and why? TIA

Oxford house is a crammer for the 11+ i know someone with a child there who likes it and is very happy, the downside it lack of sports facilities onsite and no parking for drop offs and if your child is not at the right level academically for the 11+ - well i have heard of children leaving because of this, whether they were managed out I don't know but might explain why they have spaces.

St Mary's goes through to 16 so I suspect that less children there would sit the 11+ as many will go onto their own senior school, they have sports facilities though. St Mary's is all girls and Oxford House mixed although i think mainly girls. I guess it depends on if you want a mainly academic school or a more all round school and how you feel about single sex schools.

If it's that part of Colchester that you are looking at, then it might be worth also looking at Colchester High, there are also two other independent schools on the outskirts of Colchester with lovely facilities that are worth looking at.

One other thing, if you go for Oxford House then you probably wouldn't need to do extra tutoring for the 11+, I'm not sure about Col High (you could ask them) but with the other schools you probably would need to do extra tutoring in year 5 but the benefits might outweigh that.

If you have transport then take a look at the two schools on the outskirts

Thank you so much mumoftwo. Can you tell me the names of the other 2 on the outskirts please

Littlegarth and Holmwood House

Thank you. I will have a look at them too. I am leaning towards St Mary's. I want a mix of academic school and all round education. Do you know if St Mary's has a good reputation. I don't know anyone whose daughter goes there so a bit in the dark. What are they best known for; ie their main selling point?

I don't really know much about St Mary's my child goes to one of the other schools, its best known to me for being an all girls school. I would probably prefer it to Oxford House if I wanted an all round school though.