At Catherine’s Bramley - Reception

[JonesDrJones]

Hi All, I’m trying to get some feedback on the reception at St Catherine’s. It’s our top preference with regards to commute for me to and from work, and we’ve heard good things in the past.

However I’ve recently received mixed messages at the moment from two parents I know there, one in reception and one further up the prep.

Just hoping that other mums can provide some insight into what it is like for their girls in the reception so far this year or the prep in general.

Appreciate it’s been an odd year so just trying to broaden my understanding of the place as best we can before making a decision. Thanks.

St Catherine’s BRAMLEY, by the way. I have a awfully persistent autocorrect!

Do you have a local Facebook group you could ask on? You may get more replies

I’ve tried the Surrey parents group and the bramley community group to no avail. Do you know any that are more effective? We’re moving to the area (Gomshal) so not really up to speed on the groups yet

No sorry, I’m in Bristol!!

Are you looking for next sept? Hopefully this year they will allow visits and opening days etc

OP, I would ask Mumsnet to amend your heading and also you should post in Secondary education asking if anyone had a dd who started in reception. St Cats Bramley always gets a response on MN, it's had a difficult time in lockdown and the Jan 2021 secondary entrance exam administration but overall it's regarded as a leading girls school in Surrey/SW London.

@Skatingpark97 that’s a good idea. I’ll do that later after work.

I had heard that they have suffered a number of debacles over the last year with online learning and admissions problems, however I think they are all senior school related. So not all that relevant to us at the mo.

Yes we picked it for it’s reputation academically and we like the ‘greenness’ of the site. Prompting my enquiry is noise from a parent I know who's just moved up from reception who says the numbers are dropping this year. I just wondered if this is simply a ‘Covid factor’ (like the variety of issues most schools have experienced this year!) or if the offering is not as good as it used to be, or is there simply a smaller cohort out there to ‘recruit from’ this year.

We’re pretty certain about our choice but these ‘noises’ have just rattled us a bit, thanks in advance mums!