Wokingham Schools

[Caledoniadreaming]

Hello, my son will be starting school in September next year (2024), and we're trying to decide between state and independent schools. We're in a funny area where the closest primary schools are not within catchment, and the ones we are in catchment for are OK but not great. They would also require car journeys, which if you know Wokingham can be a massive headache.

We're really lucky to be able to consider private schools as well, but looking for a bit of insight.

Does anyone have experience of All Saints Primary, Emmbrook Infants, Floreat Montague, Reddam House, Waverley Prep or Holme Grange schools?

We are planning to visit all the schools before the application process opens in October.

Many thanks

Hi Same here. I am also planning for next year and visited a bunch of them .

1. Reddam House : my DS is already there in nursery . Huge buildings and good facilities , lots of space .I feel the teachers dont pay much attention already . so no confidence in primary . But most importantly , he is happy here . But the grades of Sr. school are not very impressive , so still thinking on this .
2. Cross-fields : Very popular locally and same , huge buildings and everything. But a bit far off , Secondary focus yet to know once the seniors there take GCSEs
3. St. Josephs : not impressed at all . they tool notes of all my questions but never bothered to respond over emails as promised some months back . But their Grades are better than Reddam
4. Waverley in Wokingham : Small school , sounds academic . Sounds as though they are focusing on sports and overall development as well . Good attention but not many kids in our locality go there . Yet to hear from locals .

It is a hard decision to make but amazed with many choices . Hope this helps . I didnt add fees etc but predominantly similar . Its good to go around and visit some of them and get some views.

Hi @VMJL that's interesting about Reddam, slightly concerning about teachers not paying much attention - particularly in the junior years, when the foundations are so important. Crosfields and St Joseph's aren't on our list mainly due to location.

We want to have a look at Holme Grange, as well as St Nicholas primary in Hurst (we're North Wokingham) as an alternative. We may reconsider and do either "state till eight" or private secondary, where the likes of Luckley come into play as well.

Hi. It might be a bit further than the catchment you are looking at but have you considered St Neot's? My son has had children join his year group from Waverley & Crosfields.

Teachers are amazing & definitely pay attention. They're really on the ball for pastoral concerns. It's academic too. Lots of children earn scholarships to their senior schools. I'm pretty sure there's an open morning coming up soon.

Happy to answer any specific questions.

@nhantsmum interesting re children moving from Waverley - I assumed, probably incorrectly, that Waverley was THE prep school to attend in our area.

St Neot's probably is a bit far for us - we're in North Wokingham so crossing the railway line could be an absolute nightmare at both ends of the day. Did you just look at St Neot's or did you visit others as well?

I think they run a good marketing campaign but I'm not sure it's THE school to go to. I've not visited but I've not heard much positive.

I've been to Holme Grange and quite liked it. Out of the schools mentioned it's probably the most similar to St Neot's. It's preference, but we didn't want a through school.

I am trying to decide between Holme Grange School Yateley Manor School. Does anyone have experience of the infant and junior years of these school? What is the pastoral care like and the academic? Do they tailor the curriculum or one fit to suit all.
Thank u for reading.

At the end, where did you choose?

@CuriosLion if the q was for me, we went with Floreat Montague Park in the end - our son in in Yr 1 there now and doing very well. As with all schools it has its limitations but we are happy with it.

We still have half an eye on Holme Grange but with both of us being in London more often than not now, the distance from HG to stations was a deciding factor.

Ah thats great to hear, we are considering it. There are a few houses around for sale that we want to view. We are thinking to do state primary and independent from year 7 or 9.
How are the facilities at the school?

I would say they're good and the headteacher has great aspirations of them becoming better - for example they're refurbished the library recently and the next plan (I think) is for a food technology kitchen. The PTA is exceptionally strong in the area (I think almost £30K raised last year) and pays for playground equipment etc.

I don't get a sense from my son how often they use the playing fields, but I imagine in the Spring/Summer/early autumn they get used a lot.

One of the big things for us is wraparound care as we both work in London - the team at breakfast/after school club are great, and really get to know the kids. The same company also has the holiday clubs as well. Once you get into Y1, the other after school clubs and some breakfast club options are great. Certainly when I speak to mum friends with kids at other schools, the options at FMP are quite incredible.

One of the issues we think isn't great is that some of the classes have two teachers, and there doesn't always seem to be consideration that if a year group has had two teachers working part time in one year, maybe that shouldn't be the case the next year, but I recognise the sector is really struggling to retain teachers so is doing what they can with the resources they have.

It's a great area, and depending on where you land walking to school is much preferable to the inevitable parking problems you see with every school. The school is definitely worth a visit - if you're looking at other similar schools, probably Emmbrook is the most similar in terms of size and offering.