Advice Needed: Choosing Between St George, Upton House, Holme Grange, LVS, and Waverley for Primary School

[Atousa]

Hi all,
I'm currently trying to decide on the best primary school for my son and would really appreciate any insights or experiences from other parents.
We are considering the following schools:

• St George
• Upton House
• Holme Grange
• LVS Ascot
• Waverley

If you have any experience with these schools—academics, pastoral care, extracurricular, class sizes, or general school culture—I’d love to hear your thoughts. My son is age 3, and we’re looking for a school with strong academic standards and a nurturing environment that supports overall development, along with good facilities for both sports and music. Many thanks

Upton House is a fabulous little nurturing school. However, the lack of space for sports is a big negative. My DD went to Upton when it was girls only and loved her time there. She’s both academic and sporty. The main drawback was being bussed everywhere to access sports provision - the site in Windsor is just so constrained. Headteacher is excellent, however - ambitious for the school and adept at managing the trickier parents.

@MacaroniSaysShetlandPony Thank you so much for sharing your experience with Upton House – it's really helpful to hear from someone whose daughter actually went there. We recently visited the school and completely agree with your view: it’s a lovely, nurturing environment, and we were especially impressed with how confident and articulate the students were.
Like you mentioned, though, the limited space for sports stood out to us too. The site just feels quite tight, and the bussing for sports makes sense now.

We also visited Holme Grange and while it looked good on paper, the visit didn’t quite click with us. The staff didn’t come across as warm or welcoming as those at Upton, and we couldn't quite put our finger on it, but something just felt a bit off. It felt more like a tour to tick boxes than a real insight into life at the school.

Have you heard anything about LVS Ascot or St George’s School? It would be nice to hear your thoughts if you have any experience or insights about them.

I don’t have any experience of LVS but get a lot of advertising for it. Have you looked at St Neot’s? I wouldn’t recommend Waverley, we are moving out of the school as have a few parents in the year above.

@Parsonsred I had a look at St Neot — it is quite far from us. Our search has now come down to Upton House School and St George School. They are both nice. Upton House doesn’t have much outdoor space for the children to play and lacks sports facilities on-site, so the pupils are bussed out. That said, it still seems like a very nice school overall. St George School is also lovely, but we’re finding it hard to decide between the two.

Sorry I’m just coming back to this now. St George’s Windsor Castle is a lovely school and I’ve been impressed by the children we know who were there at the same time as my daughter was at Upton. It goes all the way to end of year 8 which is super useful because it means you don’t have the 2 year bridging gap needed for some of the senior schools.

St George’s was a little more flash than Upton, due to celeb parents at the time, but that needn’t put you off. Think of it a little like the Lambrook effect but caused by pop star royalty not HRH royalty.

For sporty or musical children, St George’s is excellent. Having St George’s chapel right there and all of the castle grounds for cricket, etc is exceptional. It’s less nurturing than Upton, I think but there’s not much in it.

LVS is not in the same league, although children do thrive there and often stick with it through senior schools. Budget seems to be a factor - it’s not as pricey as Upton or St George’s and it shows a little. Leaver destinations is the metric to help you here - if you have an idea what you want for senior schools, do look at where the leavers go.

We’ve had children at both schools, both St George’s and Upton House are lovely. St G’s is outstanding for music and has more space but not particularly strong in sport, more about participation than competition. We found Upton more ambitious despite less space, stronger for academics with subject specialist teachers. Yes do look at leaver’s destinations - Windsor is a little complicated for senior schools so good to consider if you’re expecting to leave at 11 or 13. LVS wasn’t a real contender for us. Choosing a walkable school is nice if you can!

@MacaroniSaysShetlandPony Thanks so much, that’s really helpful! The fact that St George’s goes right up to year 8 is definitely a big plus. Lots to think about, but your insight really helps put it into perspective.

@Lovetobrowse Thanks so much, that’s really helpful! We’re still torn as both schools sound great – love that St G’s has the big field, but Upton’s focus on academics is a big draw for us. Just wondering what the atmosphere and diversity are like at both? We’ll be new to the area and keen to make friends.