Rydes Hill joins Tormead

[Notonyours]

Interesting development in Guildford. Rydes Hill gets Tormead security, facilities and benefits and Tormead parents gain access to a nursery and co-educational offering for their boys / siblings.

The rationalisation of the market continues, but this also seems like a clever move for Tormead and Rydes Hill, who was undoubtedly feeling the current economic pressure.

Following with keen interest—we are now at Tormead, having spent many years as Halstead parents.

As some may be aware, Halstead unexpectedly announced a merger with St. Andrew’s, giving us just over two weeks’ notice. The process was chaotic, and we felt profoundly let down—betrayed, even—particularly as we had deliberately chosen an all-girls environment and were now being pushed into a co-educational setting.

Many parents suspected that the short notice was a strategic move, leaving families with little choice but to transition to the new school. I suspect it was just badly managed. However, we voted with our feet. A significant number of Halstead girls, including my daughter’s friends, moved to Tormead—a natural choice for Halstead girls at 11+ anyway.

Right now, regarding Rydes Hill, at Tormead, there has been remarkably little discontent regarding the situation. In fact, the overwhelming sentiment is one of pride that the school is able to accommodate these otherwise 'school-less' girls so seamlessly. If this had happened to ones' daughters, you would understand—it was an incredibly difficult situation for us and we are grateful to Tormead for helping us out at the time.

Tormead parents and rhe girls welcomed us wholeheartedly, the integration was done with great care. And whilst there have been a few murmurs about class sizes on the TM whatsapps, these sizes are capped regardless, and personally, I believe the more, the merrier.

I've never really expressed any public gratitude for what happened to us back in 2023, but feel this is a good point at which to interject. If anyone from Rydes Hill is watching, there are a great many schools out there and you should move-on to where you feel conformable to, but if Tormead is your preference, you won't regret it.

I also wonder this. Rydes Hill social media shows 15 girls + in their classes. I guess not all will transfer, but a good number will.

I feel sadness it is the larger school's gain and inevitably the smaller school gets 'eaten'. I wonder how long before the rydes hill site is sold. I know the alternative is closure.

Tormead site is already cramped so interested how a new building will work.

I agree—there is certainly a benefit to Tormead, but it is also likely that some level of risk is involved for them as well. I assume all considerations have been thoroughly addressed and a strategic plan is in place.

It is reassuring that Rydes Hill will not be entirely 'eaten up' but will continue to exist in name as a Pre-Prep and Nursery. It is not being communicated to us that it is being closed or sold.

Unlike my DDs experience, it is commendable that the girls at Rydes Hill have been afforded the time to reflect, decide, and plan accordingly. It is evident that this transition is being handled with sensitivity—quite unlike the omnishambles we experienced at Halstead.

Moreover, in this day and age, we must remain unwavering in our focus on the fact that, had another school or educational group—in this case, Tormead—not intervened, Rydes Hill would be closing its doors this August, leaving every child without a place.

For the nursery, this would have been even more devastating, given the scarcity of nursery places in Guildford.

As a (albeit, new-ish) Tormead parent, I must say that I do not find the site to be cramped in the slightest—certainly no more so than other preparatory schools such as RGS, St Catherine’s, or GHS. In fact, GHS has larger class sizes compared to both Tormead and St Catherine’s. Halstead was also no more spacious at the time!

The new building is comparable in size to the substantial houses on Hillier Road and has the typical Hillier Road garden at the rear, which I hope will vastly increase the amount of outdoor space available to the girls too.

We are scheduled for a coffee morning on Thursday and hopefully can provide first hand feedback on the inside of the new building thereafter!

It's been done before on here a long while back, quick search, and copy and paste..... not much in it TBF:

0.51 acres - GHS Juniors - Town Centre
1.35 acres - Tormead Prep - Town Centre
1.41 acres - St Catherine's Juniors - Rural
1.71 acres - Rydes Hill Prep - Town
1.92 acres - RGS Prep - Town Centre
2.0 acres - Longacre Prep - Rural

• not sure if the tormead one includes the new building and land or not.

I imagine that information, as whole set of data, is pretty commercially sensisitive. I'm not sure Tormead, or any school, would collate and share class sizes, for them to end up in the public domain and with competitors!

I imagine, like most schools, they will tell you what the class size is that you are applying for and what the limit of that class size is going forward.

I assume your thoughts are entirely intrigue based, in relation to this merger, so this isn't relevant to you.... but , TBH, if existing parents at a school have joined a school knowing what the class size limits are, they have no real grounds to be 'put-out' if classes grow to those limits.

I mention this a lot because it comes up so often on MN, and i post often, as it winds me up, where parents complain a school has grown beyond what they signed up for.

Well, no, for example, if one has signed up to a class of 12, with a capacity of 20, and now that class is reaching 18 in size, it's sad face that the ratios have moved, but that's hard-luck.

I agree with the PP. I advocate for this all the time with parents at a number of Surrey PSs.

Always remember if you're not happy with a class size then there are other options out there. Just move.

The risk therein is that moving from a full, but sensibly sized independent school class to a lesser full one, somehwere else, is that you could be joining another rydes hill, or royal school.

I expect to see more mergers, acquisitions and closures this academic year and next. The bite of employers national insurance, BRs, and the ongoing effect of VAT, is going to draw blood.

Exactly. With the impact of VAT, the trend in private education is shifting—small prep schools are declining, while all-through schools are increasing class sizes. This seems to be the only way for everyone to survive the chaos. So, no matter which school you move to, you'll likely face the same situation. We will see more small schools closing down this year.

Remember, the intention behind Labour’s approach is to weaken the private sector, forcing private schools to close and pushing students and freed-up teachers into the state system.

Two small pieces of inside information which may (or may not) add to this thread:

1. The class sizes at Rydes Hill have, in some cases, gone under the target 15. Yr3 is (I think) just 11 girls.
2. Rydes Hill and Tormead have been working on this merger for a year. That makes sense, as the negotiations, due diligence and legal and logistical steps would easily take that long.

We have an open day at rydes hill next week for our little one - really looking forward to it!

I hope that something positive for the remaining boys and girls can be established for the long term and that the students effected end up happy in their new places and schools.

My thoughts do go out to the staff that might be leaving though, it's very tough, but as a Catholic school im sure they are very much at peace, reasured and heartened by the fundamentals of their faith. Good luck to them all.