Private Secondary Schools Surrey

[NoushieMin]

Hi, I am trying to find out a bit more about the below schools such as how academic, sporty they are and parents views on the schools etc, but I don't seem to find that many discussions on the individual schools when I use the search function on the Mumsnet chat. Is there anywhere else I should be looking?

Reed’s, Halliford, St George's, St John's, St James, Radnor House, Daneshill, Downsend

Thank you

Daneshill only goes up to 13.

Where would you be living? Reigate Grammar has just taken over Box Hill and will probably be less academically selective.

We live in East Molesey.

Reeds is currently boys only to sixth form I think. If you are looking at St Johns and Downsend then I would suggest adding ACS Cobham, Epsom College and City of London Freemans onto the list.

I don't have kids at the schools but have visited a couple. Downsend has a smaller site than many of the schools but is a welcoming school. Their sixth form opens up in Sept. I was impressed with the range of activities for students. St Johns is bigger and has a large number of students that bus in from Greater London. Epsom College has amazing grounds and facilities, a mix of boarding and home students. RGS and RGS Surrey Hills (Box Hill school) are worth looking at - Surrey Hills has a nice mix of boarding and home students, but it is smaller than a lot of the schools on this list. However the staff are very impressive.

Locrating is a good site for identifying schools, otherwise I would look at Muddy Stilettos and Good Schools Guide for info.

Happy ex St George’s parent. Very sporty, academic (but not as much as Hampton), probably similar academically to Reeds and St John’s. Current head leaving next year.

We’re in Thames Ditton. I’d really also think about travel - how about Kingston Grammar or Hampton depending on how selective you want?

I'm not sure he would be able to get into either of those, but the truth is I don;t know much about the private school world and the whole selective schools thing. He is in a state primary and our feeder secondary is pretty poor, which is why i am now looking into better options fr him. He is a bright boy but not super super academic and not very academic or alpha personality (isn't into sports, much prefers music, art, dance etc).

It's so hard to get your head around everything and try to figure out which school would be a good fit. I want a school that will push him to his full potential and help him achieve good GCSE and Alevel results but that is also a very happy, well rounded environment with a good extra curricular prgramme.

Thanks so much. I actually thought Epsom might be too full on with the saturday school and he is not really sporty at all, so I didn't know if that would be a good fit. He is bright but not very competitive or alpha personality. Is it still a good option for kids who are not into sport?
I don't know some of the other schools you suggested, so I will definitely look them up.
We are based in East Molesey, so I guess transport and journey time are also a factor which I will have to consider.

It looks like you have a boy? Is he primary age? 2 of your list are primary only, so probably easiest to start looking at those first.

Do you have a preference for single sex or mixed?

If you are in East Molesey you could look in towards London as well as out to Surrey. The Mall / TPS Hampton / Newland House / Hampton Jr. Read up on The Good Schools Guide, visit, get a feel for them…

Once there, your prep school should give decent guidance on which secondary schools would be a good fit for your child.

Epsom is a difficult one to judge, there is the Sat school but it does mean that no homework needs to be done at home (which might suit if he's got a bit of a commute). I got the impression that there was a wide range of sporting ability.

Even the sporty schools at the moment seem to be playing sports down a bit (in my opinion). Worth visiting a range of them and asking the question.

How old is your DS? Do you want co-ed or single sex? I didn't add St James' school to the list (Heathrow way) but I was very impressed by the headmaster there and their approach towards providing a more rounded experience to boys (including emotional intelligence).

Only anecdotal, but every teen I've ever met from St George's seems very happy and balanced. I got the impression it was a very good school

Reeds also made a good impression on us. This was a while ago. Sporty, but also now quite academic.

Haliford - great pastoral care
Radnor - you ll get sucked into the never ending increased Dukes fees

St James had a new headmaster this year and he seems switched on, there are also new deputy heads recently who are very good too. Its very sporty but my son isn’t particularly that way inclined and this hasn’t been a problem. They are good with mental health etc and son wants to stay for y12/13. Academics are a wide spread as it’s not super selective but the most able boys achieve high results, and it’s not a pressured environment The site is also lovely and there is no Saturday sport.

Halliford - I know one parent who raved about the pastoral care and one that did not, child was bullied a lot and not much was done. But it is supposed to be nurturing and less academic than St Gs/Reeds etc.

St Gs is well rounded, their motto is ‘perfectly balanced’. They do a lot of music and drama, and have things like volunteering with local schools and outreach programmes. It is catholic but we are not, and it doesn’t really matter either way. My kids weren’t very sporty and that didn’t matter either.

Visit as many as you can and possibly go for one that is easy logistically. We liked Reeds but St Gs much easier for us to get to. Also some are a lot more £ than others

Halliford parent here and I will sing it’s praises all day long. The cleverest boys are put on a pathway to stretch them and the rest do well. Emphasis on the individual and bringing out the child’s best . They have a great value add score and I have nothing but good things to say pastorally. Happy to chat on DM if you have any questions.

I would make your choice easier and break it down to logistics :
Do want single sex or co-ed? St George. St John’s Epsom and Radnor are all co-ed from year 7.

Do you want Saturday school?

look at the bus routes and work out how you would get there. For us Epsom and St John’s weren’t options as it was a 7am bus in the morning and a return of 6.30.

budget - there is a huge difference in fees in those schools. Radnor is 10k per term Halliford 8.9k , reeds nearly 12k per year and that’s without transport costs for these schools. Those fees will only go up so what can you afford?

if you do these basic things then it will help to narrow your choices

sir William Perkins is also going co-ed from 2026 so might be worth a look.

@incognito119 this is so helpful, thank you. I will take all o this into consideration and it will definitely help us narrow down the list.

You mention your local state secondary being poor: which one is it?

Definitely look at Claremont Fan Court

Don't forget Cranmore goes up to senior school as well - lots of happy boys there !

Our local is Esher High, to be fair I have heard both good and bad, but some of the bad has been really bad.

I actually looked at the prep school for a move into year 3, and I was really impressed. Eventually we decided to stick with state school for Primary, and that has turned out fine so far.

Since then my friend has removed her daughter from the high school, she had a very unhappy experience there, which has kind of put me off.

Am a parent there and am very pleased with it (as are the other parents I know there) so I don’t think that is the general consensus

Claremont Fan prep is impressive.
we found the senior school the opposite and ended up very disappointed with it (senior).

my view, for balance.

You can look at the times list rankings of results (st johns / St George’s are in the top 100 etc)

Halliford my son hated it. Lots of Sen kids which is fine and a shouty headmaster. I think some of the issue was that my son came from Co-ed into a tiny boys school so he never got the vibe so unhappy there (apart from the ski trips which are excellent)

So if you son does like chatting and interacting with girls / gentle type of child then do bear that in mind. We moved him back to co ed and he’s super happy again.

Also transport is massive consideration. Some places don’t have a late bus (eg Halliford) so if they wanted to do a club you had to drive to pick them up and parking down the side of the school is entertaining.

Epsom has an amazing rugby team as they practice on an evening so it depends what type of sport as some schools have the main sport as footy or rugby etc (so worth checking that out too)

Thanks so much for your reply, this is very interesting as I had only really heard good things about Halliford. My son is currently at a co-ed state school and he is quite a chatty kid. He isn't really into sport at all, which is something that I wonder if it will be a problem at some of these private schools, they seem very sports focused.