Oxfordshire Schools near Didcot/Abingdon

[NewNameSchool]

My daughter is four and we are currently looking at a variety of schools state and private. We probably can't comfortably afford all the way through, but from year 4/5 would be doable.
We are interested in people's experiences schools such as Manor prep, Cranford and Abingdon prep.
We will probably end up in a local state primary school and we are in catchment area for Didcot Girls School (DGS) which is an outstanding state secondary school. So not sure whether to just stay in state system or go for one of the private schools in the area.

Abingdon Prep is a boy's school so bit odd that you mention that one (very odd advertising campaign with spliced children - perfect for Halloween....) They are going co-ed so no one will have experience of it for a girl. Went downhill academically after the penultimate head left and they nixed the need for 13+. Number of scholarships to big school right down etc And the road-to-Damascus style conversion to co-ed at
the big school is presumably driven by declining numbers at
the prep as much as anything else. You would be on much safer territory for a girl at Cranford or The Manor. Didcot wont have the same facilities or sport so depends on that vs 30k or whatever it will cost by then ...

Hi, @NewNameSchool there are some excellent preps in that area, but generally I would say they are sending children on to other independent schools. If you are set on DGS, your daughter will lose her friendship group, whereas if she attends a feeder for DGS, she will go there with her friends. If you want to mix state and independent, I'd say it's easier on a child to move from state to indy rather than the other way around.

Yes I think it would make sense to stay in a private school if we start at one rather than go back into state. I went to a tiny independent school from state at 11, which was definitely good for me academically, but didn't have the much in the way of other experiences and none of my primary friends were there.

@DogEard with are happy to hear from parents of boys at Abingdon prep too, as I'm sure the school will treat children all equally and from the website I thought girls started at pre-prep last year.

I have really liked Manor and Cranford, and they do look like a wonderful experience. However more travel time to school, and then the difficulty of covering the long holidays with both working parents. How do other parents manage this?

"Will treat all children equally" - I'm sure that's what it will say on paper. In practice depends on whether there are enough girls for sports teams etc, unconscious bias of teachers in STEM subjects, how rowdy a particular class is. Depends on the style of learning a particular child suits, the skill of individual teachers in teaching to the learning style of all genders. These things are not easy. I'd think some of the parents of boys at The Manor would disagree with this idea that you can click your fingers and hey presto, a single sex school transforms into an effective co-ed school. It's probably much easier to pull off at sixth form than prep where half a teacher's energy goes into controlling class behaviour - not necessarily bad behaviour, but lets call it testosterone energy, granted can be from any gender ..

Hi OP, we're starting in reception 26 (next september) and have narrowed down to Manor and Chandlings. Both seem lovely in person, (many visits!) and speaking to heads many times (though chandlings has a new one just started last month so is currently "untested" if you see what I mean).

With regards to long holidays, we're just having to factor in the price of the holiday clubs as part of the fees (most prep schools offer good holiday clubs covering most of the hols - for a price of course!) Travel time, we already travel 20 mins each way every day for DC's current nursery, so I have just resigned myself that twice a day I get to speak to my DC about their day and plans, and twice a day I'll get to listen to a podcast and have 20 mins solo peace. No other way round it unfortunately, as the bus services both schools provide are ££££!

Not sure why DogEard is so snippy, but I would agree that I wouldn't go for a new co - ed school in the first few years of it changing - simply because I'd want to see how it was coping first before throwing my DC in as a tester case.

Be careful around Abingdon, travelling from north to south and vice versa is painful at best. Cranford and Cokethorpe along with a few others do have school buses.

My experience with Cokethorpe was excellent, but I'm not a fan of Abingdon School. Cranford seems pretty good.

Hi
Thank you that's very helpful. I think Chandlings is a bit too far for us, but I've heard good things from friends who have visited. We we likely have to use the buses at least one way, so we can both get to work.

We are considering a few years of state and then potentially moving to a private school. I have some job insecurity at the moment and will likely need to see how things pan out, but it is good to get an idea of potential options.

Thank you yes that is certainly a big consideration as to how long it takes to get to these schools and how long a day our daughter has too.

St Helen and St Katharine is excellent. They don’t have a full prep. They do a small entry (one form) in year 5 and those girls are guaranteed their places through to 6th form. They do sit the Yr 7 entrance exam for the purposes of setting though.