Any suggestions for a private school for Y9+ in Suffolk (Ipswich)?

[Dairyfreequeen91]

Hi all!

Looking at moving my DD to a private school in Suffolk and would love opinions. I live close to Ipswich and really open to thoughts.

I've been to look round a few already like Ipswich School, Ipswich High School, Woodbridge, and RHS but wondered if I'm missing any?

Currently leaning towards Ipswich High School due to a good bus route for us, best value for money and really good extra curriculars. DD isn't super academic so I think Ipswich School might not be the right fit...

I've not made my mind up yet as we did apply for a Y9 scholarship at IHS and haven't heard back yet so that may influence things!

Further afield - St Felix outside Southwold? Might have to be weekly or flexi-boarding if that were an option.

Yeah it may be a bit far for us and I'm not sure I want her to board - looking for Day school options mostly. Someone told me St Felix was a bit tired/run down but honestly it's a bit far away for me to consider regardless.

We’ve been very happy with IHS but it’s always good to look at all the options. How about Framlingham College, Finborough or St Mary’s?

I really liked the vibe of IHS when I looked round.

Can you tell me a bit more about your experience?

Framlingham is probably a bit far and I haven't heard great things about Finborough. I will look into St Mary's though!

Will send you a PM

My DD1 and DD2 go to IHS - happy to PM me if you have any questions.

It was my favourite out of the local ones I looked at - stunning grounds, nice atmosphere, great extra curricular.

My DD1 is very academic and is doing really well there - definitely avoid Ipswich School if you're worried from an academic POV as they tend to be quite strict and can even ask you to leave if you may end up affecting their league table status.

Other options in the area are good - we really liked Woodbridge too but IHS grounds really sold us.

I know RHS is good too but I just didn't like it as much when we viewed it a few years back

My DD has recently joined Woodbridge. Very positive experience so far, we love the school. We are 40 minutes away and use the school bus service, which works very well. My DD has friends at IHS and they really like that school too.

What is you DD into? We've visited all of the one's listed and have family at St Mary's (I also went there but thats probably not a fair assessment!) and friends at others. Our DD is going to Royal Hospital School as we found it more rounded. She's bright (when she wants to be!) but doesnt thrive with academic pressure (instantly ruled Ipswich School out) and is more into arts and music, which were incredible at RHS. Tbh, the facilities were mind blowing, and we really liked the pastoral set up and care. Its quite a different campus to the others - hard exterior with a very soft heart! We also liked IHS for similar reasons, but felt they were almost kept too busy with the extra curricular stuff and no time to relax, and a friends DD goes there and reported a high turnover of staff when she first joined, particularly in Maths. This was a couple of years ago though so may well have been addressed now.

I would add that if you are looking for year 9, RHS has a decent intake at that stage as it takes from the more traditional prep schools that go up to 13 so she wouldnt be the only one joining. IHS I think has its main intake at 11, although there will be movement across all years. Maybe something to ask them?