Looking for co-ed private school recommendations near Godalming for Years 3 and 5

[bettyday]

Hi!
We have decided to make the move from London in a couple of years to just outside London to get a bit more space and leave the hustle and bustle and are hoping to head to Godalming area or nearby there as we have family there and already love it.
We have two daughters who will be going into year 3 and year 5 when we move and we are looking for the right school for them and keen to hear any suggestions. Right now I like the sound of Cranleigh as it goes all through so no more change for them but I also like Aldro and Highfield & Brookham. Any experience with these schools? Or any other recommendations for the area?

my girls are smart but we are not aiming for anything overly academic and ideally co-ed. They love sport, acting and dance so definitely keen on somewhere that has a good amount of that. Any thoughts appreciated!

DD had a brilliant time at Aldro. She isn't the most academic but she absolutely thrived there because the extra-curricular side is so strong. Her best friend is more academically inclined and had a wonderful experience too, so it seems to cater well to different types of kids.The Director of Sport is very supportive and really believes in sport for all. We found the teachers to be nurturing and attentive. It has a lovely family feel that actually feels believable when you are there. DD definitely felt stretched in many ways and got offered a place at her school of choice after Y8. Feel free to DM me for specifics.

Thank you so much for your response and this is so lovely to hear! We are looking for somewhere exactly like this. Can I ask how it is socially for the kids I.e play dates etc? Are most people pretty local? I’m only used to London and mostly walking to friend’s houses so keen to understand how different it might be for the kids socially?

At those ages you probably need to think about where you want them to be for senior school and work backwards. Look at Leavers Destinations on prep/private school websites. Do you want senior school from Year 7 or Year 9? There's Charterhouse co-ed in Godalming from Year 9, RGS Guildford will be Co-ed by then and starts from Year 7. Churcher's College further down the A3 (Junior and Senior). St Eds in Hindhead is all through Co-Ed.

A significant number of children live in Godalming, Guildford and Farnham areas - about 20mins drive away. DD was invited to lots of playdates and her friends lived from 10-30 mins away.
As pp has said, it's good to keep an eye on senior schools as well. A lot of pupils go on to 13+ schools but a good number of them go to day schools as well.

I’ve got children at Aldro and couldn’t be happier. They love going to school, there’s the right mix of academic, sport and extra curricular. If you aren’t academic, you don’t fall out of sight. I’ve got one bright child, all about the academics and one who couldn’t care less. They’re both genuinely flourishing in different areas. They’ve got an incredibly strong pastoral team too and I feel like my children are seen.
We chose between 4 schools in the end and I’m so happy that went with Aldro.

Thanks for your reply! To be honest, whilst I have ideas of the senior schools I like and that’s why we’ve chosen Godalming/surrey area, my girls are currently reception and year 2 and I have no idea what senior schools will be best suited for them right now so would prefer to send to a prep that goes to end of year 8 and give the school and us enough time work out what would be most suitable for them.
We like the idea of a senior school that starts from year 9 hence looking at Aldro and Highfield.

I find it hard to be too boxed in by senior school choices at this stage but totally appreciate I may be being naive. Another option of course is to go for a school like cranleigh or churchers (as you mention) and not worry about changing!
first and foremost though I want the place that’s going to be right for them now and that will help determine whether they end up in the right senior school.

Amesbury? Easy to get to from Godalming, has a good record of sending kids to a variety of senior schools at both year 7 and 9, and has recently joined the Charterhouse group of schools. Known for strong performing arts.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Amesbury! I am visiting them in Sept as I don’t know anyone personally who has gone but online research has come up very positively. Do you have any experience with it?

I think you do need to consider senior as much as you don’t want to. A lot of the great schools in the area are year 7 entry. While you might not want girls only at this stage, you’d be discounting GHS, Tornead, St Cats and Priors Field.

Lots of those schools also have arrangements with the linked preps (ie get in for year 3/5 and you won’t be sitting 11 plus in quite the same way). You’d be naive I think not to be thinking about senior options when making the decision for the older child.

Some of the preps to year 8 will be predominately feeding into the larger boarding schools which you may or may not want especially as they tend to be a lot more expensive than the day options.

Yes, both kids have now left (having stayed until year 8) but we’re still in touch with friends whose younger children are still there. I can’t say enough good things about it.

It’s a very happy school and suits a wide range of children and families, from those looking to go to academic day schools in year 7 (good numbers get into both RGS and GHS) to those looking for full boarding from year 9 or anything in between. It really does prepare them for the right senior school for each individual child, stretching them all as appropriate.

Very different vibe from a hot house London environment - more relaxed, less pressure and more time to throw themselves into art, sport, performing arts etc which are taken as seriously as academics. Excellent for tennis, by the way. Turns out polite, quietly confident kids who are encouraged to be the best version of themselves rather than think that being ‘top set’ is the only thing that matters. It doesn’t have Saturday school, unlike some other local preps, if that matters to you.

I hear that numbers in the pre-prep have been lower in recent years, probably in common with many other prep schools with declining birth rates and of course VAT. Historically they have always had a large intake in year 3 (people moving from state infant schools) so hopefully that remains. The recent link up with Charterhouse send a pretty positive message, I think, about the school’s ability to survive these interesting times and the education it provides. Friends still there tell me that the school is very keen to stress though that children will still head to the same range of schools as previously - it’s not that you now have to go to Charterhouse!

I will stop there before I sound like I work for admissions at Amesbury - I am genuinely just an ex-very happy parent. I am glad you are going to see them in September -I think you know the right school for your kids when you see it, it’s somehow just a feeling you get.

Oh, your opening post said they were year 3 and year 5. Yes you have more time to decide on senior for sure then. Visit a few and see if you like the feel/fit for your kids. Check bus routes from Godalming to keep your options wide. We chose Churcher's Junior mainly with an eye on the senior school but absolutely loved everything the junior school gave in its own right. But the senior school is mainly year 7 entry with a few joining in year 9.

We have no interest in a selective all girls school so you’re right, we would be discounting those schools and looking at co-ed all rounder schools. Ideally from year 9 and boarding is certainly something we are considering.
As I say, we are absolutely thinking of senior schools but love a prep school that goes to year 8 as it is in the school’s best interest to send their students to a range of decent senior schools thus allowing us to keep our options open until our kids are old enough to discover which senior schools would be best suited to them.

Ah yes, they will be year 3 and year 5 when we move but currently they are not.
I will have to check Churchers out as it wasn’t initially on my list but I do like the idea of an all-through school! I also quite liked Cranleigh but can’t seem to see a lot of talk about it online. Any experience or understanding of Cranleigh?

Thank you so much for this! This really highlights so many of the things we are looking for in a school and it sounds perfect. I am very excited to visit them this week.
I agree with you that most schools are suffering in some ways with the VAT changes but the fact that they are working with Charterhouse looks like they have a strong future. I will also be visiting Charterhouse soon too so I hope I like it!

Hastag Amesbury advert post.

If you don’t want to be boxed in by choice then avoid an all-through. But if you want options for 13+ then the likes of Aldro, Edgeborough, Amesbury, Barrow Hills…. or Dane’s Hill a little further out.
Edgeborough and Amesbury now owned by Charterhouse. Amesbury can say they will remain independent in their ability to send to other senior schools except Charterhouse, however, as did Edgeborough when they merged, however my close friend with a child at the school told me that almost the entire year have just gone to Charterhouse who were very pushy with offers, interviews, discounts and bursaries….. I can imagine it will be a similar story for Amesbury in the coming years.
Great news if you want Charterhouse! However if you want more choice and flexibility then maybe look elsewhere.
I’m biased, because my children love Aldro (as do we as parents) but they send children to so many different schools and turned down (!) Charterhouse’s offer to merge!

That is very interesting to hear that Aldro turned down their offer! Definitely loved Aldro when we visited and it is a top contender for us. We also loved Amesbury though but it is helpful to hear about the possible pressure to go to Charterhouse which I thought might be something to consider.
Was your friend happy with Edgeborough? We haven’t viewed it yet but definitely keen to.

so far Aldro, Amesbury and possibly Cranleigh are top for us!

Proving I’m not just #amesburyadvertpost…..🙄
I’ll also be nice about Cranleigh!

I’m not so familiar with the prep school, other than seeing it at fixtures when my kids played them, but know the Senior School fairly well and have therefore met a lot of kids coming from the prep. They have recently extended down to pre-prep age (previously started at year 3). Traditionally always thought of as a very sporty school, and they certainly are, but I think it suits a wide range of kids beyond just sport, and they have access to amazing facilities with the Senior school across the road. Recently, kids from the prep school were involved in the Senior School production of The Sound of Music, which they took to the Wimbledon Theatre for its closing night.

The biggest difference between Cranleigh and Aldro, Amesbury etc is that they are a through school. This may or may not appeal to you; for me, when I was looking at schools a very long time ago, I deliberately chose an independent prep as who knows what will suit your child at 11 or 13. My children were a lot younger than yours though when I was looking - my eldest was 2, so I had absolutely no clue how academic they would be etc, or where I wanted them to go. I certainly wasn’t up for visiting a range of Senior schools at that young age to back calculate! if I were choosing a through school, though, Cranleigh would be top of my list.

i take the point about Amesbury possibly sending more to Charterhouse in the future; some people will probably go there (Amesbury) because that is the senior school they want. Certainly for the moment, Amesbury sends significant numbers to RGS, GHS, Churchers etc - all day options rather than boarding and at a significantly lower fee point. Perhaps the mix of the parent body will change, who knows. It would be a shame if Amesbury couldn’t remain a school that sends children to such a wide range of Senior schools, as this is a large part of its strength in my view.

Anyway, good luck with your decision. We are very fortunate to have such a range of great schools in the local area and as I said previously, there is a lot to be said for going with your gut. A happy child will thrive; where do you think your kids would be happiest?

You're already asking the right questions tbh - the through-school vs prep-to-Y8 thing is the bit that actually changes the shortlist. Once you're locked into an all-through it's harder to keep that open Y9 day/boarding list you've been protecting.

When you do Amesbury / Aldro / Edgeborough this week, I'd just ask bluntly where last year's leavers went (day vs boarding, Y7 vs Y9) and how pushy any senior-school link feels on the ground - that Charterhouse chat is exactly the sort of thing the brochure won't spell out. Also worth a quick look at travel from the bits of Godalming you're actually house-hunting in, because 20 mins each way with two kids adds up fast on tired weeks.

Indeed they did. Don’t get me wrong though, they still have a hugely close relationship and Charterhouse host a whole lot of Aldro events (some matches, performances, services etc) on their grounds. I
In fact, there’s at least 3 current families (that I know of) of Charterhouse staff that send their children to Aldro over Edgeborough… you could argue locality on that one though.

I’d choose Aldro over Charterhouse owned-schools. Edgeborough used to be good and send children to a mix of schools but there’s pressure on feeding to Charterhouse, or if not that the prestigious boarding schools.
St Hilary’s is a good school too, if in Godalming, a really friendly prep!

Historically, Aldro was very much about feeding the prestigious boarding schools. Whether this is still the case since they went co-ed, I don’t know.

ScepticalWithoutProof gives good advice - ask each of the schools where last year’s leavers went, and ask Amesbury how they can reassure you that their link up with Charterhouse won’t diminish their ability to continue to send children to a variety of schools.

One of my children are in their final year of Aldro. There’s 3 form groups within year 8. One of which is those aiming for scholarship which, largely is those aiming for prestigious boarding school.
From what I know about previous years and places that my eldests friends have been offered, it’s such a huge range. In fact, I just scrolled back as I remember seeing the year just gone stats on the gram. Children went to 14 different schools. Considering they’re a year group of I think about 40 children, that’s quite impressive. I think so anyway… not a lot of children will move 100s of miles away from their prep school, realistically.
It’s much more of an all-round school now and quite bespoke. One of my children is sporty and academic, the other isn’t and more into sports and drama. Both are being pushed in their respected interests.