Moving Back to Uk - Surrey private prep school help!!

[2toddlermum]

We are a British family who have spent the last two years in New York and will be moving back to UK. We have 3 kids who are nursery or prep school age (year 1)

We don’t have a huge amount of time to plan so hoping for some advice on areas and schools. We need a quick commute to London and walking distance to schools if possible!

any thoughts on Claremont and Esher? Hoe Bridge and Woking? And any others in similar areas? Would love to hear people’s thoughts!

Ideally looking for all round school with lots of extra curricular and sport!

Thanks

Purley, you have Cumnor House Prep School. It has a nursery as well. Excellent sports facilities. Own swimming pool. Heavy on music as well. Excellent school.

How often will you go into London?
Boys or girls?
I wouldn’t recommend Hoebridge (prep was rubbish regards 11 plus for my boy to get into a senior school but I wouldn’t rate the school as now a through school the 11 plus desire has massively decreased as they want all the children to stay on for cash) it is a very sporty school though play every day plus clubs. Woking is a dump better of in Guildford / Kingston etc. Tormead / Rgs / GHS / Aldro etc.
Rowan prep (claygate) is lovely but for girls. However, esher / claygate they don’t have frequent trains into London only every 30 mins plus it’s a hassle in the evening.
St George’s? Weybridge no experience but a nicer town and a through school. Or Twickenham prep.

Esher has more frequent trains before 9.30 and a large car park. Yes Claremont Fan and living in Esher is a good option but it’s not walking distance to the station. Claygate may be better with Rowan / Shrewsbury House a short distance away as schooling options. You will have a lot of choice because none of the prep schools are full due to falling birth rate / vat on fees etc.

Caterham prep. Or Oakhyrst Grange.

Will forever shout about my children’s school - Aldro. Sporty, academic (if you want it to be) and recently got a ‘significant strength’ in it’s ISI inspection for its extra curricular stuff.
There’s day trip galore and lots of visits from external people and lots of events put on by the school - it’s just so much fun and both my (very different) children love it. Genuinely love going to school.
They’ve just got permission to open a pre prep and I’ve heard the aim is for Sept 27.

Out of interest, why Surrey? You’ll struggle to find walking distance to private schools there, most involve driving. If your priority is walking the kids to school and a quick commute for the parent who has to be in central London (I’m guessing the City, Canary Wharf or the West End) then you’d be much better off in a nice bit of Zone 2. Surrey will likely mean a long commute and lots of driving on the school run.

Because a lot of people would much much rather live in the countryside and commute to the city. Personally, I wouldn’t want to raise children in London… but that’s just my opinion 😬

We were very happy with Milbourne Lodge in Esher but it was many years ago.

Sure, that’s a personal preference. But OP said their priorities were walking distance to private school and a short commute.

We’re local and there are lots of families commuting into London from Woking, so I wouldn’t rule the area out. The fast trains to Waterloo make it very workable.
Hoebridge is definitely worth looking at and seems financially pretty secure from the accounts. My only question would be around 11+ preparation. Historically it had more boys and was very much a prep, but now it’s a full through-school to 18, so I’d want to understand how much they actively prepare children who want to leave at 11 rather than encouraging them to stay.
For girls I’d particularly look at Tormead. It’s a really lovely school, academically strong but with a broad range of girls and lots going on outside the classroom. We’ve been very happy with it. Guildford High is also extremely popular and academically very strong, although the two schools have quite a different feel, so I’d visit both.
RGS Prep is an obvious one for boys. There’s also Rydes Hill, which has now joined Tormead and is co-ed, giving you another co-ed prep option with a link into Tormead.
With three children I’d think about senior schools as much as the prep. Guildford/Woking gives you a lot of choice without necessarily needing to move again later.

Rydes Hill for sure, close to Woking, Worplesdon and Guildford. All brilliant for commuting into London. It's a lovely school, has probably the best nursery in the area by a country mile too.

How abut Hertfordshire and Manor Lodge? Or even Haberdashers so the children can just move up through the school. Radlet is up the road and a nice area in which to live with Thameslink trains very frequent into town.

ACS in Cobham?