st Theresa effingham and Priors Field. Experiences please!

[holiday22]

Thinking this might be a good fit for my daughter. Currently year 5.
she has dyslexia and slow working memory.

is the school selective? She probably wouldn’t pass an entrance exam. She ideally needs learning at her own pace, repetitive messages.

currently in a state school and is struggling a little, although she tries very hard. She’s not a trouble maker and she gets on as much as possible, but this means any extra help goes to the kids who are obviously struggling.

also Considering priors field, but that would mean an hour on the school bus each way, which seems a lot!

st Theresa’s would be 45 mins on the bus.

we live near Woking

thank you!

I did say I wasn’t going to post again but…

500k revenue equates to 17 students paying full fees. According to the published data, November 2025 - March 2026 saw a drop from 336 to 280. That’s a 56 student decline. Private schools live and die on enrolment numbers. 62% capacity is concerning for the longevity of Priors Field, and whilst I do understand the comments on here from parents who are understandably defensive of their children’s school, questions must be asked about how they intend to boost their numbers. They have lost a local feeder school, with St Hilary’s now co-ed and pushing their link with St Edmund’s, which I’m sure cannot have helped. Priors Field is sitting at 280/450. It is top heavy, there are double the number of students in Year 10 and Year 11 than there are lower down the school - parents are right to notice this trend and ask questions - particularly when they are making a significant financial investment into their daughter’s future.

From our understanding in the parent body the school has extended links to many of the private prep girl’s schools in London who have been viewing the school’s offering for weekly boarding as an alternative option to the more expensive private day schools in central London. The school has hosted many of them coming in whole year groups to do taster days with an excellent response.

That sounds sensible and I genuinely hope to see an uptick in enrolment next September.

Facilities rental is great, and £500k is not to be sniffed at, but if the facilities are taking a £500k hit, in terms of use, those facilities are going to get tired out pretty damn quick, and with no money left to keep things tip-top, just cash being used to 'survive since vat', then I'd be worried the longevity of the facilities and their availability to students is being compromised by a nessesity to rent them out to keep going.

They, themselves, would be wise to T-ing up with a larger school or group, who can provide some stability and see them right again.

There are many success stories of this. It's not quite the same scale, but Rydes Hill, another lovely school (like Priors Field) was on the edge of collapse, Tormead saved it and invested, and now it's rammed. In fact it likely has the most popular nursery in the guldford area and must be making Tormead a pretty penny, whilst giving them a co-ed option off the main site.

Priors field need to think outside the box now, approach a bigger school, and get a link. Like Cranleigh (just droped £10k off their fees) or StCats, they're in the middle of nowhere and will naturally struggle for catchment. These days, no matter how many buses you throw at it, kids want to be near friends, home, public transport and civilisation... but, at least stCats and Cranleigh have some academics, sport and cash to fall back on, priors field is a struggle.

I just hope they don't try and do this alone, they've been around for so long, and deserve to carry on, but Royal School Mark 2 is closing in.

A clarification is probably needed here…. Cranleigh haven’t “dropped £10k off their fees”. They’ve introduced a Day option, no doubt in response to market demands (lower price point, people wanting a co-ed day option within reach of Godalming/Guildford etc etc).

What used to be Day has been renamed Day Plus and is still much more expensive - kids stay for the extended day, supper, prep etc, and can board one night a week.

The new Day option makes use of mini bus routes etc and ends at 5.45.

Cranleigh is still very much a weekly boarding school in ethos, so a very different offering to the Guildford Day schools. I think that something like 70% of pupils are weekly boarders, with the majority of the remainder still Day Plus, and a smaller number of day pupils, although this will presumably grow in the future as the cohort moves through the school and new year 9s join- it was only introduced in September.

Basically the Cranleigh day fees used to be pretty much the same as boarding so no-one really considered it when there are so many day schools around. It will be interesting to see how the change in fee structure changes things.

I always thought a merger between Cranleigh and Prior’s Field would be a good fit. Both fairly established but different Surrey schools.

I actually think a merger would be a good for Prior’s Field to consider but they are not without risk and some have been managed poorly…
The Royal was owned by the same group as GHS, and Longacre by Bridewell, they don’t always work and it needs to be the right type of merger. However, it seems to be working for the Charterhouse and Radley group.

Also, I think the location point doesn’t make sense… not all parents nor children want to be in a town location. Prior’s Field is in a great spot for Haslemere, Godalming and Farnham areas. The buses work well. That’s just trying to find a negative when there isn’t one as PF location works very well for many families.

Actually I feel strongly that Priorsfield has a niche location which is a major attraction for many families. It is in beautiful grounds with lots of space around it contributing to the peaceful and calm feel of the school that forms part of its ethos. I know many families who choose it for just that reason.
Re mergers we all know of examples recently with failed mergers such as the royal/GHS and Longacre/bridewell so mergers are not all good news and need to be carefully considered.

There are many schools in more rural / inaccessible settings that aren’t struggling though. Hop over the border to Sussex or Hampshire, there are schools in arguably worse locations with similar ethos’ to Priors Field that are doing well.

I actually think a key barrier is Priors Field’s fees. It is more expensive, or the same as, many in the area - but it doesn’t have the facilities or academics to match. Whilst I agree with other posters that it is positioning itself as a ‘nice’ school, with the USP being pastoral care, it is far more expensive than similar schools. I was shocked to see the fees at almost £10k a term. I’m not sure if this is a response to the lower student intake or if they didn’t carefully consider their pricing structure pre-VAT, but it is very expensive for its offering.

A fudge at best, if it wasn't needed, it wouldn't have been done. Cranleigh is renowned for being incredibly expensive... it was the right decision by the head. Especially given their location.

It works well for many, but simple economics determine that there is a finite number of kids in these areas. Who wouldn't want to live down that way, it's lovely. But they are fishing in a much smaller pool. And there's a lot of private schools fishing in said pool too.

According to their website, 4% of pupils are now Day - it was only introduced for the year 9 pupils - 24% Day Plus and 72% boarders.

I’m not sure how responding to demand and introducing a new offering is “a fudge” or what location has to do with it.

Not everyone wants to go to a Day school in the centre of Guildford, but you obviously have your entrenched view, and that’s fine. Luckily there are numerous good schools in the area, so people can choose the model that suits them.

I’m not sure why you feel the need to imply that a successful school like Cranleigh, is struggling - Charterhouse is expanding its day numbers too. Are they also struggling or are both schools responding to the changing market and parental demand? RGS is going co-ed, are they struggling? We live in interesting times for all independent schools.

My DD is not a strong academic and she will therefore not succeed at a lot of the Surrey schools. There’s not a great choice if she won’t pass the entrance exams (which she won’t).

Our choices for secondary within a reasonable distance are priors field or st Theresa’s. Possibly Hoebridge but they are selective depending on how strong their current cohort are. I’d prefer single sex school though.

or she can go to our local state secondary, but she will get left behind and get lost in a system that fails her.

I just want to give her the best opportunities to succeed

You have to go with what you feel is right with your daughter. Use these threads carefully as remember everyone is anonymous.
Unfortunately, these threads derail and start competing the central Guildford schools at the expense of the two you were interested in.
Hopefully you manage the open days this month, also the admissions team will give you private tours. I know at Prior’s Field, and probably St. T’s, you can meet with the Head. Ask the questions about Finances and pupil roll, and at St T’s how the merger is going. Good luck and any questions please feel to message me, and I’m sure some of the other PF mums on the chat will be happy to answer any questions too! I found it a really stressful process last year on choosing but that’s because there’s so many good options out there.

This is excellent advice. Apologies for becoming part of the derailing.

@holiday22 Good luck with your search for your daughter.

The problem with that is no school is going to be honest and say they are struggling financially, concerned about pupil numbers, made staff redundant - that would be a death sentence! I’d also point out that The Royal School was telling people everything was fine right up until the announcement… I know various parents who committed to the school, only for them to announce closure 6 months later. Schools won’t be entirely honest (understandably). So parents are left with local opinions, forums, current and ex parents, published accounts etc to try to get some form of objectivity.

If there's demand, you dont drop your fees. Face palm.

Anyway - I think the key message here is just check behind the sofa before you commit to somewhere. Nothing more disruptive that like what happened to the royal school, or indeed longacre, for different reasons mind.