Secondary and 6th forms in Wimbledon

[groverganesha]

I am coming to London for a year on a fellowship, and looking at a rental in Wimbledon, with my academically motivated DS (16) and DD (13). I don't think we can afford independent schools so I'm trying to research state schools in the area. Does anyone have information or resources to share? Thank you in advance!

I perhaps should have specified that we are coming from the US. One further question: does anyone know of a state 6th form in or proximate to Wimbledon that offers an International Baccalaureate curriculum?

I think you should ask for this post to be moved to secondary schools in the education forum.

Where will you be working / studying? There may be better options than Wimbledon.
There is a chain of American schools in South West London area, but private. I don't know the fees.
www.acs-schools.com/

May be worth asking the massive US embassy in London where they might recommend because they'll have a constant churn of staff with children.

The girls’ secondary is Ricards Lodge, the boys’ is Rutlish School. They share a mixed 6th form. There is also a Harris Academy, though I don’t think they have a 6th form yet.

If you are catholic, you can also look at Wimbledon College (Jesuit, boys) and Ursuline High School (girls).

I don’t think any of these offers the IB curriculum, though I could be wrong.

Marymount in nearby Kingston (a short bus ride from Wimbledon town centre) is a private school and offers the IB curriculum for girls.

Lots of kids by that age ( especially your eldest ) travel quite far for schools, so personally I wouldn’t limit myself to Wimbledon schools . If you are walking distance to Wimbledon train station, there is an overground service to Tooting where your son could walk to the excellent sixth form at Graveney.

You don't need to be catholic to get into Ursuline or Wimbledon college. I used to work in one. Only about 30% of the intake is catholic. When I worked there they were by far the best non fee paying schools in the area. They have a mixed sixth form. You are unlikely to get IB anywhere in a non fee paying school

@paiop I stand corrected! Thank you for clarifying, I thought all the places went to Catholic children but I have no experience of either school.

They used to be allowed to pick a certain percentage of students because the Jesuits/nuns funded the schools but even this may have stopped

Youcan search ib state schools www.ibo.org/programmes/find-an-ib-school/

@paiop That's interesting - how long ago did you work there? In the past 5 years I don't know of any non Catholic girls who managed to get a place at Ursuline. I think that other faiths are also considered a higher priority than no faith but I did think that, as the demand from the catholic population for places is so high, that they don't need to look to their other criteria? (of course excepting priority children/children of staff etc)
@groverganesha For your son, worth looking at Graveney 6th Form, Esher College and also Tiffin Boys. They are all outside of Merton but plenty of children from Wimbledon go there - I can't comment on IB though.

Where are you working? Is Wimbledon key? You might consider the Tiffin Schools in Kingston, or Wilson’s school in Sutton if you have flexibility on location - train lines from both into central London are good (Wimbledon nicer for living though!) - parts of Kingston are nice though

It is an awkward time for your DS aged 16 as even IB as well as A levels are 2 year courses. Are you willing to stay on for an extra year for him to finish his education as schools may well prefer to offer any places to pupils who will stay the course and not leave them with a vancancy and without funding for that space?