Hutchesons' or Wellington school for secondary?

[Wellhellothere101]

Our local secondary isn't great so we plan on sending our DS to a private secondary school. He's almost 9 at the moment and he will hopefully go to either Hutchie or Wellington from first year onwards. We stay in a biggish village in Ayrshire so both schools will require a fair bit of travel each day. Hutchie on balance is probably easier as we have a train station near our house but I'm not sure if our DS will be ready to go on the train by himself age 12. Both schools run buses from about 15 minutes away from our village.
I don't really have many friends whose children attend either of these schools so don't have much experience of them both. My first choice was previously Hutchie however as time goes on I think I'm leaning toward Wellington now as I think I might be happier for my DS to attend school in a 'quieter' area of Ayrshire as opposed to a big city school like Hutchie.
Does anyone have any advice or knowledge of either of these schools? Good or bad!
I'm wondering if he will find it difficult to connect with friends if we don't stay near either school.

Anyone?

I believe Wellington is rather a lot smaller than Hutchie, with small class sizes (I'm thinking 10-14, but I may be wrong). It's up to you whether you think this would be good for your son. Hutchie class sizes are still small
enough, but not quite as small. At Wellington, you may have a more limited subject choice when he moves through the school to secondary. I know a number of children who travel from Ayrshire to Hutchie, and yes, travelling to Glasgow at the weekend to parties, friends, sport fixtures etc will need to be a consideration! Have you visited the schools? That may give you a better idea of what will suit.

12 is old enough to get the train on his own.

Thanks for that. No we haven't visited the schools yet. I feel It's a bit too early to go to the open days but we'll do it soon. I don't mind going to Glasgow for parties etc as we're in Glasgow loads each weekend at the moment. However I'm wondering if he'll make good pals if we stay far away from the school but I guess kids don't really care about that sort of detail!
I'm not sure how he'll be getting the train in his own at 12. I don't know how he'll mature and how responsible he'll be at that age. Sure he'll be fine though.

Hi hello there I would suggest visiting both schools. My child attends Hutchie and loves it. I wouldn’t worry about the social aspect as kids go from all over so are all well used to travelling to see their friends out with school. I know we have just had some kids swap over to Hutchie from Wellington and feedback from parents is that they feel Hutchie has better facilities and have commented on how their kids have came on in the short time they have been there. Hutchie have great open days so would be worthwhile attending one or calling and asking for a tour.

Thanks Doolaley we'll definitely go to an open day. My DS is only in primary 4 at the moment so we are only thinking about high schools at the moment. Just wanted to get a feel for private schools that might be an option for us.