Kingston: any up-to-date views on Coombe girls' (comp) and Surbiton High (indep) schools ?

[MilliSurbiton]

Hi sorry but I only found some older threads on these ... has anybody up-to-date experience on these two secondary schools in Kingston ?

Surbiton High School is an independent but not too academically selective, while Coombe Girls' School is a well-regarded comprehensive - with strong streaming.

DD is a middle-achiever so far, would not pass Grammar schools tests.
As a family we struggle to understand if paying the fees is really worth it ...
or if in the end it all boils down to how much determination DD will show ...

any opinions please ?
Thanks,
Milli

I personally wouldn't pay the fees.
They are very different schools and I always got the impression from threads here that ShS is very academic.

My DD is in yr7 at Coombe Girls. We had to make a difficult choice between this school and a place at the independent senior attached to her junior school. Independent is one of those at top of results lists and DD very happy at junior.

After nearly 2 terms we are more and more sure every day that we made absolutely the right choice. The independent is a lovely school but Coombe Girls is equally good in all the areas that matter. The private fees would have been a stretch and definitely would not have been good value in our situation.

DD is very bright and we did worry that she might not have been stretched as much as she would have been at a top academic independent. We needn't have worried! DD is with a lot of seriously bright girls who are easily the equal academically of her old classmates. She is having to put the work in to keep up with the standards demanded. Most importantly, she is happy and enjoying her lessons immensely, along with all the sport and other extra curricular activities. She has also very quickly built up a big circle of very nice friends despite not knowing a soul in her year before starting.

I would say that if your DD is at a level to get into the top streams ( I think you would really need to be looking at level 5 SATs across the board) then I would have no hesitation at all in saying go ahead. However, i don't know that much about the situation in the lower streams. DD has friend in yr 9 who is in the middle stream and there can be a little disruption from a few pupils, but nothing that has really caused her any problems.

Coombe Girls is very popular so catchment area is tight, so do check out whether you live close enough.

It is also interesting that several of DDs come from families with very big houses, holiday homes, boats etc, so they could clearly afford private education if they really felt the need and chose not to.

@Carrot
thanks a lot for the informative reply!

Tonight I had a brief chat with a parent of a girl in year 9 at Coombe, and I was surprised to hear that her middle-stream DD had little homework to do on average - unlike what the school website seems to suggest.
She suggested that extra curricular teaching (tuitions) might be needed to extract the best from the children.
That upset us a bit.

Milli

That's not my experience milli.
I have a dd in yr 10 in middle stream, and she certainly had enough to do!
I don't think you can judge a school on how much homework they give...it's never been an issue for us. I have never wanted dd spending 7 hours at school plus 2 hours homework a night...not much of an existence imo.
Dd has tuition for maths, as it is her weakest subject, and always has been. We are just looking for a C at GCSE....any thing higher will be a total bonus!

Dd is very happy at CGS...pastoral care is superb.

Not my experience with DD in yr7 - she gets quite a bit of pretty demanding homework, certainly a lot more than she had last year in private prep.

I certainly haven't found any areas so far where i feel she needs extra tuition. i obviously don't have experience of higher years yet but can't see why the situation would change radically.

Bear in mind that some people are just seduced by the tutoring culture. DD had friends at the private prep who had intense tutoring for the entrance tests into yr 3 who were top of the class and can in no way have needed it. Some parents are just scared that if they don't do it they are somehow failing their DCs.

@Carrots and @Mrsrobertduvall
thanks so much for the insights in your experiences!

I had also a chat with a mum of a yr10 girl in one of the top streams,
and she was happy too.

Very happy to help Milli!

Had a chat with neighbour yesterday about her DD who is in yr 9 in middle stream. She is very happy that her DD is being stretched and has been told by teachers that her DD is working to the level of some in the top stream and is aiming at a good crop of high grade GCSEs. She has really blossomed and gained in confidence since starting at Coombe, having struggled a bit at primary. Their family comes under the category of those who could afford private if they saw the need and definitely don't feel the need. Their youngest is set to follow her sister in a couple of years.

I do know a couple of girls at Surbiton and they are very happy with it, it's a very nice school. However, one mum did say that if they lived in the catchment area of Coombe they would have her there like a shot. As Surbiton isn't regarded locally as being one of the top academic privates, most of those who can pay and have very academic DDs will not choose Surbiton, so it will not have that top ability band. Coombe definitely does have that top ability band from our experience!

Even if your DD is not at that level now, she could well take off in a year or so, and at Coombe she would have that top level to compete with.

Anyway, good luck with your choices. All the best to your DD wherever you choose!

Hi Milli and Carrots - though there are some of us (:0!!) with clever daughters at Surbiton who did choose it and didn't bother taking exams for LEH/Kingston Grammar/Sir William P etc -and are very happy with the school. One big thing in Surbiton's favour is it stands by its girls, tries to get the best out of everyone (eg. holds extra maths/science clinics for those who are weaker/want more teaching on those subjects), and doesn't ask people to leave if they are not up to top standard. Obviously that will bring down its results overall compared with some of the other girls schools in the area ... they are still very good though. But in answer to your original question - I can't say if it would be worth you spending the money on fees if you have the option of Coombe -- they are expensive and go up every year!!

Pixel - hope i didn't offend, didn't mean to, just meant there is probably more creaming off of the bright ones with pushy parents to the supposedly more desirable highly selective independents locally which are much easier to get into than Tiffin. The sensible parents like you resist the pressure and go for a much more rounded school like Surbiton, but sadly a lot don't.

The only state selective locally is Tiffin, which is so ridiculously difficult to get into that it really has little effect on the intake for Coombe as so few local girls get a place.