Merton, Kingston, Sutton Secondary Schools for Girls

[livalot]

We are very fortunate that we have so many lovely secondary schools for girls in this area. I live in Merton by the way but just cannot decide between them. My daughter will be starting sec school in 2013. Would prefer a catholic school. Some mums are totally against some schools ...... I just cannot understand why. Please some of you give me some advice and the benefit of your experience. Thanks so much

There might be lots of lovely secondary schools in the area but you are unlikely to have much of a choice if you are referring to state schools. You will usually have to live very close to the popular schools to get a place as they are so over subscribed. I know catholic schools require proof of baptism and regular church attendance but AFAIK many have to select on distance too for the same reason.

Just to clarify my dd already attends a Catholic primary school and we go to church regularly.... so we are just starting to find out about what the Secondary schools need when we apply. I am still confused as I have a neighbour who sends her 2 dds to St Philomenas in Sutton (both very happy) , a lady who lives further up who sends her dd to Holy Cross Kingston (very happy) a nearby colleague who sends her daughter to Ursuline High School Wibledon (very happy) and another who sends her dd to Ricards Lodge (very happy).......arghhhhh help please with some advice

My DD at Coombe Girls in Kingston which is fantastic, but as a consequence very small catchment area. You wouldn't have a prayer living in Merton.

Kingston has a serious shortage of decent secondary places and many fall into black holes, being just outside the small catchments of all the good schools. Hopefully the new mixed secondary in the pipeline will help but this is some years off yet.

Have you a preference as to either mixed or single sex? And has your dd's schools got a feeder secondary?

I thought St Coloma in Croydon was the holy grail for catholics in this area.

failing that - St. Philomena's in Carshalton

Thanks for all the replies so far.

Just to answer some of the questions: yes I would prefer a single sex school for my dd. My dd's school is a feeder for a secondary school (but hope you don't mind I would rather not say which one just yet as I want to hear unbiased views of all schools) BTW quite a few girls this year have got a place at Holy Cross so that makes me think it is actually not that difficult or impossible to get a place. I have heard that St Colomba is great but too far really to travel I think. Anyone got any views good or bad about The Ursuline in Wimbledon, Holy Cross or St Philomenas?

I have heard the head at the Ursuline is rather...ummm ......difficult.
I know staff who have left there.

Any idea how long she has been there? Does she expect too much from her teachers?

Watching this thread with interest as will need to decide between Ursuline and St.Phils. Have also heard the same about the head in Ursuline but have friends who have kids there and seem very happy. Have also heard that bullying is not dealt with in the manner/speed which you would expect so a mixed bag really.

St.Phils has a great reputation and good pastoral care so would be interested to hear from anyone whose kids go there.

One useful method I have found for comparing seocndary schools is using one of the many Internet Web sites that let you compare schools. I compared the Usuline with St Phils and Holy Cross in the league tables on a comparison web site. For GCSEs they are all getting very similar results! Nothing amazing as they are all outstanding schools, although I was shocked to see that the Usuline came top last year in the new way of analysing schools (the EBAC) which means it is doing the serious subjects slightly better than the other two schools at GCSE level. I would have expected St Phils to come out top. Again this was very close result but the Ursuline came out top. It just goes to show that you need to analyse schools in lots of different ways. Asking for lots of views on here is a very good idea. Don't do what one One mother I know did, she decided her daughter hated the Brown uniform of St Phils and preferred the Green one of Holy cross.......not the best way of choosing schools.

Hi I don't have girls so I am no expert but do live in a similar area & we are Catholic but with dss. I have heard there is a lot of bullying in Ursuline and personally know 2 families who have removed their daughters (one in year 7 & one in year 8), both said the head was horrible.

hi my neighbours dd goes to st phils she loves it no problems,i have heard also lots of stories about urseline not good ones.i have a friend also who has a dd at holy cross she is very happy there too.i also live in merton but my dd is in aschool in sutton and my ds in a school in kingston.

Thanks again for all the views so far. I am happy to hear that academically the Schools are producing similar results at GCSE and for the tip about using comparison web sites. I wasn?t even aware that there is a new way of assessing schools (EBAC).... quite an eye opener!

I am glad some of you have pointed out the bullying problem at the Ursuline which concerns me. Just to be clear, are some of you saying that bullying only exists at the Ursuline and not the other two schools? Or are you simply saying that bullying is worse at the Ursuline because it is not as good at dealing with it as the other two schools? Bit confused, please help me understand.

Bullying will happen in all schools.
However,remember cyber bullying happens out of school usually.

*Mrsrobertduvall Sun 18-Mar-12 15:29:34

I have heard the head at the Ursuline is rather...ummm ......difficult.
I know staff who have left there*.

So have you heard that the deputy head of the Ursuline has left....... She is now Headteacher at St Philomenas.... :) is that a good thing or bad?

I am sorry if this offends people, but I have to laugh at all the Ursuline Scare Stories or the USS as I call them. It seems to be a hobby of mums around the Merton school gates to gossip about the latest Ursuline scare story ..... ?have you heard that Ursuline girls were caught drinking and smoking.......? ?have you heard that so and sos daughter was being bullied and had to be taken out of school? Its almost as if they want everyone to believe the school is riddled with horrific behaviour and doing really, really badly. They seem to take great pleasure in the USS and forget that these things happen in all schools to some extent, other schools are just better at hiding them.

Let me ask this, if the school is such a horrendous place, can anyone pls tell me why on earth so many girls stay on and do so well academically? If the school is such a nasty place, why is it hugely oversubscribed and difficult to get into? I have analysed the recent results of all three schools and am pleased to say that they are all producing a very similar % of A*, A and B GCSE results!

My advice to you Livalot is go to the all the open evenings at the schools and get a feel for them. Remember that all the schools you are considering are outstanding schools, so keep an open mind. See which one your daughter prefers. You may find that one school suits your daughter better than the others. Look at the results for the GCSE subjects your daughter wants to study. Pls do not be swayed by the USS brigade.

Wow, everyone has given me lots to think about! Thanks for the advice Superbmum I will definitely be keeping my views as open as possible and doing as much research as poss on certain schools by myself.

I will of course go to all the open evenings and take dd with me. I am just beginning to understand why the other mums at dds school are very strange about certain schools...... we are new to the area and find that a lot of views are ingrained from years of school gate gossip/snobbery and perhaps those views are now out of date!