New Malden - which are the good state secondaries & nice areas to live?

[testbunny]

Hi there

I have heard New Malden is a good place for state secondaries. We have a boy and a girl.

Which are the good schools, and the nice areas to live in the area?

DH and I both work in London, so we would need easy access to the station.

We are C of E, which may help if there are good C of E schools!

Many thanks!

TB

Hollyfield in Surbiton is a popular choice though, again, it has a small catchment area. Otherwise, you could start training them for those Tiffin exams (see below).

thanks for this. Will check them out.

Mmm...Tiffin exams....not sure we want to go down that route (I'm grey enough already!!)

If anyone else has any more info, I'd be very grateful

There is Coombe Boys but its not generally perceived to be as good as the girls school from what I've been told. In New Malden you'd be too far for the co-ed comprehensives such as Grey Court in Ham or Hollyfield in Surbiton. Moving nearer those schools might be a better option?

No c of e secondaries in Kingston.
I have dcs at Coombe Federation, and am happy to give you info if you pm me.

Coombe Boys is in the top 10% of improving schools in the country.

My DP works there and loves it. I've visited and it does have a nice atmosphere.

Quite a rough element to it though.

Thanks ladies.

Yes have done some research, Coombe Girls seems to be well thought of, but Coombe Boys could be good in a few years (the head from CG has taken over headship their too). Will keep an eye on it, but also investigate other areas such as Cheam and Surbiton.

x

My friend did one of her Maths PGCE placements at Coombe Boys. She was apprehensive at first but she loved it there!

Ds is yr 8 at the boys and is currently working at level 7a.... There is a great bunch of boys there, and it is over subscribed this year.
Fantastic energetic teachers (wonders who freerangeeggs dh is

ds loves it. Sport could be better but ds plays so much out of school he couldn't fit it all in.

Thanks for that. Sounds promising. will def keep my eye on it over the next year or so.

freerangeeggs, what is the rough element to it??

There are boys from all different boroughs, not just Kingston, as it's on the cusp of Merton/Cheam.
5 years ago, when it was still viewed as undesirable, boys came from as far away as Streatham..they were the ones who had been excluded from other schools and CBS had to take them.
Luckily that cohort have moved on. Ds is a wuss, and has never experienced any sort of bullying, nor mentioned it happening.

That was probably a bad way of putting it but I was in a bit of a hurry.

DP has to deal with a lot of boys who have quite complex needs, including behavioural ones. They do seem to get quite a lot of pupils who have been transferred or excluded from other schools.

He would want me to highlight how many great kids they have, though. He says he would send his own children there.

Should have mentioned: he said today that their cohort is really changing and there is a huge difference between their current Y7s (in both achievement and behaviour) and their Y10/11s. Parents are choosing to send their children there now.

Thanks everyone. Tb x

Hi,
New to the Kingston Area and looking for a good secondary school for our son. I have read some of the past threads on Coombe Boys' School and wondering if anyone can give some updated views on the school. We are not Catholic, so are not sure about getting into some of the religious affiliated schools in the area. We've just moved here from abroad so completely new to the system and are looking for a good secondary school in the area. We are looking at both state schools and independent schools at this point.

I have a son going into yr 11 at CBS and he's had a great experience. PM me lolipop9 for more info.

St Cecilia's is in Wandsworth. Reasonably good C of E mixed secondary as far as I know. Not far away and many Merton residents have kids there (inc my nephews!)