Abingdon School or Caterham School? Any comments?

[Wonderhow]

Hi, I have a son who will study Year 9 in 2013. My agent recommend these two for my son. May I ask the parent here in Uk which boarding school is good? What are their ranking? Any comments? Totally no idea on them. We can only get the information from their websites because we are not living in Uk. Thank you!

Can you access the Sunday Times list, although that won't tell the whole story. C has already assessed for 13+ but may allow the odd late applicant after the first acceptances have been made. It only has about 150 boarders though. tbh you aren't going to come across many who have considered or had experience of both.

Thank you LIZS! Actually my son took the entrance exam of Caterham before the Christmas already. He will take the Abingdon one next week. Just want to gather more information before the result. In fact, my son is on the reserve list of Sevenoaks. But I think the chance of getting in is not optimistic.

Abingdon is better-known than Caterham. It is certainly highly-regarded.

Abingdon is a very well regarded academic school but only has a relatively small number of boarders (never heard of Caterham school) if I was not in the UK and in fact as a parent of a full boarder who lives in the UK I would never send my child to full board anywhere accept at a school where full boarders are in the majority because it can be very lonely.

Sevenoaks is also mainly weekly boarders.

HG, I guessed (maybe wrongly) that OP's DS may only be here for a year and/or applied late? It would make sense that her agent may only have found possible boarding availability at schools where boarding is not mainstream.

Grovel you're probably right but she needs to be careful. IME many schools say they're full but the reality is that following a phone call they have the odd vacancy. Maybe the OP depending on where she lives might be better considering somewhere like Marlborough Malaysia which I believe opens in September.

Wellington China is already open (Seldon!).

Grovel Id rather boil my head!

Yes, grovel! I applied late so I can only find these two school on my agent's suggested list. They are ok in their ranking and they are full boarding too. Of course there are some others schools which are in lower ranking and I did not take. For Sevenoaks, we applied two years before. We live overseas so our only option is boarding.

Well, Wonderhow, I'm no expert but I'd say two things:

1. Abingdon is a good school.

1. I like the fact that Abingdon has a woman Head. One of my nieces was at her last school. Ms Lusk is good. I think that she will make sure that boarders have a full life.

I don't want to be unfair to Caterham. I just know nothing about it!

I'd suggest you and ds need to visit before accepting either , assuming you get the offers. Sevenoaks has been oversubscribed for last few years and that has impacted on Caterham.

Dear all, thank you for the information and advice

Any comment or experience on Abingdon and Caterham are welcome!

That's funny I didn't take to Ms Lusk when she was at OHS. Very cold. That's why we all have to go and look ourselves I guess.
I don't Abingdon has many boarders esp at weekends. Definitely worth checking as you need majority to be full boarders if thats what you want.

I disagree about needing boarders to be in the majority.
I was a boarder at a school that had less than 10% boarders and we had a whale of a time. Great esprit de corps and sometimes it's nice to have break from some classmates at the weekend.
Abingdon is a great school. You wouldn't be disappointed going there. Our son went to St Edwards but otherwise would have gone there. Headmistress Lusk is OK. I always admired her at Oxford High.

My dds school play Caterham at sport, we went & watched last term. The sports facilities seem good & it's mixed which you presumably want. The children who were not playing in matches were messing around with basketballs & generally looked happy & well. It is close to Garwick which will be helpful for visiting. Maybe there are advantages for a child whose parents are abroad to be at a school which is not 100% full boarding - some of his friends will be able to invite him over for tea & he will have a little insight into life in England outside school.

I realize that there are no Saturday school in Abingdon anymore. How the boarder spend the weekend? Ms Lusk looks very strict and cold in the eyes of parent! What are the reputation and academic results of the school (both OHS and Abingdon) under her leading?

Where do you live Wonderhow?

Does your son want something sporty/macho, or would he prefer something a bit gentler?

We live overseas. My son is sporty and academic.