Secondary schools in Winchester

[Louisa500]

We are thinking of relocating to Winchester to be closer to my husband's work and are looking at state secondary schools. Kings seems to have an excellent Ofsted but I wonder if anyone could help answer a couple of queries we had. Firstly, the school seems huge in terms of numbers of pupils in a year, does this have any drawbacks? Secondly do they have a good reputation for sport in terms of tuition, how it is thought of within the school and how well they do against other schools? Are there any other schools you would suggest we look into? Thank you!

I have a niece at Kings. It is a very good school and they are certainly strong on sport too. In Winchester Westgate is worth a look too. My children went to/are at Perins in Alresford which is comparable in terms of results to Kings, is also strong on sport but is half the size of Kings.

Hi - we moved to Winchester last summer - my kids are at The Westgate and PSColl respectively - very pleased with both of them - we live near these schools but closer to Kings - certainly looks impressive, but it is a massive school, and is very popular here. Would suggest you have a look round all the HS here as they all seem very good and very different in character, others would be able to advise about admission, we moved out of county so a different procedure for us as neither child was in a Hampshire school. We found Hants LEA to be very efficient and very helpful in our move.

Most of the Hampshire secondaries are now Academies so out of the control of the LEA.
Yes, Hampshire secondaries are big.
But they are also largely good.
Whatever you choose in and around Winchester your kids will get a good education.
And PSC has a fab reputation too (very, very few Hampshire secondaries have 6th form)

Thank you for your responses. As you suggest we are best to look around the schools first but it's good to hear that we shouldn't go far wrong with whichever we choose - and then whichever has spaces. I hadn't heard of Perins but I'll look into that too. I'm encouraged that you found Hants LEA helpful as the process seems rather daunting. I also have a DD currently in year 3 and haven't even begun to investigate Junior Schools. Do you have any recommendations here too?

Well, if you come to Alresford the local primaries are all pretty good. There is Sun Hill Juniors in Alresford and in the surrounding villages, Cheriton or Ropley.

Is Henry B's not worth a mention?

of course - all the schools in and around Winchester / south central hampshire are better than many others in the country. lucky, lucky us.