St Catherine's Bramley

[Sch0olUK]

I am thinking of sending dd to St Catz for 2014 entry( Yr9 ). Can someone tell me more abt this school? Will dd find it hard to make fds there since she will joining in Yr9? Is the school gd?

Hi There,

I live 2 miles from the school and have two DS that are at a prep school near by. St Catherines is a very good school, I have many friends whose children go there. It is very academic, they are pushed hard from what I hear. The girls I have met from there are lovely, no school is perfect remember.

It gets very good results, the girls get some great opportunities.
AS far as making friends in year 9, kids are very resilient. My eldest DS has just started at Longacre prep in Year 5 all the kids have been together a few years so friendships are quite cemented, but she is settling in well and in time will make good friends.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Thanks!!!

DD have received an offer from St Catz, but so has St Swithun's. Which one should I choose for dd? She's very academic. Great at everything except Science.

Which one fits in best for travel and independence for you? I have no knowledge of st swithuns but St Catz is tricky to get to except by car or school bus and the buses are timed to take the girls home after prep each day,so may not suit everyone. Except if you plan for her to board of course!

Thanks BectAndCall, she will be a full boarder so no worries abt traffic.

BeckAndCall*, sorry for typo

Hi,
Academically both are very good schools.
Do though check the numbers of full boarders. I believe that there are not many boarders in at the weekend at St Swithuns and those that are tend to be the international students. I was an overseas parent with full boarders (not at these schools) so from experience I would say check the exact number of year 9 boarders, how many weekends the full boarders have to stay in and that those that do come from a variety of countries. According to the ISC figures there are 198 boarders from age 11 to 18, which seems a very healthy number. BUT when my friend's DD was there a few years ago she went home to Grandparents every weekend as none of her friends stayed in. Plus as there is no Saturday school pupils can be weekly boarders and still go home at the weekends as they have two nights out of school even if they live a fair distance away from the school.
St Swithuns is within walking distance of Winchester town centre and they can walk back up the hill too but there is a bus!

St Catherines is in a rural location with a fairly ropey public transport system, normally goes wrong at evenings and weekends! It would definitely be worth finding out how many girls do full boarding and what sort of activities as Guildford is a 20/30 minute bus journey away and is also the nearest train station.

Thanks a lot!