Day or boarding options close to SW London for chorister's next steps..

[Tuppenyrice]

Hello, I wonder if any of you kind people could help me navigate the murky waters of secondary school choices.. I have a son in yr5, a boarding chorister, he is musical and academically able. We will apply to selective day schools in London, but want alternative options, as they have become notoriously hard to get into. I've got some on my list:

Day:
Kingston grammar
Hampton
St. John's leatherhead
Reeds
Cranleigh

Boarding:
Kings Canterbury
Lancing
Brighton college

He needs somewhere the music is important. Somewhere he will be stretched but not a massive hothouse.
We won't get a bursary but we would need a scholarship to help with fees.
Personally I can't bear the whole private school thing so would prefer somewhere not too flashy and 4x4 heavy.
;)

Can anyone help me?!
Many many thanks if you've read this far and not wanted to slap me.

Trinity would seem an obvious choice. As well as the massive attraction of the Choir, it is a very friendly and unpressurised environment which still seems to manage to get excellent results out of the boys... I can understand a bit of a wince at the commute though, it's not the easiest place to get to.

Whitgift? Lots and lots of boys from SW London. Music is big and getting bigger and 'robust' boys thrive there. I wouldn't bother with Emanuel tbh...

Though, if he can walk to King's you probably just need a fallback option!

I didn't even know choral scholarships at Oxbridge existed until DD applied and got one from an Oxford College. Not a chorister but good all round singer, good leadership skills, very adept at persuading others to participate and didn't apply to the most well known colleges.

Trinity coming up a lot.

Thanks so much all of you for the taking time to respond.

Tea Why swerve Emmanuel?
Thought it might be a good back up.....

If you're even in the ballpark where you're considering schools like Kings and Westminster you really don't need to bother with Emanuel - it is really not particularly academic and to be honest it's not really got anything about it that would make me want to pay the not inconsiderable fees

The children from dc's private primary heading to Emanuel are pretty much all from the lower sets unless there's a particular reason why parents have picked it eg older sibling already there

Oops a few too many 'really's there ...

Yes, what she said

It's a nice enough place but absolutely no comparison to King's/Dulwich/the Whitgift Foundation schools, academically or facilities-wise. I don't think your ds sounds as if he would get what he needed from it.

That's interesting, thank you.