Nice boarding schools for girls!!

[egyptiandancer64]

My daughter left her country Prep school and we tried a London Day school which was very pressurised and a disaster as she didnt fit in. I then sent her to a boarding school where she is having a very tough time with a very disruptive year group and a lot of bitchy girls... Any ideas on nice schools ? Tudor Hall? although I think not very academic or Downe House which I fear may be pressurised as well and full of eating disorders...! Any other ideas for schools within an hour and a half of London. Preferably single sex but am beginning to think maybe co-ed too.She starts her GCSE syllabus in September so I need to move quickly and have been trying to find somewhere. She is rather fragile at the moment and I am terrified if I move her again and get it wrong again I shall have a child with rock bottom self esteem. Any ideas please?

Rookwood in Andover, Hants? 1hr & 10 mins from London Waterloo to Andover on the train direct. www.rookwood.hants.sch.uk

If your daughter has had miserable experiences at several schools, maybe you need to think of something different. Is a state school out of the question? Somewhere local so she had lots of family time, less pressurised, no mega-rich queen bees. It's a genuine question.

No need to be quite so aggressive, especially since you don't seem to relate to what either I or OP are saying.

Which essentially is that some children thrive in a setting which is different from culture often found in London Day Schools, or perhaps the big name boarding schools. It is OK for parents to recognise this, and children do switch. OP has asked for suggerstions for gentler schools.

Honestly, since you ask, I think some children might be better off at boarding school. Either because parents are too busy to do much parenting or because they are overinvolved. Too much scheduling, too much additional tutoring, too much praise based simply on results, and so on.

DS had some lovely friends and was reasonably oblivious to the pressure cooker aspect beyond noticing that some boys were very anxious about their academic performance. DD was initially more sensitive and had a bit of a rough ride till the school expertly rearranged classes. If they had not I think she would have suffered as she is neither cool (safe!) or swotty. Most children will do well but it is not unknown for girls to fail to settle. Girls we have known have moved school and been fine, indeed one went from being a bit of a social outcast to being the most popular girl in the year at her next school. I failed to recognise her she looked so different.

As a parent of a boarder I would also say go for a day school if you can. I am not sure where you are in London but if West . Look at St Catherine's Twickenham. Rad or House and the new Kew House. If North I believe St Chris's in Letchworth runs a coach to High gate. I think St Edmunds Ware also runs a bus into London. St Margaret's Bushy and St Martha's may also be less pressurized and blingy

Goldolphin in Salisbury all my cousins went there or for co-ed mill field is good from what I have heard. I think the only way to get away from the girly bitchiness is to go co-ed!!

I don't see where I was aggressive Needmore!

I'm another one who doesn't think boarding sounds like a brilliant idea. Where are you in London? I'd also echo why not your local comprehensive. Seriously? Private schools, for obvious reasons, have a quota of rich, entitled, materialistic children. My own dcs are at a private school, so I am by no means anti private, but I think in certain cases state is a better alternative.