Luckley House School and Sherfield School - any thoughts on these two schools?

[Blaggingit]

I am looking for a school for my DS to start in year 7 in Sept 2017. Anyone have good or bad experiences with either of these schools?

Don't know Sherfield, but Luckley House is very solid.

Thanks BizzyFizzy. Luckley is still very light on boys numbers which is a concern for my sport loving boy but I liked the school mostly.

Yes, easier to send a girl to a predominantly boys' school rather than the other way around.

It takes a while for previously single sex schools to open up their opportunities/facilities for the opposite sex.

Should I also consider Reddam house? I don't know much about it and the website is not telling me a whole lot.

Luckley school is very good but possibly not for a very sporty boy. Bluecoat would be a good option.

Reddam house has a recent ISI report which is very good.

Blue coat is too far as we are 20/25 mins south of Reddam house in the Fleet area so trying to find schools that aren't a long bus journey away. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I researched some of these as we are planning to move to the area. Don't know much about blue coats as I have a DD! Luckley House I liked a lot, I thought Sherfield wasn't particularly academic (not suitable for DD anyway). Reddam I didn't warm to at all, and I did hear a comment about their contract and having to be very careful with reading it.
Good luck with your searches.

I've got a child at Reddam House and they're happy and doing well. Year 7 this year was a bigger intake, so they're putting out 3 teams in that year. I agree there's not much information on the website though. Have you downloaded the app called ReddamHouseBerkshire? There's lots more information on there. Think the comment someone made about contracts was about scholarships, just encouraging you to read the fine print.

Thanks for the info about Reddam, much appreciated. Perhaps I should take a look still. I would still like to hear from anyone with kiddos at Sherfield. It is my favourite so far but worried that it is academically a bit weak, I have a pretty average lad but still want to get good grades from a private school education.

We're interested in some of these too. Absolutely loved Blue Coat - but a bit concerned about how selective it is. I read that they test around 250 boys for 96 yr7 places. My son did not qualify for grammar school so not sure if this would make it out of reach?

We were keen to see Reddam House but they both had open days on the same day and couldn't squeeze both in.

Don't know anything about Sherfield but noticed some things about our closest non-selective independent. The staff/pupil ratio was very good, something like 1-16 (compared to 1-24 at Blue Coat), I guess this reflects the additional support they provide to a less selective intake. Their results were no higher than our local comps, which worried me a bit considering the extended day at the school, but it did seem that they emphasised additional activities.

It was my comment about contracts and it was said via a friend I have in the area - she said for both scholarship and normal contracts she would advise getting legal advice for the Reddam ones as they had some strange clauses.

Sorry I can't help more with Sherfield but we liked Luckley House and Abbey for our Dd. Still not sure when we are likely to move into the area though!

My child is currently in Y8 at Sherfield and has been there since Y1. My honest advice is to think long and hard before considering sending your child there. It's not much cheaper than other, much more rounded, schools, the Senior Management team in Prep are rather weak, generally unsupportive of kids during critical times and are seemingly unable to tackle problems such as bullying effectively - this has been noted by parents of children in many year groups.

The sports facilities are poor and the results in core sports are weak. If your child competes to a reasonable level at an obscure sport, there is a good chance of obtaining a scholarship.

The school is run for a profit and despite the appointment of a new Head five years ago, there has been little investment in the academic or sporting side of the school, but significant investment in the revenue generating boarding facilities. Looking at the boarding side of the school, the overwhelming majority of boarders are Chinese students who are here to do their A Levels, which has led to great A Level pass marks.

Overall, I would say Sherfield is a good choice for a Pre-prep and Prep school, but there are much better choices locally for Senior education (Y9+). The academic side in the lower school is OK, but not outstanding. We, along with many others, are looking to move our child at the end of Y8.

On the positive side, the school has a very friendly atmosphere and the children are really quite molly-coddled. The current Headmaster is leaving June. He was significantly better than the previous but there will, naturally, be will be a period of instability as the new Head settles in.

If you do choose to go there, remember, they are a business so take the opportunity to negotiate the fees as they need more students to give the return to GEMS Group.

A family member had DCs at Sherfield. Could not recommend it! Younger ones have now been moved after eldest had poor results in Y13, despite incredible grade predictions.
DCs also complained about the influx of Chinese students who kept to themselves. Cohorts just not large enough to ensure good range of friendship group choices, and there is an imbalance in the boy:girl ratio.
GEMS education is a global brand and none of their schools have a particularly stellar reputation internationally either.
I think you have many better choices available. As a family who also chose independent education for our DCs (which is absolutely outstanding IOHO), I honestly don't know what they paid for with Sherfield.