Oundle or Oakham School

[MalbecMummy]

We have shortlisted the two schools for our DS and was wondering if anyone had any specific comments on either of these two please? DS is an all rounder so I think would fit in academically with both schools. Thank you.

Ttbb - Witham used to have a reputation of only having kids from rich farming families who were less academic than other schools, but now it has a reputation of "new money". If you want to impress you go to Witham and the parents have a reputation of being very snotty and stand offish. It is highly competitive and they are all striving for their little johnnies to be more gifted and talented than their mates. That said, I know that their results are good and the children seem to be well balanced. It's the only local independent that goes up to 13 (excluding Laxton) so the kids tend to go onto Oundle or Uppingham.

Ttbb - I meant to say although most of the kids are generally well balanced, a lot of them are spoilt little brats! Mummy and Daddy put them into board as they're a bit of inconvenience at home!

MalbecMummy that is a bit harsh! All the kids I know from Whitham and their families are lovely, completely not pretentious or spoilt, in fact IME totally the opposite.
Making a sweeping statement such as " Mummy and Daddy put them into board as they're a bit of inconvenience at home!" is not great, there are many different reasons why children board or parents choose for their children to board and it is not for you to judge!
If you don't like the boarding ethos in a school then I suggest you look at a day school and forget Oakham or Oundle, with that attitude you won't be very welcome anyway!

When you say new money do you actually mean new money in the traditional sense? I was under the impression that there wasn't really any old money in the area anyway. We're not local and not very sociable so we really don't know many people in the area. I really can't stand the Joules brigade and don't want them to pick up bad habits from their playmates. I don't mind standoffishness though-I want to get in and out and be done, no desire to socialise at the school gate. We're looking for something that will deliver the academic results for top public schools if either/both decide to board later on. But we also want them to be well rounded. Lots of sports, wide variety of cultural experiences, good music and drama activities, that kind of thing. We don't want anything purely academic or overly swottty.

GinGarden - if you read my post I agree with you, but there are a few (as per my second post) that I'm afraid that is what I think. Sorry - I'm not trying to be harsh or rude, it's just my impressions. I know at least 20 families at Witham and I can honestly say the majority are all well balanced kids - but there are some that are spoilt and pretentious. Sorry - just my opinion!

GinGarden - by the way, I think you have misunderstood - I am not talking about full boarding, I am talking about the Witham flexi-boarding where they can stay over for one or two nights. I completely understand boarding as I was a boarder myself.

Hi. I was talking to a friend with a child at Oundle (senior school) today and I remembered this thread. They said that the school wasn't very good at supporting academically talented students. It seems to be more geared towards all rounders. Or so they said.

Thank you for that Ttbb - that's interesting to hear.

Niece goes to Oakham. Some bitchiness and bullying in the boarding houses. Girls flirt and drink with the guys here. Teachers aren't really helpful, and even though they say they're easy to talk to, they're not. Very judgemental school. She is not happy there at all. Avoid!!

I have a friend whose granddaughter went to Cambridge from Oundle and she never says a bad word about the school.

So after all that we’ve finally decided on Christ’s Hospital in Sussex. A bit further than we’d anticipated of going but we were blown away by the school! Thank you for all your feedback!