Advice on Surrey indies - City of London Freemen’s, St Theresa’s, GHS - where else should we look?

[MakeLemonade]

Would love some advice, DD is in year 5 and currently in a state school - hence lack of advice about where next. She sat C of London Freemen’s exam on Sat for a place in year 6 but with 25 children for one place, it seems a long shot.

Would welcome views on what other options we should consider. Does anyone have a view on St Theresa’s? I’ve heard mixed things about St John’s and Notre Dame but willing to be convinced.

DD is a good all-rounder, very strong English, just above average in maths, loves books, art, drama, ballet and fashion. She’s not especially sporty.

We could also look at SW London schools but I’m more inclined to look at Surrey as it would be better for us location wise.

I have also heard mixed reports about st Johns and Notre Dame. I have heard excellent feedback about Manor House. You could also consider Surbiton High School which would be easily accessible by train from the area in Surrey you have mentioned.

there are lots: SWPS, Tormead, St Catherines Bramley, Fanny Hill (ok that's in Hampshire but v. good train links), St George's Weybridge, St Johns Leatherhead, Priors Field, Kingston Grammar, Surbiton High, Lady Eleanor Holles, Wimbledon something or other, Epsom, Caterham, Frensham Heights, Cranleigh, King Edward's Witley

Manor House better rep locally than St T’s and well regarded by local sixth forms when they leave (no St T girls accepted at Reeds for 6th form this year for example whereas all bar 1 who applied from MH got in). New head shaking things up. St John’s lower school very new so difficult to assess if it’s a success.

350 dc sat St John's 11plus this week for 60 spaces so it's definitely attracting attention!

There's also Woldingham for girls, Reigate Grammar - mixed, Dunnottar in Reigate.

Surreygirls has given a very good list. SWPS is Sir William Perkins in Chertsey and Fanny Hill, Farnborough Hill just in case you don't know the schools. Wimbledon High is also good academically if you would consider SW London.

Second that Tormead is worth a look but be wary of living too far from the train line to Guildford so that your daughter can throw herself into all of the after-school activities but still get herself home (coaches leave school around 4.15pm). Where are you based as this could help narrow it down?

IME - do not underestimate change to your life transport issues can cause - whether there is transport after prep, sports fixtures, clubs etc and friendship groups suddenly wide spread. Things stop being local.

Notre Dame - many pupils live in SW London. St T's - art and drama is strong. Both St T's and MH increasing in popularity - I guess a mix of 'fashion', new heads/facilities etc or simply the inevitable fall out of huge competition for the more selective schools. Both were struggling with numbers not so long ago.

St Johns is pretty sporty. Cranleigh vv sporty. Long days.

What sort of ethos do you want? Some of these schools are quite a lot more academically challenging than others, others offer a more nurturing environment, smaller numbers and - at risk of getting flamed - some are a bit more ... Surrey... than others !!

Yes transport is critical. We applied to St Catherine's, but the journey is hideous for us, and even though there is a school bus, inevitably you'll end up doing after school activities and being a taxi service. Horrendous.

Tormead, Fanny Hill, GHS, St John's and probably some others have trains, which is much better.

I think you should really focus on what is important to you - travel? academics? co-ed? price?

Downsend, they will be going to 16 soon.

Have pm'd you.

Thanks everyone, some valuable advice here.

Location-wise we are Epsom at the moment but considering moving out to somewhere more Ashtead/Leatherhead/Horsley/Effingham. St Cat’s would be too far for us, I think getting her in to GHS would be a challenge. She’s very strong in most subjects, especially English, but her maths isn’t as strong and I am under the impression you need to pretty much tick all the boxes for GHS. She’s a confidence player so I’m not convinced she will thrive in a very academic environment but she is very capable. Somewhere very sporty isn’t likely to be a fit.

I’m relaxed about co-ed or single sex, slight preference for the latter.

Not familiar with Manor House and hadn’t really thought about Wimbledon or Surbiton High so will definitely look at them in more detail.

Not sure about Downsend, do you know when it moves to offer secondary? A couple of people I know found it to be a bit corporate.

To the posted who mentioned some being more ‘Surrey’ than others, we are definitely more attracted to ones that are at the lesser end of that. We are not at the super-rich, footballer money end of the spectrum!

There are so many options, I figure we might need to see a lot of schools to try and narrow it down. Thanks for the DMs, will check them out now as I promptly forgot about this thread after posting

I have a DS at St John's.
I've been very impressed with the school. It can be quite sporty for those who are interested, but there isn't too much pressure to participate if you don't want to. The pastoral care for DS has been brilliant, he has had some mental health issues and they've been a huge support.
He was at Downsend, which he didn't enjoy. They weren't very good at coping with a child that didn't fit the bright, sporty, confident mould.

Have you been to see any schools yet?

Surprised if your dd isn't that academic that you have been suggested Wimbledon High rather than Sutton High - both easy to get to but Wimbledon much more academic and with a different intake.

You haven't mentioned that cost is a factor but places like St Johns/Epsom etc can be 10k more than the GDST schools.

I’m finding it hard to benchmark her in terms of how academic she is, she’s top of her class and every year is working at significantly above average in English and above average in Maths. Her non-verbal reasoning is excellent - she gets 100% on most tests she does at home. I just don’t know how this compares to children of her age from prep schools, are they working way beyond these levels? I’m not sure if Freemen’s will give us her exam results back as I know they don’t offer specific feedback, but that would help.

Does she like being stretched academically? Would she worry if she wasn’t top of the class in a different school?

We have only seen Freemen’s recently, we looked at a few different ones at 7+ but not all relevant now due to location/going all the way through. We are going to look at others over next few months.

Cost is a good point! Would rather not be paying £10k a term although would be doable.

She does like being stretched academically but I don’t think she would want to be bottom of the class.

Have a look at Reigate Grammar School if you are thinking about mixed education in that area. It's about the same as St Cats academically (in the top 50) and extra curricular looks really strong.

Did you like Freeman's?