Girls / coed independent school surrey

[Vickyboots]

Hi, I'm trying to choose between Manor House and Notre Dame for my daughter to go into year five. Does anyone have any experience of these schools as it is so difficult to choose. My daughter is okay academically and very arty. The other alternative is waiting for year seven entry to widen the school choice, but I don't think I want to wait this long.

Which is more convenient travel wise? This would be a factor for me as they are very similar in ethos and results etc.

Both about equal distance.

in That case I think you need to go on gut feel

Yes, it keeps changing its mind every other day!

Does your daughter have a preference?

She liked both when she visited, althought she preferred the facilities at Notre Dame so that might swing the balance.

I heard on (quite a long) grape vine that Notre Dame is struggling with numbers so I would check that out and ask some very careful questions. It was a year or so ago but a friend left along with quite a few other colleagues because they worried about the financial viability of the school. I may be totally jumping on rumours but worth checking.

Manor House is known as a very small, nurturing school. Offers something quite special. You need to have the right DD for it - probably less confident, more in need of nurture and really tight pastoral care. It wouldn't suit a girl who needs a pacey school life or who will sit back if given the chance.

Ive heard the same about ND and agree with pugdog about MH. It’s going places after a few years in the doldrums

Both schools seem to have suffered from low numbers and concerns about financial viability, I thought both were increasing in popularity though.

ND has quite a few girls coming from further afield - Wimbledon etc but MH apparently also now extending their reach to boost numbers. They have def 'rebranded' with new head. However I agree with PugDog in terms of personality fit - if that is right and if you think she might need some help academically it would suit. St Teresa's art/drama is very good. Not sure where you live and if you are considering coed -Downside is going to 16, I think it will be v popular.

We're in Ashtead but wouldn't consider Downsend as we started off there and it was a disaster! Also we wouldn't want to be guinea pigs for the first gcse years.

St Teresa's looks really good too but they don't do taster days as they have no spaces, so it would have to be exams next year. Which I'd rather not do if possible. It is an option though although very difficult for us to see what the school is like without an opportunity to go in. MH and ND both have places so can do taster days which is really good.

Interesting what was said about MH going places. Can I ask what makes you think that? I have a friend whose girls are there and she thinks the new head is great but very sport focused. Which isn't something we are particularly keen on. They don't have any plans for extending facilities either which surprised me. Whereas ND are building a new art facility which looks amazing. So i was actually more convinced from going there about financial viability of ND than MH.

Vickyboots I will send a pm