Relocating to south Oxfordshire

[Louchi]

Hello,

Hoping someone can help. We are a family if five with three girls aged 7,6 and 2. We are looking to move to Oxfordshire from Sheffield. Currently our daughters are at a mixed independent school which is lovely, very small class sizes of 12 pupils.

Can anyone recommend a mixed independent school which is fairly small ? Failing the small class sizes can you recommend any others including grammar schools in south Oxfordshire?

Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks

have a look at dragon school in oxford. x

Oxfordshire doesn't have any grammar schools (unless you meant selective indies?).

Manor or St Helen’s in Abingdon for independent. There are no grammar schools in Oxfordshire.

It also depends where in South Oxfordshire you are as then you could consider schools nearer to Henley, Marlow or even Reading

Ah I see. My husbands mistake then as he was searching yesterday (not very well clearly). Any independent school which is mixes ideally in the south Oxfordshire area which are highly recommended?

The Independent schools market locally is very competitive so most of them are good and have strong reputations. From personal experience I’d say that the pastoral care is varied between them so if a more nurturing environment is important then you really need to visit and ask them about that aspect. My experience is more at secondary level though. As I asked earlier it would help if you could be more specific about location as then there may be options in neighbouring areas like Hampshire and Berkshire.

What sort of school are you looking for?
Competitive? Nurturing?

There are quite a few private schools in the area, so you have choice.
St Hugh's, Chandlings Manor, Our Lady's Abingdon, and The Manor are all mixed, St Andrew's is just over the boarder near Pangbourne,
Cranford House is just girls but very nurturing and small.

Oh, and Pinewood.

It also depends where in South Oxfordshire you are as then you could consider schools nearer to Henley, Marlow or even Reading

Marlow schools haven’t offered to all of catchment in year 7 for a number of years so you’d not get in from Henley. SWBGS have the year 9 entry but I think that’s going as they are going to take a 5th class from year 7.

Gillotts in Henley if a good comp - you’ll need to be in catchment though.

I'm from Tyne and Wear but all of my dad's side of the family live in Didcot and went to the local schools there. They've all done really well upon leaving.

Cranford house is now co-Ed all through Junior school (from September) and will be co-Ed to 18 from September 2020. The year groups your children would be in are all co-Ed.
Class sizes in junior school ave 14-15 (a few exceptions as its increasingly popular so a class will grow until they split it). Has one of the best value added scores around for GCSE and used to be completely non selective. I think it is now slightly selective but still takes a very wide range. Selection is effectively by first past the post as many year groups are full and increasingly parents seem to send their children in y5 or 6 to guarantee a place in the senior school (there were unheard of numbers of new y6 children in Sept 18 which took the year group from 30 ish to 44 and 3 classes instead of the usual 2 per year group). Rumour is that the coming year 7 is going to have 60+ in 4 classes instead of the usual 45 in 3.
It also has a nursery for your 2 year old once they are 3.

I would look at Ashfold school at Dorton in Bucks and then move on to Lord Williams school in Thame.

The Dragon school in Oxford is huge. There are other smaller ones.

I’m in South Oxfordshire and my knowledge is mostly Henley and surrounding area.
You’ll be looking for a prep school I think given the age of your children. There are some lovely preps in south Oxfordshire. The Oratory Prep school and Rupert House are both lovely small nurturing and coeducational prep schools.
There’s also a tiny prep school in Henley called St Marys. All these schools get children into good independent secondary schools although there really aren’t many coed ones unless you are prepared to do a boarding school.
There are also some outstanding state primaries in Henley.
If you want coeducational grammar you’d have to move into the William Borlase catchment ie probably into Marlow town itself or very close.
There are super selective grammars in Reading (Kendrick for girls and Reading grammar for boys) but your children would need to be top tier academic and highly motivated.
Good luck.

needingcoffee

I didn't know Cranford was co-ed now. Are there any girls only preps left in the area now then?

I don’t think there are (any girls-only preps). It’s a shame to my kind in terms of choice for parents.

Interestingly the current y6 is the last girls-only year (and will continue to be so until 6th form). It is the biggest year group by far in the junior school and looks to be a record breaking upcoming y7.

You can read into that what you will in terms of demand for girls-only education.

I do think the school will remain, however, a girls school with a few gentle boys; I reckon it will take a long time before it’s 50:50 - to my knowledge no junior school year group has more than 8-10 boys.

*mind, not kind!

Any plans for Moulsford to go co-ed then?

No, I think they’re staying firmly boys only as far as I know, but targeting the “moving out of London” demographic and hugely increasing the size of the pre-prep to compensate for any decrease in Y3 intake

I've had two children at Pinewood for several years (one now left) so am happy to fill you in about that if you're considering the Oxon/Wilts border area. St Hugh's is also nearby and whilst I have no direct experience I have the impression that it is more 'serious' and academic than Pinewood - I always think Pinewood is a bit 'Enid Blyton' and must be a happy and fun place to spend your formative years. Team sport is valued highly but they also do very well in fencing, which is very popular. You should consider destination schools - many go to Cheltenham or Marlborough but if you have very highly academic aspirations you might have a better shot from St. Hugh's. Pinewood has a new Headmaster starting next year - the appointment has been well received by parents I've spoken to - and most people think a bit of modernisation will be timely. The over-riding parental niggle I'm aware of is that there are large numbers of teachers' children at the school and they are always over-represented in leading roles in plays and concerts. Perhaps they are just a super-talented group though...?

I believe the Reading grammars are accessible from some parts of South Oxfordshire although you should probably check with the schools. They're very very selective though.

South Oxfordshire is blessed with several excellent comprehensives - Gillotts, Wallingford, Didcot Girls, St Birinus (the Boys school in Didcot) so don't rule out the possibility of saving yourself the school fees.

Pipers Corner School is closer to Henley than any of the schools in Abingdon and Wallingford and it’s all girls. It goes from reception to sixth form. I don’t know why it’s not on more Henley mum’s radar.