Guildford State school

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Hi,
we are moving to Guildford very soon.
I got 2 kids. One is going to secondary school; one is going to primary school.
I have checked the Ofsted report online. St Peter's Catholic and Burphum primary schools got very good results.
For going to St Peter's Catholic, does the pupil need to be a catholic? do they teach a lot of religious education?
or there are other very good state school in Guildford?
For going to Burphum primary, i assume they consider the catchment area. Which secondary school do the Burpham's pupils go?

Many thanks for your advice in advance!!

Burnham pupils tend to go to George Abbot for secondary. Only Catholic's go to St Peters lots of children get bussed into St Peters from the surrounding villages as it's the only catholic secondary in the area.

Being in catchment won't make any difference if there are no vacancies. Catchment only applies when you apply at the normal admissions points of reception and year 7. Surrey council however has an obligation to find your children a place though if you apply and the schools you apply for are full. They will choose the school though, not you.

I doubt you'll get a place at St Peter's if you're not catholic but you should get one at GA when one comes up. The primary schools are all pretty good really and the birth rate has dropped so the younger years groups are reasonably likely to have a space or two. I'd focus on secondary and look at where to live based on that.

The three most highly regarded secondaries in Guildford are George Abbot, St Peter's and Guildford County. All are pretty good schools - and quite hard to get into.
St Peter's is a Catholic school, therefore is is biased in admissions to practising Catholics. It has 2 RE lessons a week (compared to other schools 1), and they do regula services at the Local Catholic Church including Mass.
If you are not happy with all this then I wouldn't even consider it.

In Burpham there is one Primary school - if they don't have space you will not get in. Other Children from Burpham travel to Boxgrove, Holy Trinity (C of E school), and I have known children travel to Bushy Hill or Clandon.

There are not catchments as suc, and if the schools are full the LA has to find you a school place but it might be quite some distance away (quite possible that you would be offered places at Guildford Grove and Kings College for example).
Are you coming from England? If you are coming from overseas you might want to learn a bit more about the English admissions system.

Oh if you are Catholic - then you might want to consider St Thomas of Canterbury as a Primary school - if they have space.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&parliamentary=Guildford&geographic=parliamentary&for=primary

That's where you can find out more.

Generally, well performing faith schools only take children from religious families attending church etc.

Many thanks for the replies and information.
We are moving from Scotland.
The education system in Scotland is so different from English schools.

We are not religious, so we won't consider catholic schools now.

For going to Guildford County school, is there any exam/test, e.g, 11+ for admission?
Which primary should we put our younger kid if we want the younger kid going to Guildford County school? as we would prefer the kids going to the same secondary school.

Many thanks!!

You need to read all the admissions criteria rather than asking on here. They will be on the school websites and will tell you if they are selective or have feeder schools.

Here -

www.guildfordcounty.co.uk/56/admissions-policy

But no, there are no entrance exams or feeder schools.

OP do you understand how admissions works in England - it's very different from Scotland where everyone just goes to their catchment school!

They are relying on vacancies in the right year groups, in popular and over subscribed schools. You're not likely to get them into the schools you choose.

What year will your children be going in to? Anything other than R and 7 then the admissions criteria are largely irrelevant as it will simply depend on where there is a space. I would call Surrey admissions and ask which schools have places - and check if any schools hold their own waiting lists so you can call them direct. Although tricky timing now as there won’t be anyone picking up at the schools until term starts in early Sept...

You may be lucky and get a place at the school you prefer but County and GA are both very popular - you really need to contact the schools/LA and see what the situation is before you make any decisions...

Admissions to secondary generally give priority to siblings (both County and GA do) so if older child will still be on roll when younger one due to start it doesn’t matter which primary younger one is in, they should get a place at sibling’s secondary.

No idea on the current situation in Guildford but 10 years ago it was very much public school or bust. The faith comps are okayish but 30-40% of children (the most able) are creamed off by the public schools.

@margaritiaisland That is utter rubbish!

OP - you do need to read up on the English system. Guildford is in Surrey, which is a totally Comprehensive LA. There are no entry tests for any state schools. The "best" schools are likely to be full, but you still might get in by appeal, which is something else you will need to learn about.

Many thanks for the useful information. You are so helpful.
This makes our moving a lot less stressful.

I have been looking houses around George Abbot and Guildford County.
It looks like the houses around Onslow are unaffordable and less choices.

There are more choices of houses around Burpham and Merrow (some are affordable); I also found more primary schools in these areas.

Am I looking at the right areas for buying a house?

Also, it looks like Guildford County is specialised in music. That seems more attractive.
Do you know anything about sports & music in Guildford County and George Abbot?

My son will be 11 years old; so he will be attending Year 6. that means he needs to apply for a secondary school in October 2019. However we will move to Guildford just after Christmas.
so we will miss the application deadline. I hope it's not too late to apply for a secondary place in Jan 2020

I've only heard good things about George Abbott. I don't know anyone who goes there but DC have friends from there and some of their close friends siblings went there.

If you can possibly get to any of the open evenings in the Autumn then I would. You may well be able to get a tour if you explain the circumstances even if there isn't a regular scheduled one.
You would need to talk to Surrey CC about a late application. But if you move very close to the school you want you will probably be very close to the top of the waiting list after offer day. There is usually movement and so you would have a good chance of a place.
Specialisms are less important than they used to be, and both GA and County do have good music.

I'd be surprised that Burpham and Merrow are much cheaper than Onslow. Although they do have more modern houses - which also tend to be cheaper. There are also a lot of exCouncil houses in that area.
You might want to look at Boxgrove area as there is a very convenient cut through to George Abbot (under the railway line).

My son will be 11 years old; so he will be attending Year 6. that means he needs to apply for a secondary school in October 2019.

Will he already be 11 by the end of this month? If so, he will need a year 7 place in September this year, not in 2020.

Yes, if he turns 11 in August, then he’ll need to be in Y7 from September. What will happen when you move over, you’ll need to approach the local authority (ie Surrey council). They will find a space in a school but it might not be your nearest or preferred. You can go on a waiting list for the school(s) you prefer.

Years ago, Guildford County was featured in Gareth Malone's first (I think) TV programme, high I think was called something like 'Boys Don't Sing'. The programme was set in a school somewhere else, and GC was shown as an example of a state school where boys did sing. I remember its music teacher being excellent. No idea whether she is still there, but if she's not, I hope her legacy will have lived on.

She was indeed a fabulous teacher - and set up a number of "boys choirs" in local Primaries as well.

The age cut off is different here vs Scotland so if he is 11 on or before 31st aug this year, he will need to start yr 7 in Sept 2019 - ie when you move at Christmas you will need to find out which secondaries have space in yr 7 and go from there. You can appeal if there is no space in the school you want. Both GA and County will be full for yr 7 as things stand at the moment as they are popular and over subscribed every year but you may get lucky and a space come up when you move into the area.
Both are excellent schools and I wouldn’t read too much into the ‘specialist’ status - they both offer great music and sports provision (In case you were wondering, I live locally, went to one them myself, my kids are primary age at the moment but I know lots of older sibs at secondary, particularly GA and all are happy and doing well)

To maximise chances of getting in (from waitlist if no space when you move) you will need to live as close to the school as possible. There is a distance calculator on the Surrey admissions webpage where you can check this for different properties.
For GA then Merrow/Burpham/Boxgrove are all good options.

As a side note I assume you are moving for work related reasons? If you or your husband will be commuting to London then County and living that side of Guildford will help with your commute as you will be near the station. Guildford traffic can be pretty bad...