Buckinghamshire vs Bexley vs Sutton school for boys

[Wonderg]

Hi All,

New to mumsnet but really looking for advise. My DS will be sitting for 11+ in 2020 and we are in west midlands outside Birmingham grammar school catchment. Since our jobs are in London , we are planning to move towards London and in catchment of good grammar school ... plus as we are renting at the moment , looking forward to buy a house down the line once school is sorted...

Which place will you recommend for longer term which is easy commute to London, good grammar schools plus fallback comprehensive school ...

Thanks in advance
Wonderg

such an enormous question.

no answer except that you need to go to open days for any schools you are interested in and go from there? Each of these areas is potentially commutable to London for work so you just have to go for the school that suits your own ds.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&region=319&la-name=sutton&geographic=la&for=secondary

I’m in Sutton and can thoroughly recommend it. There are 5 grammars and 3 of those are boys’. In addition, Greenshaw is a co-ed school and takes 60 children into their ‘ability classes’.

As fall backs, the most sought after are Cheam High which is outstanding and high achieving and Glenthorne which is a national teaching school with a performing arts stream. Greenshaw is popular too. There’s also the recently opened Harris Sutton which is next door to the Royal Marsden and specialising in STEM with excellent facilities. The other schools are all nice too with good behaviour etc (I’ve worked in them all) even if more average academically.

In terms of areas to live, Sutton has a large town centre (practical rather than pretty) with a lot of amenities (fab cinema, the Sports Village etc) and is in zone 5 with trains going to Victoria, London Bridge, and the Thameslink up to Blackfriars, City, St Pancras etc. The south side is more expensive, leafy and walkable to the countryside. The North side has many nice residential areas but can be a little scruffy in places.

Cheam Village is good for a villagey feel with a fab park and lots of sports clubs.

Carshalton Village is very pretty but in the catchment of the more average comps unless you get yourself on the cusp of Greenshaw catchment. The Carshalton Beeches end is very leafy and tranquil and you’d get Harris Sutton from there (the most local option of Oaks Park is just getting sorted under a new head).

Wallington or Worcester Park have smaller town centres and might be nice places to buy but they’re black holes for applications (unless you’re a 15-20mins walk from Worcester Park to just get into the Cheam High catchment).

Bexley has several Grammar schools and access is easy to the Kent and Bromley Grammar schools too. Stations are Zones 4/5. Look in the DA14, DA15, BR 6, areas. The elevenplusexams forum has a talk forum where all of your areas are discussed: catchments, admissions, exam format and prep etc

Bucks 11 plus is taken in September. You need to read the residency rules on their web site about the 11 plus. And registering info.

There are several Grammars you could look at. Starting at mid Bucks: Aylesbury Grammar and Sir Henry Floyd. Amersham has Dr Challoners Grammar and High Wycombe has The Royal Grammar and The John Hampden Grammar. Chesham has Chesham Grammar and Marlow has Sir William Borlases Grammar which is well placed for crossrail from Maidenhead. That catchment area is very small though.

No secondary modern schools in Bucks can be considered comprehensive. It’s a grammar county. The Lord Williams school at Thame in Oxfordshire is comprehensive. The best secondary moderns are John Colet at Wendover, the Waddesdon School, and The Misbourne school for north and central Bucks. There are other decent secondaries in south Bucks.

For DCGS, you need to be fully living in catchment by the beginning of April coming up.
m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A%2F%2Fdcgs.box.com%2Fs%2Fjpveah2mw4yl0juker96qcwsv07rpg8q
The above is the admissions policy for 2020 - the school doesn't need to determine its policy for 2021 just yet, but it is unlikely to move the 'living in catchment by' date back to later in the year. It is later for other Bucks schools, but DCGS changed its policy a while back, due to a particular problem with 11+ tourists, I believe.