Surbiton High School - any advice please?

[Julia1972]

My daughter has been offered a place at Surbiton High secondary school for Sept 2020.

Any thoughts on what the school is like from parents who have daughters there would be very much appreciated, thanks.

My general impression is that it is a very good school.

I’ll be watching this thread with interest, as our daughter has also been offered a place for September 2020.

My daughter left Surbiton last year following GCSE's. Full disclosure this was not the right school for her but I am not saying it wont be for all. At 11 she loved her sport, drama and activities but found it very difficult to be included in them. It is a very large year and they tend to focus on the elite in each activity and escalate the top 20%. My daughter was never considered to be good enough to be included which long term affected her self esteem. Academically, she was also not brilliant and the quality of teaching varies dramatically. As it is such a large year it is difficult for them to focus on the individual. Having said all that if you have a competent, resilient daughter or one who excels then they would be very happy there.

One of my daughters also left after GCSE’s and I have another midway through the school. I would second meeeeeee about elite levels, county level sport isn’t enough for som higher teams. I have heard that there is no U16 hockey squad this year as U15 are better and play their matches and this isn’t unusual. Unless a girl is already at a high level there is not much opportunity for drama, sport, music. Many clubs are oversubscribed so not much opportunity there either. These are the extras in the glossy brochure we thought we were paying for and have been very disappointed.

Academically it has been very good. There has been the odd bad patch but I think that happens everywhere. The pastoral care has also been excellent and very responsive.