Woldingham and Mayfield views

[Aguinnessplease]

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has any recent feedback on either Woldingham or Mayfield schools? Particularly on the pastoral and (full) boarding front....
Many thanks!

Woldingham are introducing weekly boarding from September 21. In practice a very large proportion of the boarders go home at weekends already, but I guess they are hoping that the slightly lower fees will make them more attractive for those that only want to board Monday to Friday. The new pastoral deputy head started today, and the Head is still in his first year, so it is difficult to tell wether there will be any change to pastoral care or ethos.

My DD is a day girl at Mayfield School and it is a great school. The day girls and boarders mix very well and school have a range of boarding options, full, weekly and flexi boarding with a weekly coach for the London boarders.

Good pastoral care, academically robust, excellent sports facilities especially if your DD is a horse rider and the Headmistress is great.

Feel free to DM me.

Both very good schools. Mayfield has a higher percentage of boarders, due to being not so close to London. A large percentage of girls at Woldingham commute daily on the train from Clapham Junction. If you say live in Balham it's about a minimum 1 hour door to door commute each day.

In Lower School the boarding numbers at Mayfield can be as low as 25%, however increasing to about 50% in Year 9 plus. There are quite a few London families at Mayfield - looking for a more gentle school away from the city, but not too far. A lot of these will go home every weekend- in a sense weekly boarding from Sunday to Friday.

Pastorally both very good, although I think Mayfield may have the edge - however that may be due to being a smaller school.

About 35/40% of girls leave Woldingham after GCSE'S, about 25% leave Mayfield after GCSE'S.

Not sure I agree on the % leaving Woldingham after GCSEs. Some do leave - typically to go to mixed sixth forms such as Trinity, caterham or Reigate, but this year it was more like 20%, with some new girls joining the sixth form.

Thanks, my figure must be out of date!

@Kinlocrhum no worries! (I have a DD in Y12 😃)

I actually can't believe they're aren't more comments here!

Hello, trying not to open another thread for these two schools, so hoping I get a response here.
Considering these two schools for my DD for September 2024 entry. She’ll be going into year 9 as a boarder.
Curious about academic performance and pastoral care - do they get good GCSE/A-level results? Are the girls happy there? How engaged are boarders over the weekend?
Thank you!

Not sure I can add any more to my comment from 2021. As a parent I was very happy with Mayfield School and would definitely recommend.

My DD is now at uni and whilst her year group didn't have many get into Oxbridge, a high percentage did go to Imperial and Durham which shows the school is very robust academically.

Thanks dobbyisahouseelf ….I appreciate the feedback on academic performance. Hoping to hear more from those who know of both schools from a boarding perspective…

Mayfield far better on boarding and pastoral front. Woldingham a little more racy than Mayfield, in the sense of boys, booze, etc. Mayfield definitely has a lot of boarders in at weekends. Plenty of activities going on.

https://sussex.muddystilettos.co.uk/kids/school-reviews/mayfield-school-mayfield/

recent review

https://www.mayfieldgirls.org/about/latest-news/e-weekly

Read their weekly newsletter to see what goes on too

Thanks a lot for this, kinlocrhum! Will surely have a read…