Farlington or Battle Abbey School for secondary/sixth form

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Our family is considering either of these schools for our children. We visited both and liked everything we saw so far. Any first-hand experience of any?
our daughter is moving away from a very pushy/high achieving school but certainly has the ability to do great academically; we and she would just prefer a more positive environment. We think Farlington and Battle could offer that approach but wonder if they will also know when to push a little. Do you also have first hand feedback you can share? How are you children finding attending the school both academically and socially?

I know nothing of Farlington so cannot help you there. Battle Abbey is far from being an academic school but more middle of the road. The Abbey is beautiful but the facilities for sport, science etc are generally quite poor as they have limted area for growth. Up until quite recently, activities such as using the climbing wall took place at the local comp down the road. They do get some good results yearly but if you're looking for somewhere that can guide your dd forwards through A levels then I'd consider elsewhere

Any more views on Battle Abbey? They seem to get negative reviews on here but get good results (7% to Oxbridge, several medicine offers), surprisingly so for a small school, suggesting a good value added score.

Battle Abbey is fabulous. The opinion above that it is “far from academic” is very different to my family’s experience. My child came to the Abbey from one of the local preps, and it’s vastly more academic than the prep they came from. DC is on track for all 8s and 9s at GCSE and isn’t top of their year. Maybe that’s just their year group though - different people have different opinions and experiences don’t they!

I agree with the PP however that the facilities for sport are limited. My DC is very involved with the drama and music provision rather than sport, and both are of a very high standard. However for a super-sporty student it probably isn’t the right place.

Socially DC is very happy. They were bullied briefly but it was stamped on and sorted quickly, and a year on, DC and the student in question get on quite well. It’s a small school but there’s been no shortage of friends and likeminded students.

I would add that whilst the school is generally non selective, the vast majority of the 6th form are able students.. Agree 100% with above poster - sports facilities are poor, but music /drama is excellent. Nice atmosphere around the school too..