Hey,
I left Oundle recentlyish. I have friends from the others besides Fettes.
Don't want to muddy your decision just an honest appraisal.
E and W are great schools. They provide a great education. However, I don't think theyre performing miracles. Take the brightest boys at 13 and put them together without the distraction of the opposite sex for 5 years, then frankly, I think they should produce great results. And they do. Just, as mentioned above, be prepared for them to not accept your child because the entrance procedure is hard and they really do know who they are picking.
Regarding Oundle. The entrance requirement of the school is not high. Please correct me if wrong but I believe it is 55% CE at 13? For a school with that entrance requirement to produce the results it does, was for me why I would recommend it. I hands-down admit I was not an E and W candidate at 13 and could have been left to coast. Oundle did not let me do this, and I got amazing grades and definitely exceeded academic my hopes. There were cases of students in bottoms sets getting into Oxbridge! If I had gone to somewhere else, I am sure I would have much worse grades. It (although have seen experiences of it happening on here to the contrary) takes people with wide potential paths at 13 and gets them to the very top of that path. It has an incredible work ethic that drove me and my friends. We all worked hard. It also is big, and self-reliance and making you work to and find your own schedule was also key. This sort of attitude definitely helped me at university and in the world of work. And it is why I think my friends found the transition at University not too bad (this is anecdotal)
So am not quite sure what other's knowledge of Oundle is on here, but clearly it isn't correct. It is probably top 3 co ed in UK.
There is a tendency to compare Oundle and Uppingham as quite similar because they're close and in a rural market town etc. This might have been the case 30 years ago and while there are similarities the education and energy of both places is definitely quite different now and I would strongly advise, as well as with the other schools, of visiting. When I was there (clearly they have upped entrance requirements form other comments), it was quite a bit less academic, and expectations on the students academically was not that high. I know a few parents who were slightly confused (read frustrated) they sent their child to Uppingham and got the grades they did when their peers from prep school who went to Oundle who were the same academic ability at 13 were getting MUCH higher grades. This might have changed with an entrance requirement but I wouldn't say Oundle's academic acheivements was because of what was being taken in, it was much more about the energy of the place; strong work ethic and ambitious.
Also don't be put off by Oundle's size. People on here mention it is too big and no pastoral care. In fact, I think socially, bigger is better. Year groups aren't dominated by a certain popular group, and actually I think it helps to provide an environment to express yourself in as an individual.
Fettes I don't know.
Would just point out visit all because I cant stress enough the school has to be right, not because it is on paper the best.