Kingsdale vs Sydenham high

[vcfromhk]

Hi my daughter has to choose between the 2. I know one is independent with a small batch and the other is a large school. We moved from Hong Kong a few months ago and she was in a IB school in HK. She went to a state school in London for last 3 months of her year 6. She was able to adjust well and was even selected as narrator for her school play. Her strength is language and she is average in Maths. She is not much into sports. She always makes few very thick friends. Sydenham would also mean 1500+ pounds a month.

We are also looking around south london on where to live long term and plan to buy a house so it's possible that next year she may have to change her school. Would be good to know if Kingsdale is worth keeping if we move as far as Putney and she has to travel.

My DD is at Kingsdale and has a very long commute - which both DD and us as her parents think is worth it.

Lots of children travel from all over London and well beyond to go there, so there's not the issue of being the only one that isn't local in terms of social life etc.

Very happy with the school - feel free to PM if you have any specific questions.

In terms of languages, they offer French, German, Spanish and Latin - and will facilitate others.

They do specialise in Maths, with scholarships on offer (as well as Music, Sport and Art). DD is very definitely NOT a mathematician but seems to enjoy her lessons and the maths staff seem to be good at making it interesting even for those not in top sets.

Bar the two compulsory lessons a week of PE, sport is optional.

If you do want to do extra-curricular sport, they offer horse-riding, archery, dance, fencing and swimming alongside the usual netball, football, cricket type options.

Thank you. I will ping you

Any more opinions between the 2

There won't be many people with experience of both to compare. I know people happy at both. They are so different that its probably worth focusing on what would suit your specific child- co-ed vs all girls, small vs large, specific provision etc and general ethos.