Outstanding state co-ed school in South London/ Surrey direction

[Lightbulbs]

I currently live near Dulwich but I am looking to move as we can't afford private and are not in the catchment of any very good/ Outstanding primary's and secondaries. We'd also like a slightly bigger home/ garden.

I have 2 children, 8 and 6 and so secondary schools is my top priority.

What I would love in an ideal world:

Top budget: £900k
An outstanding Co-educational state secondary school. Plus if there is also an outstanding primary that would be a bonus.
4 bed, with a study as my husband works from home.
Commute no more than 1 hour into central London.
Areas I am keen on: Bromley direction
Family live in Oxshott, Surrey but I feel it's quite expensive. Family also live in Ladywell.
A country feel....not too remote but village feel.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

@tennissquare there aren’t any grammars in Surrey. It’s a fully comprehensive county.

Liphook. Bohunt School

Ok I was thinking of the Sutton grammars being under Surrey. They do impact the provision of comprehensives in Surrey though.

@tennissquare Sutton hasn’t been part of Surrey since 1965. Yes I suppose there might be some pupils who live on the northern edge of Surrey who go to schools in London but it’s not something I’ve heard of.

Although technically the grammar schools in Sutton and Kingston are NOT Surrey, they are routinely and regularly lumped together as Surrey. This has been true for a long time and people locally understand this with lots of people who technically live in Surrey attending them - we are Surrey and DD is looking at either Nonsuch (Sutton, although technically Cheam) or Tiffin (Kingston).

Horsell is a village connected to Woking. Fabulous schools and housing that would fit your price bracket. Great commuting links to London and lovely village feeling with local shops, good pubs and access to countryside .

@MsMarch oh ok, how confusing. News to me despite having lived in Surrey all my life, but we are in Waverley so opposite end of the county.

We live in Sanderstead - we have two Outstsanding primaries on our doorstep, and a high achieving (non selective) Outstanding state secondary, along with being within preferred admission distance for a number of the Sutton grammars.

Trains into Victoria or London Bridge both take less than 30 mins from Purley or Sanderstead stations.

The downside of course, is that you're in Croydon Borough which puts people off as they assume everywhere in the borough is the same as the town centre; and the local council has declared bankruptcy twice (I think) in the last 5 years.

I work in education and frequently use the Ofsted handbook. Nowhere does outstanding mention testing every term from Y1 up. Don’t misinform people.

Yes, it is a bit confusing if you're not a local. We are in Epsom. There are so many grammar schools that we officially can apply to - 7 I think although that's for both boys and girls. It's a bit more complicated by the fact that we have to do the application via Surrey but people get through it.

All the schools here are amazing to be honest - all the people listen already

Ah we have good friends in Epsom but their children go to schools in Epsom and I don’t think they ever mentioned grammars. I suppose the naming is a hangover from when Sutton and Kingston used to be part of Surrey before London nicked them. Although I have met people from places like Wimbledon and Croydon who absolutely insist that they really live in Surrey!

I'm sorry, I was genuinely trying to help. I'll not post again as I don't want to derail. We were downgraded though because doing something like a KWL grid at the end of a unit didn't give enough information about what children had learnt - they expected some sort of quiz or test. That's my experience and most of the schools I work closely with nearby do similar. There was a lot more to my post about why I wouldn't worry too much about Outstanding vs Good. I thought it might help the OP.

Thank you, I lived in Wimbledon for most of my life so bit scared to move out too far and too quite area.. but I think it’s time to move somewhere quieter and family area but in a small town or village…
i’ll look at these schools..

haha. I guess SW London is considered not sufficiently high brow?

The Epsom schools are good so I'm not surprised your friends aren't using grammars unless they specifically want to. The CoE co-ed in Ashtead/Leatherhead (St Andrews) is one of the top non selective state schools in the country. And Blenheim has got better every year for the last few although still not at the academic level of some of the others (we know lots of families at Blenheim though and they're happy with the school, mostly). And of course, the single sex schools - Rosebery and Glyn - have both long had excellent reputations and results.

DD wants to go to a grammar school but I'd be quite happy with either Rosebery or Blenheim for her if she doesn't get in.

Add to this a few stations (but on a faster line) Petersfield has The Petersfield School part of Bohunt Academy, Ofsted outstanding and lots of excellent primary schools in the area

Just to say that St Andrews in Leatherhead is Catholic, not CoE. But it is indeed an amazing school, I’m told.

Heard that Blenheim high school doesn’t care much about bullying for staff and seen posts that students feel same. A friend was treated very badly and staff are too afraid to whistleblow do lie if questioned fur a grievance process due to repercussions

Those that witnessed lied and it was known they had

@claireac bit random to come on an old thread to bash blenheim? Are you saying chidlren bully staff? Or staff are bullied by other staff? Bit confusing

It's a huge school and I know a lot of families there and it's definitely a mix of happy and not happy. I think that's inevitable with a big school though - if it works for YOUR child, great. But it might not.

Staff bullying staff to the point of depressions d. Nothing do. Witnesseds and previous victims too scared to come forward. Many teachers are leaving and the school has a problem with ignoring or covering up bullying
As for me randomly posting, it’s that what this site is for when something g needs to known

can you get into St Andrews if you're not religious? Im confused after reading their admissions info

You should start your own thread.

Broadly, in theory, you can get into St Andrews if you are not religious or catholic. BUT, their criteria, from when I looked at them last year, are quite comlicated. So your best chance is being catholic and actively involved in your local parish. I forget exactly how they define that but I seem to recall being catholic in itself puts you further down the criteria list than being catholic and actively involved in your parish.

If you are not catholic, then your chances go down a lot. I seem to recall some years they have all intake as catholic and others they have a few that aren't - but it's less than 10% (I believe). If you're getting in on a year where they don't have a lot of catholics, then being religious in another religion is less important than being formally of another religion. ie I think they take any baptised Orthodox next after catholics, then they carry on down the list of christian options and so on.

For a choice of excellent schools, with Surrey on your doorstep, you want to be in the boroughs of Richmond or Kingston. Your budget wouldn't give you the run of the boroughs, but could see you near Greycourt in Ham, for example, which has an excellent reputation.

Thanks for this! That’s really helpful as I didn’t understand any of their admissions info!

so basically I have a very slim chance, I just want co-ed! Heard Rosebery girls can be very mean to each other