Surbiton High vs LEH

[LemonandYuzu]

We are trying to decide between these two schools. Can someone with experience of both please provide their views? LEH is much more convenient but we find the culture quite uptight (not the girls but the teachers and staff). Surbiton more relaxed but main facilities much scruffier and no green space compared to LEH. Surbiton seems to have wider variety of sports and extracurricular, LEH very narrow focus. I have heard many secondhand comments that LEH left their girls with no confidence. Does anyone have any negative experiences of Surbiton High?

LEH a step up academically and close links to Hampton next door (ie boys) which is a clear differentiator. I also felt SHS very overcrowded, not helped by the bulge years when they messed up the number of admissions.

Also heard about some very unhappy SHS girls - school poor at responding to parents/helping.

I sadly think most of these SW London all girls schools aren’t the best and most supportive environments these days - high fees place a lot of demands on everyone.

SHS doesn't have green space on site but fantastic sports grounds a short coach ride away and they make use of other venues such as Excel centre and Surbiton Hockey Club. As with LEH, most girls spend their lunch breaks in clubs so outdoor space not really an issue. I think form groups are put together more sensibly at SHS (by post code mostly), I've heard LEH use different criteria which can mean girls end up in classes with others that live nowhere near them. Happy to share more about SHS over PM. Nowhere is perfect but you need to work out what suits your DD best.

Oh and I've heard fantastic things about pastoral support for both schools. Of course some Subject teachers are better/more responsive than others but at least you can email them directly and escalate to head of year if needed.

@LemonandYuzu , what age is your dd?

@tennissquare she is going into year 7 next year

@LemonandYuzu , I would wait until the offer letters are in front of you, the LEH interviews / 2nd stage can throw up odd results, you could just as easily get a WL rather than an offer even if she aced the first stage.
Surbiton had a terrible over offer issue 2 years ago, too many dd accepted places leading to a massive year group so last year they were very cautious with offers and using the WL. Plus some of their sport is off the charts like girls football so you have no idea how many places will be given to dd who passed the exam and currently play football at a high level under the age of 11! It's all a guessing game .
You also get a chance to visit the school again if you get a straight offer in February.

Surbiton High get 11 Oxbridge offer this year

https://www.surbitonhigh.com/2024/01/26/surbiton-high-school-celebrates-11-oxbridge-offers/

@LemonandYuzu , how did you get on with the offers?

and close links to Hampton next door (ie boys)
hardly. Apart from drama club they only meet girls on the bus.

We have offers for both. Might also get Waldegrave on 1st March. It's a difficult decision.

@LemonandYuzu , is your dd sporty? Will the swimming/lacross v hockey/football options make a difference? My dd has left SHS and my ds is at Hampton, there is a difference in the expectations from staff and parents of the 2 schools that I expect you will pick up at the open days for offers at the SHS/LEH options. If your dd is musical the music will be much better at LEH as it's quite weak at SHS but inclusive, ie anyone can join a choir etc. if you are thinking ahead to Sixth form the SHS sixth form is very strong and 11 Oxbridge offers this year.
Waldegrave is of course a great option too.

Hi there, agree with the posters above on space and facilities however the form group advantage has gone at Surbiton and they are no longer by postcode either (despite the comments on the website) which makes it difficult as there is the river to consider as well. The girls do everything for 2 years in those forms and they are set for 5 years. Things don't move so your only real option if you don't like your form or have issues is to move school and many do. It's a larger school making it difficult to for the girls to ge known (LEH is quite a bit smaller) decision making and communication is very direct. Obviously the head changing at Surbiton may help matters.

not sure where you’ve got that from. Postcode grouping of forms is definitely still in place at SHS. And I have also heard of girls moving forms although I don’t know much about that.

Apparently there was a letter from the Head on Friday explaining to parents how it has changed going forward.

Forms are still allocated according to home location at SHS. That remains the pupil's form, however, at the end of Y7 they split the class to merge with another form for most lessons. They then do the same exercise at the end of Y8 (I believe). So after 3 years, they have mixed with 3 forms total. In addition some classes are streamed so mix of girls in those. By Y10, things mix up a bit according to GCSE options. I don't think this is anything new, there hasn't been recent comms on this.