Rutlish School or Wimbledon College

[3kidslondonlife]

Hi everyone, we're looking at rutlish or wimbledon college as secondary school options for our DS - can i have some parent opinions please on these 2? They both seem to be pretty good academically, is that fair? And any additional info you can share about pastoral care, or sports etc, in fact any experiences, good or bad, very welcome! If you prefer to DM me thats fine too

are you comfortable with the Catholic nature of the College? You no longer HAVE to be Catholic to get a place, but it is still an overtly Catholic school

Wimbledon College set a lot more heavily - pretty much from the first term, in most subjects. Rutlish do not. Both do rugby. Rutlish is a predominantly local school, boys come to the College from a long way away. I know boys at both and they are all mostly happy.

Just by way of an update to the PP, Rutlish set from the January of Y7, so pretty early on, in maths, English, Science and MFL. Five bands for each of those subjects. I'd say that's early and extensively personally but I guess it depends on your perspective. They also set for RE from Y10. Top set science do all three for GCSE, top set maths do FSMQ as well as GCSE.

I agree that boys seem to mainly be happy at both. I have also known people who have moved from both but for very specific personal reasons as opposed to anything endemic in the schools.

@BlackberrySky I stand corrected! Friends with sons at R said they weren’t set very much. I think WC set in the humanities as well but agree differences in that regard closer than I thought.

The MFL setting is quite recent, it used to just be on a timetable carousel with IT and DT!

Re sports, Wimbledon College has its own swimming pool if your DS is into that. Rutlish has a strong connection with Old Ruts rugby/cricket/football club close to the school and use their facilities sometimes.

Rutlish has its own CCF, not sure if WC does or not.

I think Wimbledon College has Army Cadets (or did, a couple of years ago).

Thanks for your responses so far - very informative. We are definitely open to both to be honest, we're local and both schools seem to have a good reputation. We're not catholic, but i had also heard that the bar for non-catholic entry has slowly been coming lower in recent years at WC. The sets are very interesting to hear about, and clearly makes a difference for each child to find their pace in each subject. Id didnt realise that they both do CCF thats excellent. One thing that i noticed - WC is ofsted 'good' and gets higher grades than rutlish, whereas Rutlish is 'outstanding' and fairs a little worse (im looking at results only GCSE & A-Levels). Perhaps its other things - pastoral care, development etc. Anyway, im sure they will be happy in either one - if others have any opinions to share, please do!

Hi. My son is at Wimbledon College and my friend’s son is at Rutlish. Both are very happy and doing well, as you say they are both very good schools. We do agree that the extracurricular offering is better at the college, it is excellent for a state school. Good luck with your decision, I’m sure your son will be happy at either!

Wimbledon College vs Saint Cecilia,

I have a year 5 son, and we live between this school.
I heard both schools are good and I don't mind either. However, we are atheists, and we don’t practice any religion. I just realised that Wimbledon College is catholic and Saint Cecilia is C of E. I do not mind, and neither does my son; however, both schools require proof of practice. Is that right?? We are new in London, and I don't know how this works. There are non-faith schools a bit further down, but I prefer these two. The trouble is, though, if we started to practice a religion ( which sounds crazy, but I don't mind as I quite like going church for occasions and socialising purposes, etc.), of course, we have to practice just that, meaning we have to choose either C of E or catholic. It all sounds a bit wild, but I am not sure if we can get a place for these schools without practising religion, as I think those students get priority. There seem to be many more applications to Wimbledon College, and you need to live in a place where you can see the school. Is that right? Both schools are less than 10 minutes' drive and easy bike ride distance for us. I would appreciate it if someone could shed some light on this.

WC prioritises those who are practising or baptised catholics, and being practising wont count unless your child is baptised. BUT with the changes in birth rate they are admitting more and more non Catholics - who of course will have either proof of a different faith or no faith at all. There’s no harm in applying.

Hi.
I want to apply for both WC and Rutlish. Does it matter if you put WC or rutlish as first choice? I feel like I don't want to lose a place at Rutlish as he is more likely to get a place there. But would prefer WC.

Also what do the above comments mean by sets early on. (New mum here)

Thanks in advance : )

Always put your choices in genuine order of preference - schools wont know where they are on your form, so you will get a place at the highest ranked school for which you qualify.

WC put children into ability groups for each academic subject (“sets”) from very early on in the first year, based on the CAT test they do in June/July of year 6. They can be in different sets for different subjects. Other schools may teach in form groups/mixed ability groups