Priorsfield tormead and other guildford girls private schools

[Sunnyside1987]

Hi there,

Interested to know of anyone’s experience of priorsfield school, tormead and any of the other private girls school in the guildford area. We have offers and some scholarships which is amazing, just waiting for some others to be released next week.
Do people feel scholarships are becoming almost an incentive private schools are now using more freely to entice customers given the vat hike dropping numbers? Priorsfield seems to have offered a lot of scholarships but we don’t know what other applicants have been offered.

thank you!

Yeah some of the scholarships don’t even offer a discount, no idea what the point is. When I was a kid maybe 1 kid got a scholarship, now it’s more like 15.

No kids in the game any more. So current opinion via friends with kids at school plus staff I know.

Priorsfield is smaller, no prep school of its own to feed it, so has to work hard for its year 7 numbers. They've always offered a very high number of scholarships, if you google local prep school's senior school destinations, you always see the largest is the number of PF offers and scholarships. Not sure how much they're worth, usually 5-10% I think. The school itself must be feeling the effects of vat, NI and rates as their financials (always check school accounts online!) were always a little tighter, as you can see in their accounts. Not sure if that's going to feed through to less generous scholarships though. Academics not as high as other local schools, but appeals to girls for other good reasons.

Tormead don't seem to offer as many scholarships, and I've heard that this year is no different, not sure what they're worth. They have a very popular prep school though, which means they only need a smaller number of externals for yr7, and a employee I know there said their yr7 taster day and 11+ day was really busy. So they are clearly still v popular right now. TM more academic than PF, which won't suit every DD, plus city centre location, not fields or semi rural like PF or StCats. Apart from the standard couple of moaners (who would moan anywhere), always hear v good things from parents and girls.

St cats is the one you haven't mentioned. Academic, same as tormead, slightly more so , but tormead seems to be nibbling at its heels every year now. New head on the way , could be good, could be bad, who knows. Rolling fields in rural area, if that's your bag. Reputation for pastoral care not always their strong point - as per parent reports - not first hand, so don't take as gospel. Not sure what scholarships they are offering, but they tend to operate similar to tormead in this area.

If I was choosing right now I'd be looking for value for money: a good all round school, that is financially secure long-term, with the lowest fees to protect my wallet.

Good luck!

@Sunnyside1987 I think Gov policy may have a mix of the two effects. I think a lot of schools will actually roll back on bursaries and scholarships to save money, especially those that are popular and don't need to worry about numbers. Which is a sad, sad reality of Labour's VAT policy - alongside all the other terrible repercussions.

There might, however, be a few schools rolling their last dice, by trying to bolster numbers and ofdering scholarships to do so. After all, 'some kids paying something' is better than 'no kids paying nothing'... but not sure Surrey as an area is at that stage yet.

In other news, I highly recommend Tormead, as per all my other related MN posts. We have had a great first term(s) in Yr7, my DD is very happy. Obviously every school has its ups and downs and TM I'm sure will be no exception as we progress up the school. Have you visited?

St cats you didn't mention, if you're looking at PF and want something similar area and style (more country) i would recommend you go look at them too when deciding especially of that's your part of the woods.

Where have you visited and whete do you have offers and scholarships for then? The subject might also make a difference as each school had differing strengths.

We didn’t apply for st cats, the tormead offers though are not released until next Friday,

@Sunnyside1987 "We have offers and some scholarships which is amazing, just waiting for some others to be released next week."

So apart from Priors Field, which schools are you referring to? I assumed all offers were out by the post you made, so sorry if I've jumped the gun.

Who else are you realistically comparing PF to then with regards to your offers/scholarships?

That way people can better offer advice. Otherwise your post doesn't really make any sense.

I was in this position a couple of years ago. We went with pf in the end despite having scholarship offers at 3 schools. The thing to remember with pf is that it’s not ‘less academic’, it’s less selective. But actually the value added is outstanding. My view is my daughter will do just as well as she would have done academically anywhere else but she’ll also be happy and supported pastorally. She’s already doing extremely advanced maths and is suitably pushed academically. She can go to drop in sessions at any point. She’s loving and it and we feel we made the right decision. Good luck!

@Surreymummy81 thanks that’s helpful, I have pinged you a PM if you don’t mind x

Another PF mum here (no scholarships though). All I heard about Tormead and St.Cats was very good and we know girls in both schools who are happy and doing extremally well. I can say the same about PF. It is not unusual for a PF girl to have a sister in St. Cats. All three schools are different, hence suite to different girls. I would agree with Surreymummy81 that academic girls would be stretched and challanged, and their acheavements would be recognised. At the same time there is a number of girls who require some extra support, hence overall value added is very impressive. At PF definitely lower number of alfa-girls compared to other two schools, hence if your DD is shy, probably, it would be more gentle inviroment. Choose what inviroment suits better for you DD.

Tormead parent here - don't know much about PF of recent times, as it's been 4 years since we looked around there, and I'm sure it's just as the PPs described - but I can confidently say that there are no 'alpha girls', or the like, at Tormead.

We have wide friendship groups in both my DDs years, and friends in the prep school too.

There is a strong sense of community, friendship and support between the girls. Doing well and having a bad day are equally OK at the school, the girls help each other out and leave with long lasting friendships. There is certainly no sense of competition or pressure to do well academically/sporty/etc between the girls and everyone seems to find their niche. There are certainly no 'queen bees' and peer groups seem well balanced. I'm delighted with my DDs friendship groups, of which she has a few, both general ones and those that have come about a result of clubs and sports she is into.

It's definitely a school of normal down to earth kids.

With that in mind, I would recommend Tormead to anyone and if you've been offered a scholarship OP, I would be very proud, as they aren't given out lightly.

I've heard that the PF scholarships are up to 40% or more off? How are they affording that in this current climate.

Also heard the deadline is Friday this week. Isn't that a bit early - aren't all schools later on and have to be the same date locally?

Tormead is lovely, so is St Cats.

I’ve seen some friends have really tough times at Guildford High and St Theresa’s. Bullying, cliques, etc.

Agree - Tormead and StCats defo the best options these days for a straight forward, proper, independent education, without the BS.

GHS is brand name and nothing more. Many doubt GHSs ability to add any value and a lot of the Junior School teachers are new and young. They literally take the best, due to the brand, and the smoke and mirrors, and then churn out the best. Usually due to the kids being clever to start with, or tutored to within an inch of their lives, or pressure to succeed. United Learning is of course a business, not a proper charity, like other independent schools, it needs its image to survive and sell itself.

St Theresa's used to be great, but has gone a bit weird. Know a few people who have left for other pastures. Financially stable, maybe, due to the 'foundation', but nobody really gets what the whole Cranmore, St Ts, Manor House things is about anymore tbh.

St Cats has gone through a rough patch of crappy pastoral care and bullying stories, but that seems to have panned out now online and what u see is what you get I would guess, which is fair and allows parents to make an informed decision. It's academic and a solid school.

Tormead has gone from a 3rd place backup for nice girls with really good pastral care to a success story in recent yrs. Academics have come on miles and school is popular.

Overall, loads to choose from, but most rate either TM or StCs - unless youre obsessed by GHS branding.... But, do check the accounts. I seriously doubt the survivability of some, priors field perhaps too.

Another caring, down to earth private school is Duke of Kent. In-between Guildford and Dorking, so it depends where you live

@Notonyours I think that's a very unfair assessment of GHS. Yes they take bright girls but I don't know any in my two daughters' years who were tutored at all, let alone within an inch of their lives.

Mine were normal bright (and in one case very bright) children from a state primary who had no tutoring either to get into GHS (admittedly in those days the entrance tests were just English and maths) or while they were there. They were very happy at GHS and didn't report feeling under any particular pressure to succeed.

For what it's worth, Tormead was our second (and only other) choice and I think the girls would have been happy and done well there too.

GHS and Tormead scholarships used to be worth a decent amount so they have obviously changed their policies.