Epsom, St John’s, Reeds

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I hope everyone is managing to enjoy the half term break, despite the agonising over decisions! I thought this would be the easy part. i have read many threads comparing these schools over the years but now still find myself unable to decide between them.

My DS has 13+ offers. Epsom is the farthest from us and he would go there as a weekly boarder. TBH we weren’t expecting an offer and suspect our willingness to do weekly boarding has helped him make the cut. I am worried that it’s very full on and that despite him loving sports and being very social and outgoing, he might not be academically robust enough and might struggle to keep up. However when I dig in to their website/ newsletters it seems that the school does so much to support the children for exams, uni entrance / work experience it feels like there is a lot of value add.

St John’s is a coach journey of about 45mins according to the bus routes. We really liked the atmosphere there and it does genuinely seem like a kind school, my only hesitation is it seems like a very comfortable place to be. This is a good thing by and large but my DS is someone who does the minimum he can get away with. He works well under pressure and with high expectations put on him.

Reeds to be honest I know the least about. I didn’t really get a sense at Open Day of what it is really like and we don’t know any other families with children there. Also my DS is a keen footballer and they don’t do football. It is the closest to us but we are not local to the school.

The staff and children at all of the schools seemed lovely and it is hard to find the points of difference to choose one over the others.

Thanks for reading ! I honestly didn’t think we would have a choice or if we did that the choice would be this hard.

I live in the area but don't know the schools that well, but from what you have said I would go for Epsom College. If he is happy to board I think he'd have a great time. I didn't get the impression it was the most academic of schools, more for all rounders with the school achieving great exam results. Good luck with your choice!

Depends if your child wants to board and also you want them to board. Number one question. Only you two can answer that

I've got a child at St John's who I would describe as chilled out / easy going. He seems to be doing well on tests, totally loving the school and he has some really lovely friends. He is exceptionally happy. Gets the bus to school around 1 hr. Haven't had any problems there, never met the teacher but equally never had a phone call either so I'm sure everything is good. I've seen my boy do "homework" at home maybe 6 times max. It's all done at school. He's maybe done 6 hrs max in a term but his scores are good so no complaints. He says sometimes he does it on the bus home too (who knows). Suppose there is the option of flexi boarding too.

Reeds depends if he wants a boys school (well for the majority of the years) If your boy is totally into football don't pick a school that doesn't do it if his heart and soul is with footy.

No experience of Reeds, but have friends with children at St Johns and another who is a weekly boarder at Epsom College, I would definitely choose Epsom.

Thank you for the feedback. We have narrowed it down to Epsom and St John’s now and will attend the offer holder days next week.

I have 2 DC at Epsom - which we chose over St John's & Reeds. Can't fault it, we're happy, and DC are happy and thriving. Academics are high - school has high academic expectations for all children and importantly, help them to achieve their best.

I have DS at Epsom. He is shy and very sporty. He is absolutely thriving. The house system is great. The school makes A LOT of effort to make kids settled and happy. DS started with them in Year 9 so this is out first year. We had a parent-teacher and all the teachers were very professional and knew our DS very well.
One thing to mention, it's is a long day plus Saturday school. DS found it hard at first but as he loves sport he got used to it and now looks forward to Saturday `fixtures

Thank you Momof2Boys2020, we have accepted the offer from Epsom. They did a great job at the offer holders day and on balance it just felt right. We are delighted now the decision is made.

Oh my god I thought I could have written that post myself. We were exactly at the same situation and after the offer day, totally swayed by Epsom. Think my husband put down the deposit on the same day! They really did a great job.