St Bede’s Redhill or RAA

[Shz84]

Hi,
Looking for opinions on these schools… I’ve visited both for open days and actually got a good feel at both of them but it would be good to see what people’s actual experiences are? For Royal Alexandra and Albert, we would opt for flexi-boarding and the facitilies, extra-curricular clubs etc. look amazing but I don’t want to overlook the education side of things. The classes looked fairly small (20 per class?) which is definitely a positive but there lots of negative reviews out there. St Bede’s is obviously more academic and they get very strong results. We go to church and like the element of Collective Worship. They have a huge intake each year though - do they really know all the children or can children feel a bit lost in a bigger school?
Thanks in advance!

If you have the choice St Bedes every time. RAAS has a checkered history especially with boarding. Those who go through St Bedes usually do well and can move to Reigate College for sixth form for more vocational courses.

Hi, thank you so much for your reply. And good to know there are vocational courses as options elsewhere if needed. I might look RAAS history with the boarding side of things as they got a recent ‘outstanding’ although I wouldn’t base it all on ofsted reports anyway!

I think it depends on the child. RAA very good for less academic but thrive on sports. St Bedes is very good for academic (and sport), less good for students who aren’t square pegs.