Ardingly (West Sussex) or. Kingswood (Bath).

[Didimax]

We are relocating to the UK next summer and have short listed 2 schools for our 11 and 13 years old.?
We will be traveling a lot and DH may work freelance in London on/off so we can live anywhere. I prefer to be near a town where there are lots to do.
Be great if anyone can give some insight on Ardingly or Kingwoods and living in Haywards Heath or Bath.
Thanks in advance!.

[happygardening]

Kingswood is popular with the locals and considered a very caring school. All abilities apparently do well. The centre of Bath which is lovely is literally just up the road. Are you looking for boarding? It does have boarders but they are very much in the minority so wouldn't be my first choice if I was looking for a boarding school.

[Didimax]

Hi Happygardening, thank you for your reply!. Looking for day school. We saw Prior Park n Monkton as well. Kingswood stood out among them.

[LIZS]

ah just come over form your other thread. Ardingly not perceived as particularly strong academically although they do have some notable successes, but more of a soft academic and all-rounded option for sporty kids. Haywards Heath is not a pretty town but some of the local villages are nice and good links to London/Brighton. Bath would be more attractive to me personally.

[littlesupersparks]

Bath is a lovely place to live. Quite a few private schools to pick from too, as I understand. I teach fairly locally although not in a private school.

[happygardening]

I'm not a city person but if I had to live in one Bath would be my first choice, its lovely and civilised, nice shops/restaurants etc. beautiful countryside, the Cotswolds on your door step, nice villages around it. If you what the odd cosmopolitan day, Bristol is up the road. Good train links into London but not cheap at morning peak tines.
I've driven through Haywards Heath once not really comparable.
Other popular schools in Bath are The a Royal a High School (girls) and King Edwards we've got friends with DC`s at both all seem happy.

[giddybiddy]

Depends how close you want to London, cannot really compare Haywards Heath to Bath. HH is a small town with pretty surrounding villages which has great London connections and good schools such as Ardingly. Ardingly is a very strong school, despite not being one of the most academically selective gets very good results, think in top 10 in UK for IB results and one of best in W Sussex overall. Also good sport and music, we are very happy with it. The other good thing is it has an international outlook which attracts a number of returning expats and stops it from getting too insular which can happen with other local schools . Bath a lovely city, with all the benefits living in a city may bring, however not so convenient to London obviously. Have heard Prior Park is very good.

[Didimax]

Hi Giddybiddy, We visited Prior Park as well. Head was good and very friendly and approachable. Made kids felt at ease. However school facilities were a bit run down though they are building a new sport centre now. Kingswood has good facilities and seems more organised.
Thanks for your views on Ardingly. Kids and DH like the school and all it has to offer. Only I'm not sure about living in HH (too quiet?). Guess if school is good will have to try. At least London n Heathrow are close by. Also is it easy to make friends in HH?. TIA!

[giddybiddy]

There are some lovely villages within 10 minutes of HH and the train connections from there are great to London and Brighton. You do have good access to theatre, restaurants and things like that as so easy to get into town. Ardingly do some social things so parents meet each other and generally it is an area people are always moving to due to great commute so think you'd find a network fairly soon.