Best secondary schools in Wimbledon
Wimbledon’s state secondary school scene offers a mix of non-selective, faith, and single-sex education, with sixth forms the norm. Standards are generally impressive with a number consistently achieving excellent results. The grammar schools in neighbouring boroughs receive applications from Wimbledon children each year and a good number make the grade.
State secondary schools in Wimbledon
State-funded secondary education in Wimbledon (up until the end of year 11 at least) has tended to be non-selective and single sex. Rutlish School (boys), Ricard’s Lodge High School (girls), Ursuline High School (girls) and Wimbledon College (boys) have impressive results at GCSE. Both Ursuline High School and Wimbledon College admissions prioritise practising Catholics. Harris Academy Wimbledon is a new addition to the local options offering co-ed secondary education. Good Progress 8 scores were registered with its first crop of GCSE results, and its first A level cohort performed solidly in 2025. Raynes Park High is the other, longer-standing, co-ed choice for families opting for state secondary in the area. Its profile has been raised by a partnership with Fulham Football Club, which seeks to help students study for A levels and vocational courses whilst training professional footballers.
Grammar schools near Wimbledon
Parents wanting to take advantage of grammar schools look primarily to the neighbouring boroughs of Sutton and Kingston. Competition is fierce – 10 applications for every place considered the norm – and tutoring (often intensive) is very much the order of the day.
In Kingston, Tiffin School and The Tiffin Girls’ School are both highly selective and require a two-stage entrance process to ‘sift’ through the hordes that apply. Those who achieve sufficiently high scores in the first part will be invited back to sit stage two. Places for 180 students available at each school. Proximity to the school forms part of the revised admissions criteria, with ‘designated’ and ‘inner’ areas relevant when applying for Tiffin Girls and a ‘priority’ area of a 10 kilometre radius for the boys’ school. SW19 and SW20 postcodes, or parts thereof, both qualify. There are no feeder schools and over 200 schools have sent boys to Tiffin Boys in the last three years.
In Sutton, five fully selective grammar schools (Wallington County Grammar School, Sutton Grammar School and Wilson’s School for boys and Wallington High School and Nonsuch High School for Girls) form part of Sutton’s co-ordinated admissions scheme. As with the Kingston schools, sifting via a selective eligibility test and then, if invited, a second stage (the applicant numbers for this remain eye-watering) leading to ranked lists. The schools have slightly different admissions criteria and use the aggregate scores in different ways. Some, but not all, offer places on the basis of the highest scores in the entrance test, irrespective of home address.
State sixth forms near Wimbledon
All the secondary schools in Merton now have sixth forms. Ursuline High School, Wimbledon College and Raynes Park High School have their own thriving sixth forms while Rutlish School and Ricard’s Lodge High School combine forces as RR6 for the final two years. Out of the immediate area, Esher Sixth Form College remains a popular option for pupils from state and independent schools alike. Harris Academy Wimbledon only has one set of A level results under its belt but there is a partnership with local high flying independent King’s College School for years 12 and 13 to specifically help with university and careers guidance.
State secondary schools for children with Special Educational Needs
At secondary level, Raynes Park High supports children with autism while Ricard’s Lodge and Rutlish High cater for those with speech, language and communication needs.
For children who require more than a mainstream school can provide, Merton has a variety of specialist settings. There are three state funded special schools – Cricket Green School, Melbury College (comprising Melrose School, Canterbury Campus and Whatley Campus) and Perseid School - provide for a variety of more profound needs for children up to the age of 19 (16 in the case of Melrose) who have an Education Health and Care Plan.