Good enough that the house price quietly includes them. The primaries score well above the expected standard in maths. The two state secondaries sit comfortably in respectable territory. Across the county, more than nine in ten graded schools are good or better. Parents here are not paying for the river view so much as for the letter that arrives in spring.
At primary level, the nine mainstream state primaries around here average a Key Stage 2 maths score of about 106, which puts the typical eleven-year-old ahead of the national expectation rather than scrambling to meet it. Godalming Junior School carries the town's name, and Busbridge Infant School and Farncombe Church of England Infant School cover the early years on either side of the Lammas Lands. None of this is an accident of geography. The families who can afford the housing here tend to arrive with homework already planned.
At secondary level, the two mainstream state secondaries in the area post a pupil-weighted Attainment 8 score of about 54, a solid result that says the good primary years are not being wasted at eleven. Broadwater School, in the north of the parish, is the nearest option for most of the town, and Godalming College, founded in 1975 on the campus of the old grammar school, takes the sixteen-to-nineteen crowd to the south of the town centre. Then there is Charterhouse on its hill, the independent school that moved here from London in 1872 and has been lending the town a certain tone ever since. It is not the comparison the state schools are asking for, but it is the one some buyers make anyway.
Ofsted's picture covers all of Surrey, not only Godalming, so it is a county backdrop and not a local verdict. Of the 159 settings with a published overall grade, 147 are rated good or better, which is more than nine in ten. Thirty are Outstanding, seven require improvement and five are Inadequate. The odds are firmly on the side of the parent, which does not stop every parent assuming they will be one of the unlucky dozen.
A school's name on the estate agent's particulars is not a place in the classroom. Admissions run on the council's rules for distance and priority, and those rules do not bend because you paid a premium for the postcode. Check the admissions criteria for the specific school and the specific year before assuming the move comes with a seat. The sensible buyer rings the admissions team before the surveyor.
Schooling is one of Godalming's real strengths, strong from the first year of primary through to the sixth form. Families pay for the privilege, and on this evidence they get what they paid for.