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Education

Papplewick

28 replies

Tino1970 · 12/02/2015 12:23

Hi all,

Has anyone got any advice for me? We are considering Papplewick for our son. We have no intention of sending him to Eton/Harrow etc at secondary as we have a great local school. However, he is excellent at Sport and the development of this at primary just isn't there. Does anyone have any experience of Papplewick who can share their thoughts on its Sports provision and success in this area?

OP posts:

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ZeroFunDame · 12/02/2015 12:51

We have no intention of sending him to Eton/Harrow etc at secondary as we have a great local school.

OP In my experience prep schools of this calibre want pupils who are likely to proceed to the public schools they regularly prepare for.

While you may feel the school has much to offer you, they may not feel it is worth their while to give a place to a boy who is likely to leave at 11. It's not what the school exists for.

However, I only know the school as somewhere we considered but did not follow up on. You may have more detailed knowledge or already have spoken to the school. Or indeed what you plan might be something that happens often at that particular school.

It is on the same match circuit as other schools I know better. They all take sport similarly seriously as far as I can see.

grovel · 12/02/2015 12:51

What about Lambrook? Better sports facilities I think. Would your son leave at 11 (to go to Charters?).

grovel · 12/02/2015 12:55

Lambrook would be more used to losing children at 11 because it is co-ed and some girls move at that age.

Tino1970 · 12/02/2015 13:40

I think that's the intention yes. I am just not keen on boarding and Charters is a great local school with fantastic sports provision. So I'm thinking of giving him a good solid grounding at Primary and then switching.

Who knows once you're in though!

OP posts:

BearsAndAngels · 12/02/2015 13:50

I can only comment on the sporting side as my DS regularly plays matches against these schools.

Lambrook seem to have better facilities and amazing sports staff. If I was looking from a sport point of view it would be Lambrook or St Georges Windsor.

grovel · 12/02/2015 13:57

In 2014 Lambrook had children go on to Charters, Holyport College, Windsor Boys and Windsor Girls (as well as 5 to Eton, 9 to Wellington etc). Papplewick don't appear to have many/any leavers going on to state schools.

ZeroFunDame · 12/02/2015 14:00

So is that a common thing where you are? Papplewick doesn't mention Charters in its list of leavers' destinations.

Bottom line - I'm sure Papplewick is a lovely school but what you plan will take a place away from a boy who needs to prepare for Common Entrance. And they'll have to fill the space in year 7 which is a nuisance for teachers and boys already there. And not easy for the new pupil either. Why not find a different route?

(I am more than usually tetchy atm - as we hurtle towards CE and more.)

grovel · 12/02/2015 14:07

Good luck with the CE, Zero.

ZeroFunDame · 12/02/2015 14:10

Not CE.

Can we please not talk about it ...

I've actually been trying to avoid prep school threads recently. I'll feel better in September I'm sure.

grovel · 12/02/2015 14:12

OK. CE for where? Or am I being nosy?

ZeroFunDame · 12/02/2015 14:37

I meant child is not doing CE. In schol class. Heaven knows why - only cares about sci-fi and football. And all the prospective post-exam fun ...

Tino1970 · 12/02/2015 14:46

If I felt there was another way to get the sports elements then I would. However, state primaries just don't do it justice and local clubs don't get involved much in county level sports, trips overseas etc.

Charters is a fantastic state school, with its own tennis courts, sports pitches, coaches etc and is walkable from the home and free. In addition, should he show any academic prowess then they have several kids a year that get into Oxbridge. I just don't see the need in that scenario.

And surely, he'll be one less competitor for the CE when the time comes :-)

OP posts:

grovel · 12/02/2015 14:59

Is there some reason you singled out Papplewick ahead of all the other local preps?

ZeroFunDame · 12/02/2015 15:26

Think we're talking at cross purposes OP. It's not a question of how brilliant your prospective next school is - it is that Papplewick is clearly a "traditional" preparatory school and earns its reputation by getting boys into traditional public schools. Preferably with scholarships. As previous posters have said, a different prep might take a different approach.

CE is not a competitive exam. Each child has to reach the pass mark for the school at which they already have a conditional offer. So - even if you got your DS into Papplewick on the basis that you wanted what all the other parents want the school would probably become rather anxious when you were not registering him for any senior schools.

grovel · 12/02/2015 15:52

Dame, I think that OP should be open with any prep about her intentions from Day One. I suspect co-ed preps will be more open to the proposition because they already lose girls at age 11 and plan accordingly.

OP, Lambrook seems to be a more "local" school than Papplewick (I think of P as a boarding school with day boys and of L as day school with some weekly boarders). If your DS followed your plan he would probably find it easier to maintain Lambrook friendships once he had moved on to Charters.

Dame, scholarship to where if I may ask. With your name I rather assume he's going for a four letter word near Slough.

Tino1970 · 12/02/2015 15:56

Okay, thanks for help. Will also look at Lambrook.

Are there many scholarships at the early years level out there? What are they typically worth?

OP posts:

ZeroFunDame · 12/02/2015 16:01

Mmm... But I certainly wasn't thinking of that with my ever evolving MN name.

It was a prep school thread that brought me to MN a few years ago when we started looking for one. I was youngand intemperate then and tended to post before I thought. So I went through several name changes in abject shame. Just lately I've noticed my responses become patently snotty and irritable. (Sorry OP.) I may soon have to de-reg until the new academic year ...

Dapplegrey · 12/02/2015 16:46

Op best of luck finding a prep school for your ds.
Zero best of luck to your ds for his exam. My ds did it and although he didn't get an award he didn't have to take CE so half term was pressure free.

peteneras · 12/02/2015 16:56

Papplewick has a proud record of sending boys to major public schools with scholarships of various descriptions including the King’s Scholarship, grovel. There was a time not too long ago when 2 or 3 boys annually win the KS. It happened again in 2012. My son was one of them in his year.

OP, sports is taken seriously at Papplewick. That’s one of the main reasons why I sent my DS there when we were deciding on prep schools - he could have gone to any prep school in the land with guaranteed acceptance!

They travel wide and far to play sports. They go to Twickenham to watch international rugby and to South Africa to play the game against local schools there. They have a fairly new swimming pool right at the front of the school. I dropped in to see the headmaster last summer when I found myself near the school and was surprised to see so many changes there since my son left almost 10 years ago.

grovel · 12/02/2015 17:34

Peteneras, I know Papplewick is a fantastic school but OP only wants her son to attend a prep for 3 years - and then go to a very fine local comprehensive (Charters) at 11.

She has specifically said she's not interested in boarding (which rules out Eton etc).

In those circumstances I'm suggesting that maybe Lambrook would be more amenable to an application because it already loses pupils at 11 routinely (girls). I'm also suggesting that Papplewick draws its boys from all over the place. Lambrook is much more "local" nowadays. When OP's son goes to the comprehensive he'd find it easier to keep in touch with local friends.

peteneras · 12/02/2015 18:05

Yes grovel, I understand perfectly well what OP is saying. I was answering your question to Dame ”scholarship to where if I may ask” by linking Papplewick’s list of scholarships won in recent years. I wasn’t suggesting that OP should go to Papplewick at all, on the contrary, I would suggest she doesn’t if her plan is to leave Papplewick for a state school after 3 years.

ZeroFunDame · 12/02/2015 18:09

Oh - I see the crossed wire. I don't have anyone at Papplewick peteneras. I'm just liking school chat less the closer we get to exams at a different school.

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grovel · 12/02/2015 18:22

Crossed wires completely. I just knew that Dame has a DS going for a scholarship and I asked where. Nothing to do with Papplewick (except that I asked the question on a Papplewick thread).

peteneras · 12/02/2015 18:44

OK, I see all this crossed wire postings have put all reply messages out of context. It's like a chicken talking to a duck.

Good luck Dame to your kid's exams.

mumsneedwine · 12/02/2015 18:54

There are kids from Papplewick at Charters. Not many but a few. And lots from Lambrook, Hall Grove & Marist.

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