Parkgate house vs Hornsby House

[Clapnewmun]

Hello - my son is 1 and I am looking for schools around Clapham. My current 2 favourites are Hornsby house and Parkgate House. Was wandering if anyone had any information on either?

[minipie]

Hi, I guess the first question is whether you have put his name down for these schools already? For Hornsby you might well be too late if you still haven't at 1yr old. It's becoming increasingly sought after and parents are putting names down sooner and sooner after birth (crazy but true).

[Out2pasture]

parkgate just had an open morning, the next one is in june.
call and see if you can get a private tour or wait till the upcoming one.
I was with my daughter/son-in-law/and grand daughter for the open morning October 10th.
I liked what I saw and would feel comfortable if my grand daughter attended the school.
my daughter liked the Montessori approach for the early years.
things I noticed;
the boy girl ratio is not 50/50
with such a small school friendships and sporting events may be negatively affected.
I did not like the school yard and the common across the street looked very untidy.
parking for the open day was bad, couldn't see it being great during the school run.
I would have liked to see Eaton House (girls school) to compare.

[Clapnewmun]

Thank you. He has a place at both and also Thomas's. I am thinking Pgh or hh though as I don't want to put too much pressure on him too young. I loved pgh but my concern was that as its so small if that's had an impact on team sports and friends which out2pasture you have mentioned.

I haven't looked at eaton yet so maybe it would be worth checking out the open day there too.

Thanks!

[minipie]

Parkgate is small, very nurturing but numbers do tend to tail off as the dc get older I've heard. How would you feel about moving DS at say age 7 if you felt he was outgrowing the school? (Of course no guarantees there would be a place at HH at that point, but it is an age where there is quite a bit of movement I think).

Also is one significantly closer than the other to you? I think being able to walk or scoot rather than drive is quite a big advantage at this stage, not the be all and end all but a plus.

By the way - Thomas's is selective so having his name down doesn't mean he has a place, just that he will be assessed for a place age 3. Expect you know that but just in case!

For more opinions do a search on Mumsnet and on Nappyvalleynet for the schools' names and you'll find older threads with views.

[LocalEditorWandsworth]

You might get more views from parents with kids already at the schools if you come over and ask on the Mumsnet local site for Wandsworth here