Prep school Y7 and 8

I really sympathise with OP's point about how much harder it is for children to happily tackle the work involved when few others are doing it. My 8+ candidate is always bewailing the fact that the rest of his class doesn't have "mummy homework ", only school homework. Of course, a couple of them are doing 8+, but as it is all so stealth , he thinks he is the only sufferer.

I am reluctant to give you specific advice on your son but what I would say year 7 and 8 in the prep schools is generally excellent for boys.

The class sizes are smaller, there is opportunity for delegation and leadership roles for the children and confidence can be rebuilt.

There is much more churn at the independent schools than you think even in London. Entry at 13+ is often the easiest.

CE is tricky in the sense it assesses all the different subjects. But a couple of outliers would not dissuade a reasonable school especially if he has other positives in the headmasters report.

Well, I think that I can say with a degree of certainty that were you to go down the "intensive" route, you will certainly not be on your own. I was sent details by a NW London tutor of her schedule in the lead up to the grammar exams, and it was astounding. 3 hours after school every night, and 6 hours per day at weekends. Admittedly only for 3 weeks or so. I also saw the number of children signed up! (As an aside it is a real business opportunity).

Of course there will be plenty of children, especially MN children, who don't do that, but again I think they will have had the benefit of a school that has prepared them well.

Having observed the process, I think that if swapping to independent in London you get most value at 8+. Decent grounding in years 4 and first part of year 5, and lots of exam prep. Think DS has got to fit in the entirety of KS2 science, geography and history into the second half of this year. Art, music, drama and sport of course still runs due to scholarships.

I'll start a south London exam thread in January. I can see myself consuming a vast quantity of wine.

Have a word with Newton Prep - easy to get to by train from all over south London. They prepare for CE but also a range of other 13+ exams set by Dulwich and other schools.

Don't worry too much about catch up. You could have your son do a residential French course over the summer or hire a Latin tutor if needed but it wont.

As far as prep schools go, it may be worth talking to Dulwich and see who feeds to them at 13+. Whilst a number of schools send boys to Whitgift and Trinity at 13, the 3 I named earlier are regarded as the 13+ "feeders".

I suppose it does raise an interesting question around motivation. I wonder if your ds is being held back as he isn't in a peer group who are aiming for the same schools?

The following advice is very non-MN, and may be viewed as child cruelty. There are tutors out there who run intensive classes for groups of kids, where essentially the children sit and do 3 practice papers a day and then mark them, and do this daily for 2 weeks. This is a different approach to one to one tuition, and I think that they both have a place (and I know parents who have done both), but certainly for boys in particular I think they can do with a bit of competition, and also seeing how children improve day after day. If the issue is carelessness rather than gaps, then it may be worth seeing if there are any running near you in the last week of the Christmas holidays.

Obviously once he is in, he is with a different cohort which usually sorts out motivation fairly quickly.

When looking at prep schools, ask thoroughly about streaming/setting in year 7 & 8. And see how they assess him. Ideally you want some CAT scores which will give you a good indication of potential. You don't want him in a class with people who would never pass the 13+ in a million years as that won't address the peer group issue, so look carefully at the 13+ destinations for last year and the year before, and ask which schools the current cohort are sitting for. I don't think that you necessarily want to be around visiting preps just yet. The indies usually send out the "thanks, but no thanks" letters in January, with offers being posted on 13th February.

Oh, and I totally know what you mean about letting off steam. DS2 and I (because that is how it is, sadly) are flailing through 8+ prep and my husband is the opposite of yours (doom, doom, why are you bothering, what is plan C etc) but equally annoying and unwilling to chunter about it all!

The whole 11/14 split for boys in london is a total bore - at least with girls you all head to 11+ and then everything - boarding, day, Indy, state is open to you

Both my bits went to an Indy in chelsea that only goes to 11+ and it definitely seems to be getting trickier for boys, especially as a Alice if most advanced leave at 8+. Schools like Emmanuel and harridan which used to be viewed as safe back ups seem to be raising the bar, but I don't really understand where everyone else is meant to go if that happens!

Our head has been sending boys to loom at the new one in Kew, mentioned above, and there is another opening in marble arch. A couple of year ago a bit who sat for 7 11+ schools without joy went to Thimas's Battersea and is now happily at Dulwich. A girl in a similar situation went to Newton and Fulham prep is also worth a loom as they lose a lot of girls at 11+.

I'd say don't panic but call a few preps and don't feel you have to be too cunning - they know why you are calling. Pass over the motivation swiftly "want to explore other options" and get on with asking re places and what they have to offer

Good luck

Another odd option for you. Turing House school.
A free school opening in Twickenham/Teddington. Closing date for applications 30 Nov.
If it is under subscribed they will take children from out of the area. Although is a new school its well supported so unlikely to fail. Absolutely no harm sending in an application and investigating it after.kids from this area travel to Oratory, Westminster. So the journey is possible but reversed.
Worth a long shot punt.

Well, from your previous posts there is certainly something going awry if he is being put in for Level 6 SATS but messing up practice papers. He passed the Sutton SET so he can't be weak academically.

In terms of 13+ I didn't think that the schools on your list were of the "pretest at 11, CE at 13" type. Most of these allow you to register in year 8. Trinity (and Whitgift) are English/Maths/VR, Dulwich is English/Maths/Science/NVR. Emanuel test Maths/English/Science and French. The others will test you in a language for setting purposes if you accept an offer, so I wouldn't get too het up on CE, especially if you are not looking at boarding.

I have one son who, at that age, would typically underperform in an exam, sometimes quite drastically. And I have another who seems to perform better in exams than his general classwork would suggest. I wish there was an easy answer, but I do think that an additional couple of years maturity does help.

I don't think that there is anything wrong in contacting the preps and discussing options. That said, don't get too surprised if they try to get a registration fee out of you before you so much as visit them! (In fairness they might let you visit, but...). I'm out in the sticks (relatively speaking) but Cumnor House in South Croydon (walking distance from Purley station) loses lots of boys at 11+ to Whitgift and Trinity and will always take boys for Year 7. Homefield in Sutton will also lose boys at 11, and send to a wider range. Bickley Park, Bromley is also worth a call. I would definitely look for schools who prepare for 13+ schools rather than just CE ones as he will need to sit the 13+ English papers in January and these are tricky if you haven't been prepared (relatively speaking more tricky than the 11+ ones).

Have you had a look at Kew House? It only opened this year so I don't know much about it, but it won't be oversubscribed yet.

Mrs Steptoe,
Are you sure you are not being defeatist? Although that's the pot calling the kettle grey - I am in exactly the same situation and having nightmares about plan C and plan D, etc. I don't know from what experience your English tutor speaks, but St Benedicts is really not that selective - if his teachers are saying he is high ability, I can't imagine he won't get in there. Re practice papers, my daughter is also very uneven - but I think it's also a bit of a burn out, when they do practice papers every week at school, and then at home, I don't think they concentrate and care that much. I stopped doing practice papers for now and am working on specific areas instead. E.g., for maths, I cut up all the papers into separate topics/task and have different folders with assorted problems from various papers but on the same topic. Once we go through these, I will start giving papers again, but after a bit of a break.
I would try to concentrate on 11+ for now rather than looking for a prep - because if you are not considering boarding, then you will have this nightmare all over again with 13+ day entry in 1.5 years. Do you really want to go through this again?

BTW, what sort of scores he gets on practice papers and what are the papers? Who grades them? I think if he gets 55-60% on Dulwich papers, he should definitely get into St Benedicts or Emanuel.

Also, I think you may be over pessimistic - SW/SE London is quite well served in terms of boys schools, I feel much better than the girls, i.e. you have Dulwich, Trinity, Whitgift, Eltham college plus co-eds like Emanuel, Ibstock, Harrodian, Kingston Grammar, Latymer Upper. Hampton further afield. My point is that people will be applying to 4/5 but can only go to 1! So there is more hope than it seems on the surface. Well, at least that's what I keep telling myself when I am plunged into the depths of despair by OUR practice papers.

In terms of preps, there is also Thomas's and Eaton House. I am sure they will have movement as some boys will.

Also have you looked at Claremont Fan Court - two boys of my colleague's sisters go there and are happy, but I think it really is Plan C/D.

The lack of Latin and French will be an issue, though not necessarily an insurmountable one. I am speaking as a prep school Latin teacher so have had quite a lot of experience of this situation.

French tends to be a bigger hurdle because, at most prep schools, the children have been learning since Year 3: that's a lot of vocabulary and grammar to catch up on.

At my school, the boys start Latin in Year 5, although many schools won't start teaching it until Year 6. I have found that bright, hard-working children who join in Year 7 are able to catch up with perhaps a few sessions of tutoring to go over the basics. Less able boys, though, really struggle to make up the ground. It's the same picture in French, I've learned from talking to colleagues.

Of course, if he's going to a fairly unacademic school at 13, then it won't matter too much if he just scrapes a pass at CE; the problems arise when a boy joins the school late but has or gets an offer from somewhere like Westminster, which is looking for 70% on the hardest Latin paper.

Where would you try for at 13+, OP?

What about Thames Christian College in Claphamfor less selective 11 +
Not quite sure where you are for preps but New land House in Twickenham often take some at 11. What about Thomas's
Might be worth putting up a question on here asking about preps to 13 in your area.
Quite a lot of mixed prep schools loose their girls at 11 so have space

MrsSteptoe - where are you in London? That might help suggest some other preps to you. You want one with a broad range of leavers destinations - evidence of them getting DC into the right school for each child at 13.

I would definitely go and look round 3 - talk to the Head, be honest, and see how they react. Those who can't give you 1hr of time, coffee and advice when they see they might be a plan B, are not worth talking to again!

I wouldn't panic, I bet they all get calls at all times of the year. At the end of the day, they want your money but you need a school that will work with you over years 7-8 to come up with a 13+ solution, so you need to make sure they have plenty of experience of that.

if you are in London and London preps are full (though I doubt they can all be full because as I said they must lose some at 11), what about some of the preps just outside London (which may even have buses) or those that offer weekly or ad hoc flexi-boarding? Your son could even take a train and taxi to a country prep. near a mainline train station if need be. But you will need to quickly figure out registration deadlines for 13+ schools..some of which have already passed with pre-tests to be sat in January - others test later as start of year 7 and some may be less selective (on tests that is) and not do pre-tests but rely on head's reports and interviews and 13+.

i am sure many preps will be open to you...a lot of them that go to 13+ lose a few boys to schools at 11 so the places should be there..you can always get extra tuition on the side for latin and french if you feel he needs to catch up before CE.