Wetherby Senior.

Oh, that's very interesting.

I heard similar (125) for St Paul's at 13+ and 126 (in 2016) for Harrow but with sports / music at almost scholarship level.

Not really sure. I know there are quite a few boys with full marks around the place. A former head said that they look at 7/8 at 125 as the target floor, if that helps at all

Michaelahpurple sorry for spelling your name incorrectly!!

Michela
Interesting that the average CAT at WU was 133. Where do you think the pupils at the lower end are, CAT score wise? For intake do they have a sharp cutoff at the bottom?

Wide range of academic standards. If at all useful, the average CAT score at WUS across the school last year was around 133. Not sure how wccs and wetherby stack up against each other as wetherby has been changing steadily over recent years but both not as high as WUS. (Which isn't i. Itself a bad thing of course - it's horses for courses)

You will probably get much more commentary if you report under its own title though.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the difference between academic standards of WCCS, Wetherby Prep and Westminster Under ?

Can I suggest starting a new thread in Primary Education ?

I should really appreciate if anyone can give recent experience of Wetherby Prep, WCCS and Westminster Under. How doe they compare? is there a significant difference in academic standards ?

pupilirl

is this post for real?

i think it is worth noting to all parents, i hope to remain anomalous that if you are entering your child to continue with wetherby prep. In my personal history i have spent a rather long time at that school i will remark that it is outstandingly academic, the school shows the students very little to none respect. The experience was extremely unenjoyable. I have experienced several different schools yet none made me feel as worthless as wetherby. the teachers take favourites kids constantly make fun of physical and mental disadvantages (eg: fatness, sporting ability and ugliness). Your son maybe has not known anything else but please talk to them. I was subject to abuse for years. Your son might even be a bully. I do admit this a personal opinion and should be treated like one. if the teachers payed more attention or cared more i can imagine several boys be expelled. My friends( also subject to constant bulling) felt the same way.

This is meant to be something to think about, and hopefully you do, bit if you wish to take any action of any kind please refrain from mentioning this short article. good luck!

Just read Happywetherdad's comment re choosing Wetherby as a 'new school'. This is great - whetherby senior will be an excellent school and very exclusive. There's so much speculation because there's not been that much info. released. It would be a good idea for them to create a YouTube filming of setting up a new school - a bit like the 'Very British School' and Harrow series. Mr NB - if you're listening in - what do you think?

Has anyone taken (or know of anyone taking) up a place for Y9. Is it by choice or were there no other firm offers?

Bump. Has anybody's DS received an offer from the school? Was it difficult to get an offer or was it a fall back? Did anybody choose it over Latymer Upper? It's closer to us that Latymer Upper.

The boys who sat the exam were from the usual West London prep schools. They were oversubscribed by a lot with applications. I think it was around 250 boys sat the exam for around 50 spots. Check the prep school leavers for 2014 and this year if they are up. I am pretty by exit of the first class at 18 you can replace Eton, Harrow, St. Pauls, etc with Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial etc.

Thanks happywetherbydad. Can you keep us updated on any news re the senior school ?Anyone else got info on the numbers that applied & where they are coming from? How difficult to get in? Were many turned down?

I have been enormously satisfied with Wetherby Prep and Nick Baker's leadership. The results they have achieved in preparing boys for further schooling have been astonishing.

For those who say that the "new school" risk makes it not worth it, we chose not to send our son there for that reason for year 4. Two years later we ended up trying to get him back in and we did and he has flourished there. So we did not want the "new school" risk and we underestimated what Wetherby Prep could do.

Although our son in year 8 received several other offers at traditionally very competitive schools, we are very happy to be sending him to Wetherby Senior.

Hearing they have poached loads of teachers from Merchant Taylors. Does anyone know if that is right?

Yes. However there will be some movement in and out for sixth form. What I meant was movement within a course, either GCSE or A levels, which can be a problem in schools which take international families.

I would predict additional demand at sixth form. DD knew a few boys who wanted to stop boarding. Not such a problem for girls as there are intakes at Westminster and KCS as well as the usual suspects. There dont seem to be as many places for boys. Certainly Latymer Upper were rejecting some very strong candidates.

No - it's going to be 13 - 18 so A levels also.

My guess is that the new school will usefully fill a gap but will struggle to compete with CLSB or Latymer Upper for quite a while, if ever.

The advantages are:

1. It is in Central London. Over the past decade of so, number of boys looking for London day places has risen dramatically. At the same time schools like Latymer, Emanuel, Highgate and KGS have turned co-ed. "Safe" fallbacks like Emanuel, Ibstock and Harrodian, are no longer safe, and other choices (St Bens, Whitgift, Radnor House, St Dunstans, Eltham College) are some distance away. There will be a fair number of boys who are either reluctant commuters or reluctant boarders, simply because a local option is not available. My guess is that if you were to look at he many nearby preps (Hill House, Garden House, Newton, Thomas', Eaton House, Eaton Sq, Fulham Prep, Sussex House and and and, though surprised to hear of interest from Westminster Under) you would find 2 or 3 boys in each who fall into this category. Some may be reluctant to join a school in its first year, but within a year or two, and assuming satisfactory word of mouth, I assume application numbers will rise. It will probably be as a fall-back, but given the shortage of places elsewhere, plenty will use that fall back.

1. The Alpha Plus group will have the resources and determination to make this work. I am assuming that in the short term they can schedule experienced teachers and tutors in both Wetherby Prep and DLD, to either teach or oversee teaching. They are already doing this with the Head. DLD provide short course GCSE teaching, and Wetherby teachers will be used to preparing for the Westminster Challenge etc. Much better than a complete start up with an entirely new staff team.

1. It might be fun to be part of a new intake. Particuarly for a boy who perhaps has had his confidence undermined at a robust selective prep. You would get a lot of attention and early responsibility.

Disadvantates are

1. Lack of facilities and smaller numbers may prevent good level team sports or restrict the choice of sport. Though as I said above, girls schools manage.

1. The extent to which the desire to make profit is visible in the early days. Even if not profit, there will be plenty with the experience of growing schools where money is being put aside to provide facilities for the next generation.

1. A more mobile population. This can be a criticism of Portland Place, though others really like PPs diversity and its wide academic range. The word is that Radnor House were pretty active in the early days in squeezing out children whose behaviour was affecting others. My assumption is that Wetherby, by using its brand, is seekng to provide education for those likely to remain for the duration (13-16 is only 3 years) and will have the resources to live with empty spaces should they have to ask a pupil to leave.

I was referring to the Times rankings. We will be applying to CLSB but when we went on the tour l was underwhelmed. Nothing particularly bad just a bit ...cold..ordinary...boring even? Maybe l was unlucky with my tour guide. We will look again. If you want to avoid commuting outwards for school the choice for boys is so limited and then there's the business of getting an offer.

sdavlistentomother, I think you are misinterpreting what I said above.

In terms of tutoring, I did say it was rampant everywhere. I also said that it was particularly prevalent at Wetherby, to deny that is naive. If at 7 and 8+ levels families at the PrePrep hire live-in tutors and also hire motors to come on holidays (yes, this does occur, and I do know someone who tutors many Wetherby boys and charges £100 per hour for his/her services), you can only imagine what the pressure is like at senior school level.

In terms of pressure for places, yes, there is an increase, but the biggest factor in the increase in pressure is the sheer number of exams being taken per child. A child who was placed on the wait list for Latymer will also have taken other exams and if they were a just miss for Latymer, it would be doubtful that they would be left without a spot anywhere. If they are left with absolutely no spot, they were either too ambitious in their list of schools, or (less likely) did not apply to enough of a range of schools.

In terms of top whatever school - what determines your top whatever? GCSE scores? A level results? Oxbridge entry? desirability by the West London set? all round experience? The first 4 don't make a top school to me - they just tell me how selective their intake is. To me, CLSB is a "top 10" school because of all the academically selective schools in London, it has one of the broadest socioeconomic intake for a reasonable price. This broad intake and its location, along with proven good teaching and a long established post-senior school machine, make is a very dynamic school, and one which, according to a high ranking Oxford don I know, produces a great product (in fact, he was telling me to move my son from a school , which according to your criteria would always be top5, and save a pot of money).

I have stated and will restate that the school will be a success in terms of money generated for the parent organization and interms of numbers attending as their is a need for a less academically selective boys school in Central London.

Mominatrix - boys who missed offers and remain on waiting lists tend to score only a fraction below those who get offers according to the head at Latymer. Where are these boys supposed to go? To say that they are not "academic" is ridiculous. As for tutoring at Wetherby...there is tutoring everywhere. The most of effective type of tutoring is of course done by parents. No outside tutor can compete with that. I think Wetherby Senior will be hugely popular - maybe in the style of FHS Regents Park - in the top 50 rather than top 10. Mind you I don't think City is in the top 20 ?

At the end of the day, Wetherby Senior is filling a great current market need for a central London boys' day school for those who can't get into the top Tier 1 schools. Competition for these places is getting more fierce and Wetherby has a good enough brand name that they will attract the top candidates who didn't make this cut.

I am sure they identified this need through their own experience of seeing their kids in Prep who are bright but didn't get into these schools and have nowhere to go.

They are a business and it's a smart business move. There is an existing market need and they are creating a product to meet this need.

Interesting points about the cohort issue Momamatrix. But my sense is the massive pressure on places in London day schools means that perfectly able and academic children will fail to get places at the 'usual' top schools - not because they aren't bright, but simply because the ratio of applicants to places is off the scale. So surely the trickle down effect means that the so-called second/third tier schools get filled up with these bright kids and overall academic standards rise?

Agree with you about the profit motive behind Alpha Plus. Doesn't give one a warm, fuzzy feeling. But I suppose ultimately the proof will be in the pudding. I have heard amazing things about Nick Baker and imagine he will hire a cracking team.