How much influence does a prep school have in helping DCs get into senior schools?

I didn’t find it that bad tbh. We did tests and people accepted the school they wanted straight away.

Also having done state process - that felt more stressful. Very small catchment areas.

But for the first para the school said don’t bother with tutoring and still got them in. In other groups people get more intense.

'At the age of 10 or 11 your performance in one test shouldn't dictate your future.....'

Nor should your parents' ability to pay, engage, transport you etc. Or the word of a head teacher in another head teacher's ear..... Urgh

This thread makes you all/your systems/schools sound mad. The stress and pressure must be awful.

V glad to live in the SW where my (very academically able, sporty (county level), book loving, musical etc etc) dc just go to the shabby looking village school round the corner and will be bussed to the local shabby comp with every other child in our road/village/catchment of similar age.

@MarshaBradyo Yes it does tend to all sort itself out by way of the waiting lists, but then you have people who release a few offers but still hold onto two or three whilst they make a decision. I find it incredibly hard that people don’t have a first choice school prior to exams, but again this is probably because people get offers from schools they weren’t expecting, but then didn’t get them from ones they were. Also fuelled by rich patents who can afford to lose acceptance deposits to buy themselves more time.

It is an exceptionally stressful time for both parents and children. My friend’s daughter sat five schools. Two outright no’s and three waitlist places. She finally got an offer at the end of April from her first choice school where she is thriving.

You kind of do need bankers though

Does it shift around again when they accept one of the top ones?

@millymollymandy988 We are just North of the M25 and have a wide range of schools in the area including Habs, NLCS, St Albans High etc. Our prep head is actually very blunt with parents and will tell them if a school is out of reach academically. Of course it’s good for pupil recruitment if ex students are heading to super top schools, but at our school, finding the RIGHT school is far more important.

He works very hard on maintaining relationships with the heads of all next schools. If he knows what a school is looking for then it’s much easier to make recommendations and match the child to the school. There was never any concept of an “aspirational” school for us, although two of the schools of best fit recommended by him for our eldest DD we just didn’t like. If it wasn’t for his other recommendations though then we probably would never have even looked at the school she’s at now. He knew what makes her tick and her love of sport, drama and music were just as important as academics. The school takes from a very wide area, including a lot of girls from north London, and many parents say the same - that the recommendation of the head led them to the school in the first place and whilst it might initially have been seen as a safer bet for getting a place, they ended up wanting it as first choice once they blocked out and rose above the put me downs from other parents.

Just because a school isn’t full of kids topping the leader boards in entrance test scores, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a contingent of very bright children.

Every single school she sat for did interviews and letter from current head prior to the exams. I guess these help try and explain any spiky profiles on exam day.

We moved out of London because I just couldn’t be doing with the whole thing. I honestly think that London parents have created this enormous beast of a system where they apply to so many schools that pressure for places seems much higher than it really is, meaning that exams have to come first as a way of whittling down numbers to interview, which means bonkers levels of tutoring. I definitely would expect my prep head to get on the phone to a school and use that relationship if, for example, my child failed the entrance exam to their “banker” school. I wouldn’t, however, be expecting them to be trying to get every single child who sat from their prep in. I think a good prep head with good working relationships can pull some strings, yes.

Sorry, I waffle.

I would say quite a lot..... not so much in the 11+ or 13+ pretest, or even the reference ....but in the relationships between the Heads. I know when my DD tooth fell out in the consortium test - her Prep Head made a phone call and she got a place in her first choice amazing NW London leading school - despite flunking the test!

I agree it is totally out of control especially with respect to children sitting for 7-10 schools due to the ease of ISEB. I imagine though this year, more than most, the headmasters letter and the child’s previous results will have more weighting.

Tutoring does muddy the waters, especially those who start from an early age. Having been through this last year, the three boys that got into St Paul’s started their tutoring in year 3. Who knows if the same result would have been achieved without it but I’m guessing not...
It’s no wonder the secondary headmasters are saying how high the standards have become.