All schools rejected at 11+. What now?

I agree with this. Caterham is another good school in this area.

There's also Northwood College too (in Northwood) and John Lyon (near Harrow on the hill) is now taking girls.

Have you looked at More House OP? I have a friend with two daughters there and it might be a lovely school for your child.

www.morehouse.org.uk/admissions/joining-more-house/

@lirik
Im not sure if this has been suggested, but you could try Godstowe prep in High Wycombe in Bucks. This takes girls up to 13. Has great destinations after that. I’ve no idea if they have places but you would gain a place at a first class prep with an amazing track record and time to plan the 13 plus “campaign”. Winchester House in Brackley is a good shout too. Godstowe is closer to London and they have boarding if that helps. In your circumstances, I would speak to them.

Noting that I don't know London schools, and don't know much about the visa system either;

I wonder whether any of the schools that have turned you down have done so because you are still awaiting your visas? Boarding schools can offer places for international students knowing something about how they will get student entry visas, but I could imagine a day school could have had problems in the past with students' parents not getting visas when they expected, and thus not being able to attend after all?

This is of course something I would expect any decent educational consultant to be helping you with, and I echo those who wonder if you should be asking for a refund.

Good luck with the next steps one way or another.

I second Queenswood. It’s quite posh though!

Have you looked at Berkhamstead School? Or Haileybury?

Try Kensington Park School

www.kps.co.uk/contact-us

Marymount International School?
IB curriculum, diverse student body, many expat families.

www.marymountlondon.com/admissions-process/

There’s some super judgy posts on this thread. It’s not as if it’s in AIBU.

OP, if you do end up considering options out of London, Edinburgh would be a good shout. Some wonderful schools, many firms have satellite offices here too. And gorgeous places to live in or out of the city. The good state schools are competitive as anywhere else, as is the rental market. But it’s an option for you should you need it.

Radnor is moving to the other side of twickenham by the stadium from September. Will be called Kneller Hall.

I know you said you’ll consider anywhere OP but I’d narrow done areas you may want to live too. You’re looking at a huge area.

Id also consider asking for my money back from the Ed Consultants.

hi @lirik - ignore all the spiky posters. lots of people on MN don’t like private schools 🤦🏽‍♀️ do you need to commute into london every day? if not, you could consider Cardiff - it’s a 2ish hour train into paddington, and has an excellent GDST school. there are 4 other private schools there but Howell’s would be the one I’d recommend. hope you get something sorted, it must be a very stressful time for you.

Radnor House near Teddington- usually one of the top places to live in London: e.g. www.timeout.com/london/news/is-teddington-really-the-best-place-to-live-in-london-we-weigh-up-the-evidence-032621

Teddington is part of the London Borough of Richmond, and easy walking distance to Radnor House.

I hear v good things about the school, though my DC are not there.

If possible - eg rent a small house? - there are also superb state schools: Waldegrave (a few years ago voted by the Sunday Times the best school in the country), Turing House School (amazing results for pupils' academic progress), and - if your child is sport in particular - Grey Court School is supposed to be vg..

Good luck OP.

@lirik I forgot to mention Royal Masonic - www.rmsforgirls.com/

(Meant to type ‘lovely’ not ‘lively’)

OP what a busy and frustrating time for you! I totally understand your love for and London, but in your situation I would look at commuter towns where senior schools are much easier to get into. I suggest you look at these which are all lively and all less competitive (particularly Sackville):

• Kings Rochester
• Hampton Court House
• Radnor House Sevenoaks campus
• Sackville School
• Lingfield College
• Sutton Valence

It’ll work out. More places usually become available in March as some parents always get offers from senior schools then decide at the last minute to move to the grammar school system after those offers come out. So some senior schools may make more offers then.

@lirik has anyone mentioned St Margaret's Bushey - www.stmargarets-school.org.uk/ or Queenswood - www.queenswood.org/ ? Both just outside north London and not far from NLCS.

OK. If you want to go the state route, our process when coming back to the UK from abroad, wanting school places:
Land in UK in June, having finished the academic year abroad. Have an address we pay bills on (so not airbnb or hotel type stuff)
E-mail the LEA - requested contact route for our council.
Get an application form the next day. Returned within an hour.
Get a phonecall saying we could have a place for DS2, but not DS1, in our prefered school. Or places for both in next closest school. Accepted.
School rang, asked if we wanted to start on Monday. We asked for 1 week later to get uniform etc.
Kids were in school within 2 weeks of landing.

There is also likely to be Y7 places that become available in Septeber, as people who have private school places don't withdraw their state place.

How about Seaford College? Academically non-selective and very good with dyslexia and specific learning difficulty support, if that's of relevance to you.

“There are excellent (free) state schools, some of which are academically selective (11+ exam) and others not.”

There are, but it is not usually possible to apply without a UK address.

Looks like its going to be the local comprehensive school then? I don't think you can apply until you have a UK address though

Hi OP . It could be really nice for your daughter to go to a feeder prep school for year 7 and 8. There will be smaller year groups and a nice sense of being the oldest with a sense of responsibility in the school rather than being minnows in the pond as year 7 pupils in a larger secondary school. She will also make some friends going to secondary school with her.

We have chosen this for DS 11. There are quite a few new starters at prep schools in year 7. Good luck.

You could also try Maida Vale School nits new, so not yet full, but a really nicely renovated building and sounds like good pastoral care.

@lirik , not exactly in central London like the schools you originally applied to, but Northwood College for Girls and Royal Masonic School for Girls (RMS) are close to Metropolitan line stations (Northwood about 40 mins from Baker St).

We do not have DC in either of these, but visited them about two years ago, and found them very nice with some superb on campus facilities, especially RMS. Both accept a wider range of students than the more selective ones you previously applied (Nortwood is in London consortium, RMS has its own CEM based test)

Good School Guide mentions Northwood accepting students in year 8 and year 9 as well, and RMS may have places available too as it's quite large.

Hope it works out well for you, all the best!

You could try St Catherine's, Twickenham, or Canbury House, Kingston.

That’s such a random selection of schools OP in disparate geographic locations I wonder what the “educational consultants” were thinking.

If you want to be in London there’s plenty of choice here at different academic levels. Equally if you prefer boarding, there are plenty of less academic schools than Brighton College.

A London prep school that still goes to 13+ seems like the best option.

I wouldn’t personally take a boarding school option if DD is moving countries/cultures as well as schools for the moment at least.