“Backup” private options in London

If you could move then St. Margaret's in Hampstead might be a good fit, and agree Northbridge house, which I think is at several campuses around London.

@Cigarettesandbooze

>Did you quiz them on their career aspirations over tea?

come on, she just "needs more sleep"...

Totally agree. What a load of nonsense. I’d hate someone like that poster turning her nose up at my daughter’s love for Smiggle. God forbid that one’s tween daughter would rather browse the shop with friends than ponder War and Peace at the dinner table.

Hi OP - I agree FHSS, FHRP or PH could be contenders, but also -

Ibstock Place (Barnes -ish)
Harrodian (Barnes)
Kew House
Maida Vale School
St Catherine's (Twickenham - if not too far)?
Radnor House (also Twickenham)
Fulham Senior School (newish school in Parsons Green)
Queens Gate
NHEHS

Thomas's Putney?

@Lindtnotlint, I hope that you've got some options here that will work for your DD. I agree with a PP that Maths sometimes needs to be 'unlocked'. IMO that happening is often dependent on having a teacher that does that for you. What style of teaching can work for a student is subjective, so a tutor is a good idea to try.

Great thread, until this...

My main concern was that DDs friendship group at prep school were purposeful and academic girls. She had little in common with the girls who showed off a new pencil case each week and who were already starting to hang out in shopping malls. I wanted her to go to a school where she would fit socially.

@Needmoresleep You wanted your DD to have friends at age 8-11 who were academic and purposeful? How the hell does one be purposeful at EIGHT? Or even 11? Did you quiz them on their career aspirations over tea? As for being 'academic' - so you didn't want your DD having friends who tried hard and were interested in learning but weren't naturally academic?

As for the 'already hanging out in shopping malls', that's just outright snobbery. There isn't a lot for 11 year olds to do socially as a group, what is the problem with them wanting to spend time in a shopping mall together on a Saturday, or after school? My DD1 liked doing this on occasion at 12 and still got 9 GCSEs at grades 7-9. DC2 loves shopping with their friends even more than DC1 does, and DC2 was given the chance to skip a year due to being 'academic' (they and we declined).

And even if DC didn't get high grades, our personal values as parents are hard work so trying hard regardless of the result, and being a decent person. My DC have a few best friends who aren't the most academic, but they're very funny (which is it it's now kind of clever), and very kind, and just really decent people, as well as being very arty, sporty or great at musical theatre in a few cases. I'm glad my DD weren't at school (hopefully) with your precious princess if that's how judgmental you are.

Surbiton would be good to look at - competitive to get in, but a step lower than the SPSG etc and the train is less than 10 mins from Clapham. They accept a 'spikier' profile if one subject is significantly different that the other - as long as you pass the exam in both subjects of course!

Quite a few of the places talked about here aren't really "back ups". Emmanuel and St Dunstans especially much more selective than they were. This year for latter year 7 some kids who got Dulwich College didn't get through.

Just coming on to say, as a More House parent, that you should definitely take a look.

The exam results reflect the broad ability range of the intake but the teaching is very good, with small sets, and they are used to supporting and building the confidence of late developers or those who have a spiky profile.

The more academic girls have a peer group and get the same grades they would have at more academic schools, e.g. there were a number of girls with 8 or 9 GCSEs at grades 7-9 yesterday.

It might not turn out to be right for your daughter, but it's a really good school and definitely worth considering in your position.

Another for the list is Thames Christian School in Clapham Junction. It was always a bit under the radar but has now been around for three decades, has new purpose built premises and is adding a sixth form. It’s USP used to be that it was cheaper. A no frills alternative for parents who for whatever reason wanted to move their kids from the state sector.

Back in the day when DC were of that age, we also knew central London parents who considered Surbiton High. It depends on transport links, but Surbiton is not GDST and is a big school that takes pupils from across the ability range.

What we did, and we got some great advice from a member of the SMT in one of the more academic schools named above, was write to the schools DD applied to and say that she had been diagnosed as dyslexic and they would see from results that her English was problematic. If accepted we would have her retested by someone the school was used to working with, and provide appropriate support.

My friend's first question had been whether I could see DD going to Oxbridge and my automatic answer was yes. (Indeed her sixth form were surprised she chose not to apply.) She then explained that SPGS would be looking for kids who were good at everything, but there were only so many of them. Other schools would be interested in one sided kids, as long as they were very good at their better subjects and not too bad at their weaker subjects. The issue with maths and English were that they provided the foundation for other subjects. Though in general she was not an advocate of tutoring, additional support to ensure that a pupil kept up with maths or English could be constructive.

My main concern was that DDs friendship group at prep school were purposeful and academic girls. She had little in common with the girls who showed off a new pencil case each week and who were already starting to hang out in shopping malls. I wanted her to go to a school where she would fit socially.

A bit like you, we only realised we had a problem quite late on, when finding a suitable tutor was problematic. What we did was buy the English book from the "So you really want to learn..." series and turn it into a set of family exercises, over dinner, in the car etc as well as one-to-one. (The series is designed in part for home education.) We involved the older brother and got them suggesting essay structure, points you could make etc. The idea being that when she went into an exam she would not panic but have the tools to get started. We also got her doing a heap of maths papers, which her brothers teacher kindly lent us. She focussed on types of questions which she did in a batch so I could see where she struggled. Here the aim was to show that she was sufficiently good that she was worth a place even though her English was weak.

It worked. DD did bump along the bottom in English, but once she could select GCSE options she was fine.

@Lindtnotlint do you have a maths tutor for her? Often maths just needs ‘unlocking’? No private prep school will ever admit they’ve left a pupil behind in class nor how much tutoring goes on out of hours. If everything else is going great guns, I’d get the maths situation assessed to see if it can be improved as your first port of call. Regarding Schools, you’ve had some great suggestions so I think you need to start at her possible commute and work backwards from there.

London Park School?
London Park Schools

@Lindtnotlint I will send you a PM

What are you doing to prep for the 11+? Have you tried Atom learning? I have read mixed feedback on here about it and I know not everyone is a fan, but we used it with great results coming from a state school. DD applied to the schools you mentioned so I feel its relevant to you....check out Atom learning and get her to do mock tests. If she hits certain scores you will know if she has a chance at getting in. For putney and FHSS she should aim for 116 and above. G&L is 125 and above....at least last year it was. We found it very useful for prep. Do the mock exams there and you will see what she gets wrong and what you need to go over with her. I would not bother with the learning journey's as those are too easy.

Do put postcodes into TFLs journey planner. You want to know the time of the journey, the frequency, what back up there is (train strikes, or staying late so missing school bus). Journey is ideally a maximum of 40 minutes, and a maximum of one change. We ruled out Dulwich schools because the change was either the Elephant or Brixton.

You might add Portland Place to your list and Thomas’ Senior.

Don’t worry too much about a schools A level results. GCSEs matter. Those that get their act together, or are very good at humanities or science but not both, will often swap at 6th form. (It’s a long time ago but we were told by the prep school head that DD was so hopeless at English that it was Streatham High or country boarding. She ended up taking 5 A levels at Westminster…none English obviously.)

The prep should be advising you, but once you have your long list of accessible schools, get a copy of the good schools guide and think about what might be a fit for your daughter. Because of DDs clear leaning towards the sciences and her love of sport we wanted a co-Ed as this is a pattern more normally found in boys. Luckily her school went on till 13 so we had a plan B. She still ended up sitting quite a lot of exams, but did not mind. I would take her out for lunch after and a look round the area, and worked hard to keep the pressure off and not focus on any one school.

Don't despair OP, I have a dc who was not great at maths AND was at a failing state primary but still got into a top London prep that fed to senior (albeit at 7) because their English was strong (and presumably their VR and non VR). They've just got three A-stars in A level because, of course, those are their strongest studies. I know other friends with a similar issue - one, whose dd sounded weaker than my dc at maths only go into Sydenham but then at sixth form got a place at JAGS (again because they were now focusing on strongest subjects) and is well on course to do well at A level. Basically, they need people who are good at English as well as maths, AND you can also move somewhere more academic at sixth form. In the end, it's all fairly meaningless, whatever school they go to they all end up at the same-ish universities.

Look at...

Ibstock Place
Emanuel
Francis Holland
Queens Gate
St James Girls
Harrodian
Kew House
London Park School- very new but think it is aiming to be like Kew House long term
Knightsbridge
Streatham and Clapham
Sutton High
Surbiton High

Schools with bus or train links...
Claremont Fan
St John's Leatherhead
Epsom College
Woldingham
St George's Ascot
Manor House

They have very much out of date reviews

many of those schools are now chasing better results by becoming more selective. Where do the average kids go!?

Those schools want to gain a reputation for being more selective, but the pool of above average academic students is limited, so many average students still get admitted. However, the standard of average has risen.

Op it’s probably worth a 3 month subscription to
the Good Schools Guide as you can sort schools by distance and the reviews are not just gushing nonsense.

I’m following as we really want a solid, all round school for our dd and many of those schools are now chasing better results by becoming more selective. Where do the average kids go!?

OP Are either Surbiton or Sutton High options in terms of travel? Lots of discussion about them (and some other schools that people see as back ups) on last year’s SW London 11+ threads.

If you can manage Croydon then look at Royal Russell and Old Palace

If you are at a prep then your head should be managing this for you and making appropriate suggestions - this is what you are paying for! Ask to see the head for another meeting if necessary

@DibbleDooDah Oh I know. It's actually quite cheap compared to the 'day fees' at boarding schools.

@Foxesandsquirrels The fees reflect a different offering to most day schools though. It used to be a full boarding school and whilst now it’s about 50% day, 50% boarding, it still has very much a boarding feel. Days are long but they are very full. Girls are expected to take advantage of everything the school has to offer, both inside and out of the classroom.

When I first looked at it I couldn’t understand why the fees were so much more expensive. Once you learn more about it then you understand.