A good academic private girls/co-ed school with high proportion of state primary school intake in London, does it exist?

"In fact OP would be far better aiming soley for grammar schools"

London grammar won't have the social diversity, FSM% is lowest across the broad, worse then some of the private with bursary provisions.

Ethnic mixed and culture diversity is also worse than most of the private, but that is for another topic.

But even Old Palace has no state primary intake though, most girls come through the Prep school, about 80% of them, and local prep schools feed girls there too, so state school intake must be what 15% max?

Its worth noting prep fees are around 15K a year and these parents have been paying this each year from reception. That's the majority of the school and Whitgift offer no scholarship or bursary at Prep.

Although ethnically diverse, the Indian and Caribbean or African heritage parents that send their DD's to Old Palace are mostly middle classed from South Croydon, Selsdon, etc, they are finding 20K each year in just fees from Year 7.

Sorry, @socialdilemmawhattodo , I'm not having a pop, but I think its a bit silly for OP to expect social diversity at private school, yes you can have cultural and ethnic mix at any London private schools, especially the single sex ones , but the OP's only hope of finding her perfect school would be a good state school , Coombe Wood , in the same road as Old Palace Prep would tick all the boxes, it has a good mix of rich and ordinary background kids and has great results and its partially selective, but the abscence of fees ensures a real social mix while having high standards as Wallington grammar are behind the academy. In fact OP would be far better aiming soley for grammar schools

Have you tried Old Palace (Whitgift Foundation) in Croydon? Academically selective. Ethnically very diverse. Curriculum very broad. The girls come from all over local Croydon schools and areas. (For purposes of transparency I used to work there as a member of support staff.)

Absolutely no one has to send their child to private school because they can’t afford to lose the £1000 they’d otherwise be earning between 10 and 11am on a Sunday morning in order to get them into Catholic state school. At the point at which one is making such arguments on the Internet a bit of fresh air is probably advisable.

Really, from experience it isn’t lost earnings that stops people going to church. There’s usually mass times Saturday evening, Sunday morning and Sunday evening all of which satisfy the attendance criteria. Most children will have at least one parent who can take them to one of these masses. It’s the child’s attendance that counts, not the parents. Sorry for the derail, OP.

Again I’ve heard that KGS is about 50/50 split state/private at year 7 entry.

Are you willing to work on Sunday mornings for the same average rate as you do during business hours? Most people I know would demand more for that.

I was responding to the assertion that the barriers that the church puts up cannot be more expensive in monetary terms than private school fees. They can. Not for everyone, or most, but they can be more onerous.

I think WHS was suggested as having a good number of state school pupils coming into y7 rather than it being particularly diverse.

OP- I don't think you will find what you are looking for but I also don't think it's a major problem in most of the London independents. They are full of bright children who live and travel in London and are usually well aware of the inequalities around them. I don't think most of them are in bubbles - or if they are, they know that's the case. There will be a few Uber wealthy kids but often noone really knows about people's houses etc. They hang out at Nandos, go to the cinema etc. Lots of posh holidays maybe, but DCs ( mine anyway) are not particularly bothered or impressed by that anyway.

WHS is not diverse. The other London GDSTs may be moreso, particularly the less academic ones.

Very few people are earning £1000 an hour on Sunday morning, which is when mass mostly is. And even fewer have BOTH parents earning £1000 on a Sunday morning.

"That depends on your income, doesn't it? High earners in London can make over £1000/hour."

This rate will put the high earner at the top 0.2% of the London pre-tax income bracket. But London has around 10-15% kids go to private school depends on age. So this argument is unsound.

That depends on your income, doesn't it? High earners in London can make over £1000/hour. 2 years of 46 masses per year attendance (to get "full marks" for my nearest school) can be really expensive for such people, if they're not gaining spiritual benefits from the attendance. And none of my acquaintances claim to derive such benefits.

The point that the poster raised was essentially that it could be too expensive to get into Catholic state school because of the level of parental involvement precluded two incomes so private school would be the cheaper alternative. That is a nonsense. I’m not arguing that it’s a good thing that state faith schools exist and prioritise religious children in their criteria but it is farcical for anyone to claim that private school would be the more accessible alternative in monetary terms.

That isn’t really a level playing field, but it isn’t less accessible than or even the same level of inaccessible as private school.

How is it any less accessible if you're not Catholic?

The London Oratory did previously have admissions criteria that favoured those who flower arranged/did the collection, etc. The Adjudicator put a stop to that. Now, like every other Catholic school I know (and I know a lot) it’s baptism and attendance

Agree. Anecdotally at least I am aware of three faith schools where friends' DC go (both parents work). All schools required before admission evidence of regular Sunday church attendance, but nothing like parents doing flower arrangements etc necessitating one parent not working at all (sounds bonkers!).

Maybe it happens for one such school, but I would seriously doubt that sort of commitment is the norm in even a small percentage of faith schools.

It is unlikely to the point of entire disbelief that a Catholic state school’s admissions criteria are as described by pp or indeed incompatible with one parent working. Ditto that there are two state schools local to that poster where the children are 100% white, wealthy and Christian. I don’t disagree with the point that faith schools and affluent catchments are/can both be exclusionary but I don’t believe any Catholic state primary in London formally requires parental flower arranging. The requirement will almost certainly be baptism and a certain level of Sunday mass attendance. That isn’t really a level playing field, but it isn’t less accessible than or even the same level of inaccessible as private school.

For a real world example, Dulwich Hamlet is a good performing state primary, and a lot of the children there go to the Dulwich schools - JAGS/the College/Alleyns. Last admitted distance for the past 3 years is less than 1km.

The cheapest 3 bed (ie family home) within 1km is almost £900k.

@MiddleParking unlikely? definitely. possible? unfortunately very much so.
The majority of state primary school around here are NOT like that. But they also don’t send a significant percentage of students to private secondary schools or have results way above the national average. Some schools are in rich areas with tiny catchments, and faith schools are an oddity anyway in terms of intake criteria.
While i’m annoyed at the school in the rich area (its our closest school, but no chance getting in), i have no interest in the faith school (don’t care about religion).

State school intake is a blunt instrument for all the reasons PPs have mentioned.

We have plenty of kids at our school on bursaries and parents who find the fees a big stretch. I also know lots of wealthy state school parents. If it's ethnic or cultural diversity you're after, our private school is far more diverse than the local state schools.

My advice would be to look at the various options and pick the school which best suits your child. Ethos and atmosphere are more important than focusing on statistics like state school intake.

It's really not highly unlikely. This is really not that uncommon in well off areas in London and it's exactly what I meant up thread. State schools aren't all the same and there's kids in preps precisely because they can't afford the good state.

@HeathrowQuestion its a faith school, so they can ask for “involvement in the church”, which means intense competition on how to do this best. The “donation” part is hearsay (might just be coincidence), but you definitely need to clean the church, help with reparation for mass, do flower arrangements etc on a weekly basis to be considered- not compatible with two full time earners (or a SAHP of young children!). Expensive area, so the one earner needs to be a top earner to live anywhere close. One form intake with sibling priority as well, so very, very hard to get in as its maybe 15 spaces or so per year. Its an excellent school, but comes at a price

That sounds highly unlikely for a state school. Are you describing the actual criteria or something you perceive?

Then the school is acting unlawfully, if what you describe is true.

I think Whitgift and Trinity take a much higher proportion of bursary pupils and are much more ethnically and socially diverse, thanks to the Whitgift Foundation’s deep pockets. It was very obvious at the interview and open days. But of course those are boys, at least until sixth form. Not sure whether Old Palace of John Whitgift for girls is same?