Eton but where first?

[WLW2026]

My son has an accepted offer from an academic London day school at 11+ (think Latymer, City of London, Highgate type) with no clear 13+ entry/leavers. He also somewhat unexpectedly received an offer from Eton for 13+ in the recent round for 2028 entry. His current private primary school only runs to Y6.

My dilemma is, should I send him to the accepted day school, and then look to take the common entrance privately, or try to find (very last minute) a 11-13 prep school?

I completely appreciate this is a very unconventional route, and I’ve seen a previous poster coming under a lot of pressure from posters. I can only say that no one going into the London system can know how their child will perform for their exams, or what will suit their child when they are 11/13/older. There is no intention on my side to ‘take a spot’ from another deserving candidate!

The reason we wanted to try for Eton is that I thought it would be a good academic fit - my son loves lots of different things that are offered. Separately, he has cousins who attended and loved the school. The reason we aren’t so keen on taking a 11-13 prep place is that I don’t really want him to go to a tiny school for 2 years working toward an exam, nor are we keen for him to board now, rather than in two years. I am much more of the mind set that you can only make sure your child is at the right place for them at the time.

One solution of course is for my child to stay at the day school, but they loved the admissions process at Eton, and while they were slightly hesitant about boarding, I can easily see how in two years this might be different (ie, already very independent academically and socially, loves to go on camps with school/clubs).

May I ask if anyone here has experience of moving from Day to Boarding, and how that worked? Also, if any current Eton parents are aware of their children’s friend who might have taken this route?

thank you!

Hi, my son took the route you are considering (london primary school, 11+ selective day school for 2 years and then on). He took CE at a private tutoring company in Battersea with no prep or revision - they just need a pass. It enabled him to keep local friends and also receive great teaching towards gcse syllabus, and because there is still movement at 13 in these schools (quite a big entry still comes in) - when they move classes around and build streams it was quite a natural moving point. He’s super happy and in fact we discovered another boy at the school moving with him too so it’s more prevalent than we might have imagined

I should add he’s a couple of years into Eton now and didn’t struggle with boarding at all. As long as your boy is interested in getting involved and getting stuck he will have an amazing time, and keeping friendships in london for the long holidays is very helpful too

Isn't The Dragon School a traditional feeder for Eton? He could board from 11-13.

Also agree with Hill House, for a London school.

Bump

Sevenoaks School parent here. each year there seem to be a couple of kids who come for yr 7 & 8 then leave for Eton, presumably as a result of this issue you're facing - they get the benefit of a great secondary school experience, good size year groups (70-80 cohort), masses of clubs and opportunities, and amazing academics which is all a gazillion times better than any local prep offering for these years (and there are really good preps nearby). It requires being a day student however - Sevenoaks only offer boarding from yr 9 up.

Each to their own - I don’t see the benefit of going to an 11-18 secondary school for just two years though. You’d be one of the only children leaving at 13, just as everyone else has settled in and is really getting going, and you’d also be the youngest in the school (which in many ways is not great) twice over. At prep school at 12/13 you get all the fun of being top of the school, prefects, nicest sports pitches, activities for the leaving class etc.

That’s an excellent point actually - boys at the prep I know best thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed getting to the top of their school and benefitting from yr 8 privileges. A slightly removed boarding house; greater freedom beyond the school gates. (Admittedly these are things that would seem obvious or irrelevant for 12 year olds at day school, but they matter in a boarding context.)

Hadn’t thought of it for a while, but it might indeed be a bore to be moved to an 11-18 school - where you’d be the most junior - and then to a 13-18 school where, again, you’re the youngest there. It’s a bit unsatisfactory never to experience being the most senior in school until you’re 18.

The head of DSs prep school said exactly this to me, it's an ideal age to start handling out responsibility.

I have to agree that a prep school is going to provide a much better introduction to Eton

The Hall in Hampstead also regularly takes boys in this situation for Years 7 and 8. They send a decent cohort to Eton, so your DS would be making friends with other boys heading there.

Two minutes walk from Swiss Cottage tube (although that might still be too far north for you)