Ardingley prep, Hurstpierpoint, Great Walstead Prep/Summerhill & Tavistock - which is best for little ones?

[arizonagirl]

Hi all,

Off to look at schools in Haywards Heath. Wondered if anyone could make my life a little easier and let me know anything they know about these preps.

We have two children aged four and five. Is there one that would be better for little ones - just wondering if the pre-prep is an add-on in the colleges.

I also noticed that there doesn't seem to be a Head at the moment at Great Walstead even though a new one started in 2006. Slightly disconcerting. Does anyone know what the score is there?

Any thoughts/advice/opinions - good or bad - would help me enormously. Got a few weeks to make a really important decision.

Thank you!!

sorry arizonagirl, I know nothing about the preps you mention so can't advise

However .... do you think that maybe you should just step back from the whole issue at the moment? If you gave yourself some space to reflect you might find your decision easier

basildonbond, you are so so right. Unfortunately, it isn't as simple as that! Long story but to cut it short we have to leave our house in the next few weeks (owners returning from abroad) and we have given notice in at dc's school. And then we are without home or location with four children all under five. If I hadn't given notice at the school we would have had to pay until Easter even though we wouldn't be living here!! Don't want to leave dc without a school as they are doing really well. That is just the beginning of the dilemma - lots of other factors which mean we need to be somewhere by the end of the year.

But yes, you are quite right...I do think we are getting somewhere - have made many compromises and we are now going to stick with Hampshire or West Sussex (even if that means ending up with a school which isn't ideal). But you speak a lot of sense and I think we now have enough information to stand back and make a decision on what we know (looking at preps we have come across). Just wish there was a great prep school in Hampshire commutable to London - but have accepted that this is probably not the case.

Thanks for your post.

Arizona - I am sure there must be another forum where there will be more people to help you. Mumsnet does have a disproportionately large number of private school users, true, but there still won't be all that many here. And even fewer who know North Hampshire and West Sussex very well.

I can't help thinking there must be better advice for you out there somewhere. Is there not a prep school parents forum or somesuch out there in cyberspace?

Thanks nameymcnamechange (wow, long nickname). Good point - I think I am so close to the situation I haven't really thought outside the box. Will look into it. Appreciate you taking the time to write. Sorry if I have been a bit of a nuisance on these forums - everyone has just been so helpful that it just becomes very easy to ask all those questions that keep popping into your mind. Will try and leave everyone alone a bit!!

Take a deep breath, make appointments to see all four pre-preps/preps, only you know what will best suit your children. You will have to do the leg work. Don't panic about the lack of Head at Gt Walstead, you can ask about this on your visit.

I know you did mention Cumnor previously, and I do know of parents who are very happy with Cumnor House. I also know of someone who was happy with Gt Walstead, and who then went on to win a scholarship to Ardingly. I know you are aware of the great expense of these schools, but remember to bear in mind especially with senior schools not only the fees but music tuition, trips, uniforms, minibus transport to school if required, etc etc.

Also take into account whether you would like them to be in the same private school all the way through. I think Hurstpierpoint and Ardingly go from pre-prep right through to senior. Summerhill and Gt Walsted just go to prep.

But do remember, there are some good state primaries in the area. If you do want to investigate the state primary route, you will probably be able to get relevant advice from the Netmums West Sussex site.

Have you found somewhere suitable to live?

Thanks Captainpig. No, nowhere to live yet. Going to find the school first - seems more logical for us in our position. Thanks for the feedback on the schools. Will look at all of them.

I am fine with good state schools having taught in them for several years. The problem is finding a good one with places. For example, the one we were offered a place at around here was almost a failing school - I could never do that! So if we settle somewhere (if!) then I am very receptive to the idea of investigating state primaries. But it is just too hard to go down that route at the moment, having only a few weeks to sort this all out. Plus I teach in the private sector so have been toying with the idea of whether we could get a good fee remission (not working at the moment but will be soon).

Thanks for your kind post.

Sorry, didn't realise you were a private school teacher, you are obviously aware of all the expense involved.

Good luck, I can understand the stress you must be under looking for both school, house and the right area to be in. It will all come right in the end.

Thanks Captainpig.

Yes, only too aware of the ridiculous costs and know we will be unlikely to sustain it permanently. So once we get settled somewhere we will have to look at getting onto catchment waiting lists - oh, the joys.

Yes, life is rather interesting at the moment. Did I mention that I am due to have a baby in two weeks time as well? Life is never dull!!

Am taking a step backwards from all this. But what is so frustrating is that I think I have found a really good school, make an appointment to go and see it .... and then find out that the Head has been fired just a few months ago (and they still have no Head). Just great. Any insight on this - I am feeling rather skeptical to say the least. Looks rather an unstable place to join in the present times.

Typical!!!

Why don't you just relax. Find somewhere you want to live. Then homeschool if necessary (including unschooling maybe) until you find the right place.

I really think you are in the wrong stage of pregnancy to be stressing yourself as much as this. I have read lots of your posts, and to be honest you have opened yourself to too much choice. You are like someone who has returned from Africa and is overwhelmed by the supermarket. Most of us choose because we limit our choices by: location, private or state, all girls/co-ed, academic style etc. Just as when I go to the supermarket I don't even look at most of the goods on display.

There is not a perfect school out there, but there are a lot of good enough schools. Even where the head has just been sacked, its better than before they've discovered what he's been up to.

I live round the corner from Hurstpierpoint College - they have an open day on 2nd October (9.30am I think). From what I can tell (article in local magazine recently) they have put a lot of time into their pre-prep and prep - recruited a well-respected head who seems to have brought loads of parents with her from her old school! But that could just be marketing blurb :)

We're going to have a look round, just because we're nosey if nothing else. The state primaries in the villages around here are great (several Ofseted outstanding) so we will probably go that route.

Thank you for your posts. Yes, I am living on the computer at the moment but only because my MBA dissertation is due in on Tuesday (another source of stress). Mumsnet is great for taking a breather, although dh keeps moaning that I am off task.

Very wise advice and mummytime, your analogy with a supermarket made me smile. I remember that choice of overwhelming choice after returning from Europe, not Africa!! You are quite right though - we have given ourselves too much choice. Having said that we have now banned ourselves from considering anything else except West Sussex and Hampshire (not because they are best but because they are 'doable'. And we have just realised that no school out there is perfect - that is naively a new realisation of ours and has made things an awful lot easier. Megonthemoon - will look at Hurstpierpoint - sounds interesting. And great news about good state primaries as this was one of our prerequisites for the new place we move to. Wasn't sure if we had met this criteria or not so you have really helped. Right, off to bash a few more words into my dissertation (before having a sneaky look at mumsnet

Excuse spelling errors - lazy!!

Hi Arizona, I live a few miles from the schools you mention. I am looking at Hurst and Ardingly at the moment. Hurst apparently offer lots of non accademic opportunities later on, most of which are very costly. They also have a huge intake of overseas students. Hurst seems to have the best reputation from talking to other people I know. If you have girls, I would suggest Burgess Hill school for girls, comes near the top of the league tables, year on year.

You mention that you are pregnant, so there will be an age gap of four years. For that reason I would suggest leaving Walstead alone. Ardingly and Hurst are 2.5- 18yrs and if nothing else you would never have to run between schools. The school run is bad enough without having to run all around sussex!

West Hill in Titchfield has already been recommended and it is perfectly possible to commute from Fareham/Portsmouth to London daily; many RN Officers do this, as do others.

Good advice, thank you minimathsmouse. Scaryteacher, West Hill looks a good school. But times to London seem to be around 1 hour 45 minutes which would be too much, allowing for extra time to and from the station, tubes etc. Please let me know if I have got that 1 hour, 45 minutes wrong.

Just checked again - West Hill would involve driving over to Fareham, a train journey of 98 minutes followed by two tubes. Think that would be grounds for divorce

Do people really do that kind of commute!!

Yes, they do, daily to and from the MoD. The MoD doesn't deem a 2 hour commute too long if you live on the outskirts of London either, so you could be fighting your way from MoD in Central London to Watford or out to Kingston or futher.

If you commute by car within a close range it can take ages as well. Sometimes it can take dh 90 minutes to travel what would take 15 if the Ring in Brussels was empty.

Wow!!! I guess you just get used to it. But must be hard to get out of bed on those cold, blustery mornings. I guess as we have no need to do it, it might as well be a path avoided. If we moved there simply for the school - well, imagine the pressure upon that poor school to keep us happy. Not a good idea. Thanks for replying so quickly - you must be like me, chained to the computer for some reason!

I can't imagine moving somewhere for a school personally; there would have to be other things. Fwiw, when ds was at prep in Devon, and we lived in Cornwall and I taught in Cornwall, I did a round trip of about an hour depending on traffic from home to his school, drop off, and then on to my school, and reversed it in the evenings. Dh was abroad, so I did it every day.

There are those who live in Brussels and do Eurostar to London every day and back, so Farehma doesn't seem so bad by comparison!

megonthemoon

Just wondering if you went to the Hurstpierpoint open day and, if so, what you thought?

Many thanks.