Proportion of kids entering indie secondary schools from state primary?

[jasperc163]

Hi. I would just like some reassurance I suppose that this isn't too much of an issue (if necessary with tutoring in final year or so) if trying for an academically selective indie outside london (home counties)? DD is in a 'good' but tiny state primary (4 classes) and we had hoped to move her to the local indie with more facilities etc in a year or so but it is looking increasingly unlikely finances wise (as DD2 will follow on close behind). Impression of DD so far is that she is above average and keen to learn but not necessarily academically gifted,

Would appreciate any views on this from parents who have done it (not interested in private v state debate). Logically I have to assume that a fair proportion of pupils come from the state sector to private and they aren't all from prep feeder schools?

Many thanks
jasper

At both my boys' school and girls' school, about half of Year 7 pupils come from their own prep schools, and the other have from outside, and in each case, it's an even split between other prep schools and primary schools. Neither school has fixed ratios and all pupils sit the same entrance exams.

thanks amerryscot - so 75% are from prep schools - which is quite high.

It depends on the area and whether the school has its own prep school. An excellent school near me does not have its own prep, and it takes in over 50% from primary schools.

If the school has its own prep school, it will take a lot for them to move. The majority will prefer to stay put, which means very targeted competition from anyone from outside.

I think over the country as a whole, there are more secondary age places than prep school places so the additional children must come from somewhere and I doubt they can all be from overseas.

There are plenty is plenty of anecdotal evidence of children swopping sectors at 11 or 13.

I agree with the other posters who say it depends on where you are. How many prep schools are there and do the pupils tend to stay at local day schools? What secondaries are there - local day pupils or wider boarding footprint? Do they have feeder preps (either same ownership or some other preferred link)?

There is one other confounder from the current economic situation: families who might have boarded their children are not necessarily doing so as the step up to boarding fees is too much, but they're still ready to pay day fees, so those schools are seeing an increase in interest.

My daughter transferred from a small state (4 classes) primary school to an independent school in year 7. The ind. school is also very small (1 class intake with another in year 9) and her year 7 class had only 16 children. Of those 16, 4 came from state schools, the rest simply moved up from the prep school.

This year there will be a further 30 children joining the school in year 9, mainly, I suspect, due to the closure of another local ind. school in the area last summer.

My DD1 is in year 7 at a selective independent school. She came from an average state primary. Most of the girls in her new year did go to prep school, I would guess it is probably a 60/40 mix.

Like your DD Jasper she is above average and keen to learn but not gifted. She did not have a tutor to pass exams but I went over mock papers with her in the the few months leading up to the exam. In her year group of 30 at primary school, 6 went on to private school, although only DD and one other went to selective ones.

The best news for us is that she has settled well, loves it there and the girls are not interested in who went where for junior school. She has not much of a clue which girls went to the prep and which didn't. Hope that helps.

75% from preps is not quite high. Most independent schools are going to attract most of it's pupils from preps as parents have already opted into the independent sector and a prep is to prepare for senior school. Depending on the area most primary pupils will go onto a state senior school.

Where are you getting your facts from, colleges?

At the indie upper school I'm looking to send my DS to, about 10-15% come from the state sector at 13. It's got it's own feeder prep (which is where the majority of its pupils come from) and several other preps in the county send a fair proportion of their kids to it as well. It's a nice mix.

At my DS's school there are children transferring there from state education all the time (he did it himself in year 3).

At the school dd1 is going to about 25% are from state primaries. She will be one of them. It is not a super selective indie, but she did have to pass an exam to show she is working at approx NC Level 5.

I'm not sure what the proportion is at v selective indies such as City, Westminister, St Pauls etc.

City's website says that they have over 50% of boys coming from state primaries.

Oh, I don't know ameryscot, maybe I dreamt them up!

Just a warning - do look how selective the school is. The selective ones near to me are very selective to the point of having asked the less academic 3rd child of friends to leave. They had cheerfully accepted the extremely bright older two but when it came to the third they were more interested in grades than fees.

IME children are at their happiest when they have some ahead of them and some behind them IYSWIM.

Your other option would be to transfer her from primary to prep at 11 then on to independent senior at 13. 11+ is a common entry point in many prep schools including the home counties prep where I work. Preps are cheaper than independent seniors as well which might help you.

Many thanks everyone - food for thought. Its all a bit up in the air as to what will happen as it depends on if/when finances ease up!!

Manicinsomniac - that is an interesting idea. I assume there will be alot of freed up places in the local prep (as many girls will depart).

Yes, a fair number of girls leave at 11 from many (most?) preps.