SW London Private Schools - Opinions Sought

[FionaCullen]

Background: Relocating family (H/W/DD) back home to UK after living in USA. Decided that 'best' place for us to settle to enjoy both London stimulation and leafy suburban relative safety is SW London i.e. Richmond/surrounding areas with tube/rail connection (Kew, Putney, Wimbledon) for commute to my work/Embankment area. Have one lovely daughter, aged 10, totally US-educated, who will be entering year 6 in UK in Sept 2012. Avoiding State schools because (1) want same school all way from Yr6-Age 18 (2)academic performance issues state schools (3) catchment issues (4) want all girls. Daughter is averagely clever, university material. We are run of mill family (not super-rich, posh or celeb). Just want decent, caring, rounded, safe education and am prepared to pay for it. *My question is this: I've shortlisted five SW London private schools that appear may meet this brief. Your opinions sought on these schools and also solicitations for any I've overlooked:

1. Lady Eleanor Holles Richmond
2. St. Catherines Twickenham
3. Putney HS
4. Wimbeldon HS
5. Sutton HS (bit further out)
6. Gumley RC Convent* (we are RC but not rabidly so)

Is you DD sporty or musical or have any other interests? All I know about the schools you have mentioned is that Lady Eleanor Holles is very sporty (have seen them at national regattas etc) so would be good for a sporty child, not sure about the rest though.

Surely there are no schools which will take you right through. Won't you need to sit 11+ at in the Jan of your first year and then get into one of these - sorry - may be wrong, but is certainly the case in our area of more inner-city SW London.

We live near LEH but I think of it as in Hampton, unless there are two sites. I've heard only good things about it. It's highly thought of and competition for places is pretty strong, I think.

If you're RC, Notre Dame in Cobham is raved about. I know RC and non RC girls who go there and it has an excellent reputation for making girls happy and bringing out the best in them. It goes from nursery to 6th form. (I know about it because two friends' daughters go there.) But it would be a bit of a hike from Richmond. You'd need to be looking at living deeper into Surrey for that one, I guess.

St Catherine's v small and much less academic than LEH, Putney or Wimbledon High - friend's dd has just started there and she didn't even get an interview at LEH. LEH quite full on, lots of v confident, extremely able girls - strong on both music and sport - 64% GCSEs this year were A* compared to 29% at Wimbledon High. LEH and St Catherine's very different schools so you're not really comparing like with like - the kind of girl who'd flourish at St C might well be overwhelmed by LEH. Wimbledon & Putney High both solid reasonably academic schools, but not quite in the same league as LEH. All of them have prep depts but your dd would still need to take the entrance exam for the senior school, although I suspect they wouldn't take a child into y6 unless they were pretty sure she'd pass the exam.

LEH is super academic. Wimbled

Gumley is a state school, just fyi. Admissions criteria are on their website, so you should be able to see whether you'd fit the criteria.

Sorry, Wimbledon and Putney are both academically very strong; Wimbledon has a good drama department and is an all-round lovely school: very supportive, little bullying.

Surbiton high. Very academic, sporty but lovely atmosphere.
Kingston grammer (co-ed) selective academic private day in Kingston, highly regarded, kids are bright, level headed, sporty but also a little bit street wise.
Claremont fancourt Esher. Beautiful grounds, school not as academic as some, but still doing very well with exam passes. Kids are lovely, gentle school, not too preasurized, and lots of one-2-one teaching if needed.

There is a real scramble for places at private schools in SW London. It is normal for good, but not outstanding girls, to try 5 schools at 11+ to ensure they get something, though given that people are applying for more than one school you should not be put off by the fact that individual schools are 5 or 10 times oversubscribed.

Given you will be looking for an occasional place you might contact the respective schools early and ask about entrance procedures. Schools probably wont know until Easter whether they will have any places at all, as parents will give a term's notice, so you probably want to be on several wait lists.

You will discover that school choice is a bit more about schools choosing your child than it is your child choosing the school. Depending on the initial response you get from schools, you might reconsider co-ed (Ibstock, Harrodian, Latymer Prep, Kingston Grammar, Emanuel which now has a Yr 6 class, and St Benedicts). Do look through the Good Schools Guild, and also consider adding St Augustines Priory (Catholic) and Putney Park to your list of all-girls Schools. Both considered less academic, but to be honest unless your DD is really at the top of her year group, you may find the competition for places at Putney and Wimbledon Highs and LEH, especially for Yr 6, pretty ferocious. Many London parents would dearly love to secure a place at that point and avoid the 11+ nightmare.

Good luck. You have mentioned some fantastic schools, and places will come up. It is just difficult to predict where.

Thank you all for this very helpful, 'reality-check'information. I will definitely use it to help with the search. So glad I posted on here, such good practical advice from people who are clearly in-the-know!!

A further tip is to use TfL's journey planner to work out how feasible any journey is. Journey time, safety and reliability are as important as distance.
Emanuel, for example, is a nice long established school with a steadily improving reputation and located near Clapham Junction, thus accessible from large parts of South West London. I just looked it up and they have a new 10+ class taking 20 children, so though co-ed your DD would be starting with the rest of a new cohort, and you would not have to wait till Easter to hear if anyone has given notice. (Oddly several boys schools have an entry point at 10+ but girls schools dont.) You need to register by the start of November.

First of all, don't panic.

Agree withNeedmoresleep about travelling - I would research travel first and take it from there.
Agree too that 10+ intake is very useful, and can also say from experience that Emanuel is a good school.

You will encounter much hysteria from over anxious parents about the 11+ in London, but you will also see from going round all the schools, that many schools are oversubscribed and it takes only one person to accept a place in one school, to free up places in other schools.

The most important piece of advice though is to say to yourself, will this school bring out the best in my DC? Most of the schools on the SW London circuit are sound, and academically good, and your DC - in my opinion - will end up with the same academic results wherever they go. The luxury of choice of school is to do with the broader education of your child, and what will develop their character, their ambitions, their interests, rather than what will deliver an A or A*.

I think the difficulty may lie with the age and doing 11+ / entrance exams early in Y6? Many/most of the kids will be well prepped for these for a year prior so even if your daughter is smart, she may not adapt in time (although I suspect schools may take this into account if you talk with them?)

LEH is fab - great choice & go for it. Our daughter moved to the LEH Juniors from a state school and loves it. Competitive, bright girls but not pushy or snobbish. Also they run a bus service from Richmond and Kew.

If you can wait a year to Y7 Godolphin & Latymer is the other one you might take a look - if you like LEH - similar style, ethos and acedemic results but has a reputation for being a bit arty (whereas LEH is a bit sporty).

another vote for Surbiton High - it's reasonably academic but not overwhelmingly so - friendly school -definitely worth a view

Does your daughter have a September birthday? If not and she is 10 already she will need to sit the entrance exams this January.

KNow all these school are SW London based and have a 13 year old dd.

LEH is very academic - not far off St Pauls so if your dd is averagely clever this might be a step too far pressure wise.

Putney and Wimbledon High are both good solid academic schools for very bright girls (would have to be grammar calibre - our dd scraped into Putney and she's top average but we felt might struggle and we declined the place). I have lots of grown up friends who have been to Putney and they are amongst the nicest women I come across.

I don't know much about the other schools on your list but was very impressed with Surbiton High School which takes girls routinely at 10, ie Y6. It has lovely facilities, is well linked for public transport and has good school buses which cover SW London. It is quite academic but not such as hot house as Putney and Wimbledon.

Notre Dame mentioned further up the thread is a hidden gem but if you work full time in London could be tricky because of the setting and the fact that if your dd misses the school bus and doesn't have a lift, there is no way of returning home (or getting there) easily by public transport.

I have a nephew who was regaded as very bright at his UK prep school but when the family relocated to the US he was regarded as very behind - you might be surprised at your dd's ability and it might be worth checking this out because your idea of averagely clever might be different than averagely clever in the UK. The lad in question ended up reading law at Cambridge!!

my neighbours have two girls at Putney High, very lovely family and very well behaved and sweet girls, that's all i know.

we are relocating to London and plan to live around SW area. My daughter got offer from Latimer upper, LEH and Putney High. She is bright and very musical. I do not know which one to choose.

LEH is quite far away and I do not know how efficient is their coach service? I am still looking for property around Putney and Wimbledon. Is travel time very important when choosing school?

Putney High has good bus routes to it, also very near District Line tube, and overland train which runs between Waterloo and Richmond/Hounslow. Travel-wise it is straightforward to get to, hence broad catchment of girls at the school.

Don't know enough about the others.

ukbath, you could move to Parsons Green which would make access to Putney High via bus and Latimer Upper quite easy. Latimer Upper has the best A-level results as far as I'm aware and is co-ed unlike the other two, so you might need to take that into consideration as well. I would personally choose Latimer Upper but it depends on your priorities.

I have just been to an Open Day at Ibstock Place, which is mixed, and am totally bowled over by the school, the ethos and the grounds. The girl giving us the tour came from an all girls background, but had changed, because she could not stand the bitchy manipulative atmosphere at all girls schools. (the school she came from is on your list btw).

We are in Richmond, but have boys, and after today IP is our first choice for schools.

ukbath my daughter is at LEH and we are Sheen/Putney. The school bus service is extensive and well run with 2 or 3 choices from Putney and Wimbledon. The pick up times are around 7.45

sanam2010 whilst A level result tables are in my view incredibly misleading LEH out of those mentioned achieves the highest results and consistently so:
www.telegraph.co.uk/education/leaguetables/8775031/A-level-results-2011-independent-schools.html

LEH is very big on music regularly competing in national competitions etc. I am not sure about Latymer Upper. Putney High from my experience is not massive on the music side although that may well have changed. Although not on your list Godolphin & Latymer is known to be strong musically.

The other thing to consider with travel time is effect on your child social life, ease of getting back from late activities if there is ni late coach etc. I went to school that was on bus route but a long way away- it did have an impact on how much I could do/ how tired I was after stuff that was late and how near I lived to my friends.

Thanks so much for so much feedback. I will have a further consideration. Travelling time is obvious a big effect on not only my daughter's life but also on my life.

Depends also on how old your daughter is.

Latymer has quite a big sixth form after taking more in from elsewhere, and is considered particularly strong in arts (including music - joint orchestra with G&L) and maths/science.

If your daughter is sporty, LEH and Latymer probably have the edge.

Other factors include the fact that Putney is cheaper, and then whether you want all girls or co-ed. LEH manages a good compromise being next to Hampton.

In terms of travel if you are south of the river Putney will probably be easier than Latymer. (Hammersmith Bridge can be a nightmare.) Anywhere on the District or Piccadilly lines, eg Kew or Richmond, and Latymer may have the edge. For LEH, look at their bus routes.