Indepedent School Virgin Seeking Independent School

[TheSchoolNamechange]

Help! We're 'abroad' at the moment and just found out we're coming back to London next year, just in time for the start of the new school year. DCs will be entering Year 5 and Year 2. We don't have an address yet, but could move anywhere in London and the commuter belt. Our odds of getting into a good state school, given that we can't even apply without an address, are next to zero.

So, the company has said it will pay for an independent school. I know nothing about the independent sector, and had not even considered it until yesterday. The DC have had a freewheeling, carefree sort of education up to now. (Heavy on the carefree, light on the education). They do speak foreign, though, and very well.

I would like to find an independent school that offers boarding (though they will not board until several years from now), is as inclusive and multicultural as possible, coed, and offers a good education that fosters creativity and freethinking. Hmmm, maybe like an independent school for future Guardian readers! Lentil-weaving optional.

I have no idea what I need (prep? what are they prepping for anyway?) or where to look. Do they need to pass exams to get into Years 2 & 5? If so, what exams? I'm worried about exams!!!

Please help me. Point me to some schools. Tell me what's going on.

Huge, sobbing, unmumsnetty hugs of thanks in advance.

Have you discovered the Good Schools Guide? Probably the best starting point (as well as personal recommendations). You have to pay a subscription to access the full information, but you can just do a month or two at a time. Or there's a book version: 2011

The description of the kind of school you're looking for sounds rather like the boarding school a couple of cousins of mine went to: St Christopher's School in Letchworth - might be worth a look.

Oooo, they could weave themselves all sorts of lentils there, exexpat!

I would also say if you happen to move close to a good state school then apply, places do come up.
Are you looking for an international syllabus? Because if so then one of the ACS schools might suit. (Prep is to prepare them for public school, and common entrance.)

Bedales? (Hampshire) Also has a prep can't off the top of my head remember what it's called. Has happiest children of any school we looked at. Beware Good Schools Guide and Independent Schools Inspectorate neither are actually independent many parents will cheerfully testify that their school bears no resemblance to those described in either!

The Good Schools Guide is good as a starting point, the clue is in the name - they only include schools (both independent and an increasing number of state) if they fit their idea of good. So adverse comments are infrequent and mild. And some schools really do court them for inclusion!

But it does bring descriptions of schools together in one place, and will show if they are academic, sporty, arty, all-round etc. They give a reasonable idea of a school's performance but they are not inspectors and do not pretend to be. They do say where inspection reports, league tables etc are found.

I think it'll help if you can give us some idea of where you might be thinking of moving - you don't want an awkward school run to a prep school!

Also, many London day schools have 11+ entry, with application cut off dates falling in autumn year6. You might want to put some thought into what possible secondaries now.

Something to cheer you up - there is always a huge amount of movement in and out of London prep schools. There are always places coming up as people move in and out of Town.

Prep is pretty much synonymous with junior school - not all London ones even go up to Common Entrance anyhow. They will select for occasional places mainly by report from current school, and interview/taster day. But the start of year 3 is a standard entry point for many, so depending on your arrivaldate, your younger DC might find themself in a main entrance round, which would be likely to include a (school specific) exam too.

Prep of Bedales is Dunannie and Dunhurst.... If you are looking to maybe board at the same school check whether the boarding is mainly weekly or full boarding. This is very important if you might be going abroad again. You mention that you possibly won't need the boarding for a few more years; prep school goes up to 13. So maybe you could look for a day school now and then a different boarding school at 13?

Depends what flavour your children are and whether you want them together - hard to give specific advice without knowing that.

Next, the natural times to start boarding if you want to do it later are 11 for girls at girls' schools and 13 for boys at boys's schools, and girls at former boys's schools (eg Marlborough, Wellington). There are also boarding prep schools which cover 8-13, traditionally single sex, but with notable exceptions eg Dragon in Oxford.

In the meantime, do you fancy going to London day schools, living in town and leaving a wide choice of boarding schools at the next step, or getting settled in or near your intended end point?

Oh, and Prep means preparing for common entrance, either the boys' public school 13+, or the girls'/grammar schools' 11+, so really just means independent junior schools (pre-prep means 4-7 or 8 only, a less common subset).

Regarding exams, many London preps are very competitive at the key entry points (for 4+ and 7 or 8+ (ie reception, and year 3 or 4), but there is lots of movement so occasional places come up all the time - you will just have to be persistent with your calling. I think that when coming in from outside, occasional moves are much preferable to trying to dive straight into mass exams. Schools will still want to do some tests, particularly for your year 5, but they will generally be fairly low key (english, maths, perhaps some reasoning) and will take into consideration any transfer issues. For the little one will be a just question of checking that they will be able to cope, not a big formal session. Outside town the trad prep schools are in some cases less heated for entry at the formal points, with exceptions, but sometimes are less subject to parental churn opening up occasional places, so swings and roundabouts.

Tell us more and we may be able to help more. I would second the Bedales comment above - an obvious and traditional choice for Guardanista independent school users, and they have associated junior operations.

Thank you all for your help!

EdithWeston We can move anywhere with access to London (including London itself, of course). My roots are south-east (Kent), and relatives are scattered all around Greater London, so if we found a good school, I'd be happy to move nearish (house prices permitting). We may actually rent for a few months on arrival, then buy a house or flat, so thus I'm hoping to sort the school first and a home later.

And that is comforting about London places.

This is probably one of those 'how long is a piece of string' questions, but having chosen a school, how likely is it that the DC will get in? I think the idea of having a selection process in primary is freaking me a bit. And then they compete again to get into a senior school? I guess for prep schools you just ask what percentage of their students pass the common entrance exam (is that what all the indep secondaries use as selection??).

Can you go from any prep to any senior school? Do senior schools automatically admit students from their own preps?

I will get hold of the Good Schools guide; reservations noted.

happygardening Bedales looks very sweet - apparently the prep is called Dunhurst.

mummytime You make a good point about IB. Will have a think on that. Also, we will of course apply for a good state school if we're near one. But expat friends who have come back (as we will) without an address have had very mixed luck on this. Some really really bad luck too.

I know my questions must sound thick, and thank you all again.

Bedales really does sound up your street. I sent my DD there and she loved it. We loved it too. They have their own farm and spend one afternoon a week in the senior school doing something called 'Outdoor Work', which included herding sheep, caring for horses, forestry, and other rural pastimes. They also learned to bake bread in the period bakehouse (Bedales Mars Bar bread is the stuff of legend) and make chutney, lemon curd and so on for sale to parents. Pupils also learn to spin wool from the school sheep and it is professionally processed for sale, as well as made into rugs for sale. When they have finished with the sheep they are professionally butchered and you can buy them for the freezer . The school also has whole school weekend projects where they collectively raise a barn, build paths and so on. When DD went to university she was incredibly popular as she was the only student with her own weekly organic veg box and she could quite easily rustle up a post-pub vegetarian curry for 20 people with the munchies after her catering training at Bedales.

I was also very impressed with the academic side of things - DD did incredibly well and went to Cambridge, not least because the pastoral support is amazing and they really worked hard to accommodate the stroppy teenager she was at the time. The art is excellent and pupils spend a lot longer on their projects, finishing them to a higher standard than is normal in schools, because the art rooms and workshops are open very long hours to allow more focused efforts. It's not a school where they have much time to watch television - they are tempted away from doing that. The music is also outstanding as is the drama - I mean really outstanding, amazing standard, and very inclusive as well. There is a lovely professional theatre and the plays we saw were often pupil-initiated and led and wonderfully produced, directed and acted.

DD hated sport and skived off at every opportunity, but I gather the sport is actually quite reasonable, and was amused to see the school allowing the production of a surprisingly tasteful 'naked' calendar of the first boys' hockey team to raise funds for a hockey tour. The calendar was entitled "We're hot like our hockey". I believe it sold well ... The head (Keith) was tolerant in this way, but drew the line at letting my DD organise a production of the Vagina Monologues, amusingly avoiding saying the V word in every single negotiation, she noted. Keith is funky and old-fashioned at the same time, in a good way.

One indication of the school's philosophy can be seen in the list of extra curricular activities. Instead of them being school-led, as is often the case, you see things like the pupils' recycling society, pupil-organised cinema club (in former chapel) and so on. There was even an unofficial fag butt collection rota where the pupils who smoked organised walks around the grounds to pick up any smoking detritus, quite unpromoted by staff and very much in the self-regulation vein of Badley's philosophy (smoking no worse than at any other school, by the way).

To sum up, it's a school that has an excellent academic programme with added value, a more diverse pupil and teacher body than other independent senior schools, and which takes an enormous amount of care of individual pupils. Certainly go and have a look around (especially the gorgeous library!)

PS I have looked around St Christopher's in Letchworth and the behaviour in classes was incredibly unsettled.

Another option might be Bishops Stortford which is commuter belt and which has a lot of good state and private primaries as well as as a good choice of excellent state and private secondaries. Hockerill is a state boarding school (from 11) and runs the IB middle years and sixth form programmes.

michaelahpurple and goinggetstough X-posted. Thank you for all that.

You're right - it must offer full boarding, especially as younger DC will likely be under 13 when we go abroad again.

It's one girl, one boy and I very much want them together. The eldest is arty, clever, obsessively researches things of interest and cannot sit still to concentrate in class. The youngest is sportier and happier to sit down and 'work'.

So.... some schools start secondary at 11, and some at 13?

at avoiding the word vagina, Boffin. Thanks for telling me about the school.

I want to go to Bedales now and have my school experience all over again.

DD said once "Any school that lets you bake bread instead of doing PE has to be good".

Frensham Heights?

If your roots are in Kent, it might also be worth having a look at School which offers co-ed boarding from 11]].

Sorry: mucked up link: try again Sevenoaks School.

LOL We think it was Keith's version of saying 'The Scottish Play"!

Bryanston is another good progressive school, incidentally. A friend's daughter went there and loved it.

BTW be aware that boarding schools near London get very empty at the weekends as many of the pupils weekly board. It can be dull for those left behind.

BTW I would consider getting Gabbitas to ring around schools for you - they can act as middleman and people usually use them when relocating back from abroad - companies often pay.

Gabbitas

These have been great suggestions - I'm starting to feel a bit clearer about all this.

The prep school of Kings Canterbury offers boarding and the opportunity to move onto senior independents plus prepares for 13+. There are not really any coed schools with boarding in London. Cottesmore is a fantastic prep school with a good number of overseas pupils. I would rate this highly and it keeps your options open. In the same area there are a large number of Preps offering boarding and day and the Gatwick express takes no time to get into London. Where is the job in London?

I know a huge amount about prep schools. My son is off to Eton next year and he was offered places at Winchester and Westminster too. I would avoid Bedales, especially for a bright child. It does not prepare well if you want to change at senior school and it is very White! Cottesmore is a fabulous school - my son doesn't go there but I wish he had - and they will be patient with a child who wriggles! Also, they have lots of experience with overseas pupils whonall full board. The location is great for access to London - Bedales is miles away - and if you go overseas again then Gatwick is close by. The school goes to 13+ but a prep can tell you the best school to send a child to rather than picking a school that goes from 3-18 and discovering it's not quite right.

Bedales is near Petersfield - it's just down the A3, a pretty easy run. Are you mixing it up with another school?