How on earth does anyone get their kids into prep school in London??

[londonlottie]

Hi there, we're half-way through buying a house in Kent, very much having thought along the lines that we wanted to move there for the schools. However, having moved back into our SE London house temporarily while the sale/purchase goes through (having lived abroad for past 2 yrs) I am having massive and very sudden doubts.

I was feeling pretty confident about what lay ahead in Kent - local Montessori nursery till age 5, then probably off to Dulwich Prep or one of the other local prep/pre-preps. In my sudden panic, I've been looking at what our options were to be if we stayed put here in SE15. From what I can make out, if we chose to go private (this would be less of a stress if we stayed as our outgoings would be less each month and we'd definitely be less exposed financially) the only decent local options seem to be JAGS or Alleyns. Looking at their websites both state entry is highly competitive - I think Alleyns states something like 180 applications for 18 places in reception!! What do the remaining 162 applicants do?! On the one hand I'm not sure I want to jump onto that particular hamster wheel, getting all stressed and competitive and putting them through 'interviews' at age 4. We have twins (age 2) so the odds of both getting into one of those schools is low (although obviously they're highly gifted ). When I asked around at the various schools in Kent it seemed to be mostly a case of 'first come first served' but I can't find any decent-sounding non-selective preps in the area... or am I overlooking something? Surely there must be hundreds of children each year whose parents want them to get into these schools - where do they all end up??!

you put their names down at birth

surely JAGS/Alleyns you'd need to have put their names down already?

Well, I don't live in your area but friends do and ...
a) many of their children go to state primary schools and survive and even thrive
b) they send them to other prep schools, where they also seem to be perfectly happy. There are loads of them in the se15 area from what my mates tell me.

Eldom
I don't think putting their names down at birth works at any schools anymore

No, it doesn't - they're selective and all applicants are interviewed at the age of 4!

Looking around there aren't loads of others available - there's the Villa in SE15 (on same road as our house) which goes up to age 7 but that's it.

Yes state primaries aren't bad, and definitely not to be discounted.

yes but here if you don't put the name down at birth you don't even get invited for interview!!

Well, if you had a plan for Dulwich Prep, then presumably you stick with it? It's not far down the road from the ones you mention.

For a non-selective, it's probably first-come-first served, so you might want to start looking at putting names down now. Are your twins boys, gorls or one of each? There's also DUCKS (good choice if you are thinking of Dulwich in the longer term) and Oakfield (?)

What direction do you/DH commute in? There might be schools to consider elsewhere if they are on a route you use daily.

Otherwise, you'll just have to gird your loins for the 4+ assessments (but you'd probably want a less or non selective fallback school as well). The thing to bear in mind though, is that 4 year olds just don't get the ramifications of whether they "pass" an assessment; you'll be the ones worrying at this age. 7+/8+ is more daunting, as they have a better grasp of what both school and selection means (by 11+ and 13+ they're more equipped to cope). So do think now, when looking at your options, just how many times you want to go through this!

As an ex SE15 resident who moved to Kent most people send their children to village schools of which Kent had hundreds of tiny ones they vary in quality but there are a lot of them. I take it when you sat Dulwich Prep you mean the one in Cranbook there are other prep schools around that area some in Sevenoaks, there's Sutton Valance and again around Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge their are also some near Tenderden as well so all is not lot lost. Most people we know sent their children to state primary till yr 2 and move to a prep at yr 3.
One final point I wouldn't touch Oakfield with a barge pole it has a reputation locally for being a hot house with a very high drop out rate.

Ring The Villa and ask where it sends the Alleyns/Jags failures? I think mates of mine sent them to St Dunstan's, which is meant to be OK.

Yes I agree friends at St Dunstans are really pleased with it.

Clapham and Streatham Girls?

What are your nearest state primaries?

According to RM, they are Bellenden Primary and St James RC. Thinking it through it might be that we stay in London until they are 7 and then make the big move out to Kent then. I'm guessing it's harder to get them into a decent prep at the age of 7. Am so new to all of this and we're on the cusp of making an extremely difficult decision and backing out of our house purchase :(

Where is it you would like to live?

If you would like to live in London, then stay out and something will turn up re schools.

Look at Clapham and Streatham Girls, and Sydenham Girls GDST.

Go and visit Bellenden and see if you like it, and ask if you are within likely catchment. Visit the R.C school if you are R.C.

Start a thread on the Primary education board with a specific title such as 'what Independent schools within reach of London SE15 would you recommend?'

sorry, stay put, not stay out!

Yes yes, I knew what you meant really...

All good advice. Problem is I don't know where I want to live. I'm all over the place with it all. We only got back to London last week and I might be suffering from some sort of honeymoon period and thinking it's great when in fact we need to get out. The problem is the house we're buying involves taking on a much bigger mortgage and unfortunately I think we're starting to have the wobbles about how wise that is right now.

Other private options: Herne hill, rosemead, sydenham girls.

Think bellenden got good sats recently.

Sounds like buying before you've found good (and available) schools and confirmed finances (if going private) might not be best plan!

It sounds as if you need to settle down a bit, think through your options, spend a bit more time in SE15 and not rush into something that will stretch you financially and may not even be a solution to school choices. How log do you have before primary admission?

We were going to move to Greenwich/Blackheath a while back and some of the indies around there still had places - Heath House, Pointers etc. They should be close enough for you. Have also heard good things about St Dunstan's. If you're going private anyway, there's no real need to move I'd have thought.

Have been quiet for past few days as we considered our options. We have decided to pull out of our house purchase in Kent which leaves me feeling very sad, although I do think it's the right thing.

My primary concern now re. the DCs is to get them a place at nursery and I'm desperate to find out if The Villa has a place for them which should carry them through until age 7 when hopefully we'll be more ready to make our exit. Fingers crossed.

Londonlottie, this is very strange but we live in the same road!

DD was at the Villa pre-prep but got into a very lovely state primary thanks to the bulge class. I think most good preps round here are selective so that's the only way. PM me if you want any more info. I've given too much away already!

Thanks GreyGardens - may well take you up on that. Just so desperate to get them a p/t nursery place for now - much as I love them we've just been through so much change recently I need a bit of time to get my head sorted!!

No prob . For what it's worth I love it round here!

So do we GG! We have been here since 2005, but then moved abroad for a couple of years, returning only recently. From my rural 'forrin' vantage point I thought I didn't want to come back to London - but am quite enjoying it so far. Although I did feel like I was playing a game of 'dodge the methadone addicts' in Warwick Gdns yesterday...

Glad to hear it (not the methadone bit, obv). Have pm-ed you re schools. Good luck!