Good prep school areas within an hours commute to Piccadilly Circus

[Nitig]

Hello Moms
I NEED help and probably loads of it.
We are soon moving to London from Singapore on a rather short notice! I expect us to move by end of January 2013.
I have two daughters 10 (year5) & 6(year 2). I have been recommended, that I send my girls to a prep school, so that the older one can try for a grammar school at 11+. As we are moving in the middle of the school year, our options for schools seem to be really limited.
My husband's work place is close to Piccadilly Circus. We haven't decided the area we want to live in, for everything would depend upon the school. I am hoping to find a 4 bedroom house in a decent area for about 3K per month.
Could you ladies please recommend suitable schools, residential areas, helpful websites etc for me to get going.
As of now, I am completely clueless!
Thanks in advance.

Thanks LIZS, would definitely try to find out more about leavers and awards. Also, would it be possible for you to give me names of schools you mention in Purley?

Comprehensives would n't be relevant at year 5. St David's was one , sorry don't recall the other but there are several around that area, some less well thought of than others though I believe. You might want to look at Old Palace and Croydon High as those go through to 18 so would give you an alternative option at 11+ if grammar turns out to not be an option.

Rental prices vary a lot across london - but in zone 3 and beyond, except in a few 'exclusive' areas like Hampstead or Richmond, 3k a month will get you avery nice home indeed.

itsallinthememories - no, we moved from the First Cap Connect line 2 years ago, and my MIL still uses it daily - my info is certainly not out-of-date. I have no idea what time of day you travel, but it is certainly not normal commuter times. Prior to that I lived on the Northern Line - i wouldn't recommend it as tube lines go - though it is still better than First Capital Connect by a long way.

If you are commuting to Piccadilly Circus, the the Piccadilly or Bakerloo Lines are your easiest bet.

OP - your dds may be bright but so are lots of other people's - lots of cash in the bank does not guarantee them a place at a top state school.

eh?
Lots of cash in the bank is EXACTLY what you need to get a place at a top state school.

At least for the ones with the tiny catchment areas. Buy/rent a house near the school, job done.

There are plenty of top state schools that operate on this principle.

There are other ways of course, religious hoop jumping, and ability for selective schools, but the main thing is lots of money to live in the right area.

It's private schools where lots of cash in the bank won't guarantee you a place at a top school.

Yes, and the very selective private schools are based on how well you do in the test. They do not that often have places because someone has moved but they sometimes do. Certainly outer London areas tend to get you a bigger place, garden, more space to play. I still think it is worth looking at living out sort of Stanmore way and trying to get a child into Haberdashers or North London collegiate or at least asking the chances of an occasional place when someone leaves.

joan, true that selective private schools require more than cash - but cash will not get you a place at a superselective grammar, either, which have no catchments, nor guarantee a place at a normal grammar - which were the options the Op was intererested in.

The OP did not appear interested in a good comp or faith school - here, her money would buy her dds a place, it is true.

Ok OP here you go
here a smidgeon over an hour door to door but good prep schools that get all the children into the super selective grammars and a multicultural but not scary area.

Oh and you'll be just a hop and a skip from Wing Yip on the Purley Way for shopping.

Oh, but that's just a tiddly little house, Ewe. the Op won't get ANYTHING more than a tiny flat for her 3K. Posters have said so above.

Glad that prep school parents can 'buy' all the places at the top state schools as well, in that area. Sounds absolutely charming. So, so glad I don't live there.

For schools, I agree with the person who suggested finding a school that goes all the way up to 18 as that should minimise your daughters' disruption and on that basis I would aim to live in Putney/Sheen/Richmond/Wimbledon/Surbiton and go for one of the GDST (girls' day school trust) schools. They're private, have more reasonable fees than many private schools, and go from 4 to 18 - Putney High, Wimbledon High or (don't think this one is gdst, but good anyway) Surbiton High. I think there are others - Sutton High? No I don't work for GDST (have two sons) but I did go to one and I think they're good schools. Or for mixed schools, in Richmond you have Radnor House, a new school which also goes from 4-18 and is meant to be good - small and family-oriented, or in Sheen, Ibstock Place (also 4-18).

Also meant to say - from these West London/Surrey areas you have the option of trying for Tiffin Girls which is one of the superselective grammar schools. Does only take the top few per cent, though, so it's a bit of a lottery however academic your DDs are (also people tutor for years....but that's probably another thread. Just type Tiffin into the search engine on mumsnet and you'll get the picture!)

you don't need to tutor for years if your child is really in the top few %.

A couple of practice books will do the job.

If your child isn't that bright, then the prep school approach will help.....

How about maltmans school in gerrards cross, train to marylebone and then baker loo line to Piccadilly circus. Great grammar schools at secondary school. There is also high march school in beaconsfield.

Leave the GSs for those who can't afford private and/or £3k per month rent??? Why stop there? Why not tell the OP to pay for a 1st class train ticket so that you can get a seat?

Grammars are not full of people who can't pay fees! Quite the opposite!

stillfeel, my suggestions of Haberdashers girls and North London Collegiate would be in the same category - get them in young so at 11 they are likely to be secure.

Grammar schools obviously do have more parents who cannot afford fees. It is definitely the case that the parents for whom fees are a struggle are the ones very keen to get into grammars in the few areas of the UK with state grammar schools.

On the £3000 a month rent the Governor of the bank iof England - the new one from Canada with 4 daughters want to live near work as he does ni Canada so needed £250,000 before tax income extra as his housing allowance which is subject to 45% upper rate tax when that rate is the top rate in April plus 2% NI. In other words £125,000 after tax = about £2400 a week rent central London house. Actually I suspect if his daughters are sporty they would all much prefer to live a bit further out in a detached house with garden than stuck close to the Bank right in the centre.

I believe a lot of parents who were offered grammar and private would take grammar. Many of these parents would perhaps not consider a comprehensive school.

However this can be misleading. As the DFE website shows, the performance of 'high attainers' at some comprehensives can be better than at some grammar schools. Parents say 'look at this, only 65% GCSE passes, the grammar has 100%', but overlook the fact that the 65% includes some bottom sets who, with a little luck, won't go anywhere near their darlings.

Although of course the purpose of the grammar school might be to attempt to exclude the scrotes from their children's lives entirely.

I would note however that private schools, especially around London, where fees and standards are very high, that are similarly selective as the London 'super-selective' state schools perform a lot better than the grammar does. The grammar schools, by virtue of excluding all the low ability children, really don't have to do much to impress.

On that basis I would say that a comprehensive with a high number of 'high attainers' and good outcomes for them (I imagine the two go hand in hand to be honest), would be every bit as good as a grammar school. But neither, obviously, is the equal of a private school with three times the expenditure per pupil, but then when you are finding that expenditure directly, yourself, then you have to think twice....

Xenia I would imagine the Governor would probably have some sort of City pad in the week and then a nice mansion out in the country somewhere. Although £2400/week buys you surprisingly little.... This appears to be some sort of nuclear waste dump: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-35917798.html

an hour's commute to central london can take you almost anywhere.

you mention that you are considering grammar school at 11 - so that narrows your options? grammar school are only in certain areas around london - south east, south west and north west are 3 that I can think of?

to prepare for grammar school, you need a prep school that stops at 11 - others (eg habs/NLCS) that go on til 18 have no interest in prepping kids to leave at 11.

I'm in the south east and would suggest the following as possible options with grammar as a potantial 11+ choice -

Blackheath - Heath House, Blackheath Prep and Pointers all go to 11.

Sevenoaks - Sevenoaks Prep, St Michaels

Chislehurst - Braeside

Eltham - St Olave's, St Christophers

there are also excellent independent choices near all of these. HTH