Bassett House School

[ravello3]

Any revelations about the upper school please?
I have a child in the lower school and so far so good, but I've recently discovered that the current Form 6 class of 7 students didn't do well with the 11+ (most received 1 offer only, one received none - eek! - with most places at schools not listed in top 200 secondary schools) and that the children were really unhappy, some wanting to leave this year. Is there trouble brewing that we should know about???

in your case i would really try talking to parents of the upper school. spreading a message like this on mumsnet might just be creating / exacerbating the problem you are worried about!

Yes, I was hoping to make direct enquiries at the end of year picnic but unfortunately no Form 6 families showed up and with our schools being separately located I hadn't become familiar with this group to pursue outside of school. Ideally this would have been a preferable course. Mumsnet seems to me a more appropriately contained forum for this type of concern than making a point via broader social media. If this situation is accurate, I believe it's fair to say that I have a right to be concerned.

It has a reputation in the local area of being a nice school but non academic. This has been the case for years. I know one girl in the upper school who is probably going to go to a state secondary for largely financial reasons. Parents who want to get their girls into St Paul's, Godolphin etc are more inclined likely to choose another prep school.

Thank you HPparent. From what we have experienced in the early years it is a nice school, but being a foreigner with a young child I best start to better research options now. The unhappiness story does worry me and the number of staff leaving this year pricked my curiosity but maybe this is common for London day schools??? I will take sanam2010's advice and make better contacts in September and pay more attention to leaver's offers and destinations. DD is 6; besides Bute, Faulkner, Pembridge, Glendower and Latymer Prep are there any other recommended prep schools I should look into in the West London area? Although she is young, ultimately we are hoping to support her in securing a very good well-rounded secondary school and remain open to both co-ed or SS - whichever is best for her. Many thanks.

Thomas's Kensington, hill house, Knightsbridge, garden house, Fulham prep, notting hill prep.They will likely all have spaces as people are always coming and going in London. Where are you located as some may be a bit central (although some eg. Fulham prep have a very comprehensive bus service). Some are big, some are smaller. Which would you prefer?

We are in W11 close to Holland Park and happy to travel. I guess we are not so concerned about size of a school but definitely would like a balanced curriculum, achieving great results, with happy children! Latymer Prep seems to tick a lot of boxes, but sounds like it's difficult to gain entry. I wasn't aware of two of the schools you wrote about hoorayforsummer, so will add those to my list.

I'm a dad who has just joined Mumsnet (my wife goes on about it so I thought I'd see what it was about). I'm quite surprised that people are saying Bassett House isn't academic. Our two girls are there and both are on the gifted and talented list and we think they are stretched at Bassett House. Plus very happy. But parents' opinions are always going to be biased by their own experience/what they've heard anecdotally. We looked at all the local independent schools' reports before choosing (you can look all the private school reports up at www.isi.net/reports/). Plus obviously no substitute for visiting the school. Good luck. Hope you find/found a school you like.

Welcome (to Parentsnet) Barsac1. As per my entries, overall we too have had positive experiences with BHS in the lower years to date. It transpires that the events queried turned out to be fair accounts. 1 girl received 6 places (City, G&L, NHEHS, Latymer etc), 3 children were placed at Kew, 2 boys at Mill Hill and the child without any offers received her waitlisted place into Queen’s Gate. 3 of the 7 children were unhappy enough for their parents to consider pulling them out between 11+ and end of year). Since my July post, those I spoke with had good things to share about the school until their unsatisfactory experiences of the final year, including their communication with their two main points of contact. Without expanding further, we found these outcomes very discouraging and have subsequently sought guidance through a London consultation firm, who you may be interested to know stated that the school is non-selective and not known as being academic. I'm sure the school's year on year actual results can offer better clarity. I wish your daughters continued happiness there.