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Original poster

If you could send your DC to any independent school, which would you pick?

44 replies

PelicanDaisy · 08/04/2015 17:21

Looking at schools and have got sidetracked to schools far away/not the right age range/too expensive/boarding/wrong sex etc but my 'dream school' or 'intriguing school' shortlist for DC would be (I realise this sounds like an advert, not intended - I am just genuinely interested in these schools/have spent way too long trawling websites)

Hanford Prep (dreamy school, not sure boarding would suit my DD (or me!) but I like the idea of the school and how it gives that impression of providing a real childhood, not just an education) Knighton Prep looks similarly dreamy
Highgate School N London (don't know why, I just like the grounded feel it has)
Wetherby/Pembridge (would never fit in socially but would love to see what it is like at such a celeb-ridden place and I like the central London/townhouse aspect) similarly would love to see Westminster Under.
Wellington College (love the idea of all the initiatives and out the box thinking combined with the traditional public school feel)
Kings College (same as above, think it just looks wonderful for the right boy who could be sidelined as geeky elsewhere)

Anyone got their own list/schools?

OP posts:

happygardening · 08/04/2015 17:51

Assuming you've just read the above schools websites you could find the reality is disappointing. I know someone who loved the look of Wellingtons "initiative and out the box thinking" and was completely underwhelmed by it when they were actually visiting the school.
In my now very extensive experience of numerous schools/websites/visits there is not that much to choose between most of them, unless you go for Steiner or something similar, all claim to have wonderful pastoral care, offer numerous extra curricular activitiesh, treat your child like an individual (not possible if you think about it) will say they get the best from your individual child, prepare for life etc. etc. Few in my experience are that "dreamy" because most parents when the chips are down are paying for better results than they think children would have achieved if they hadn't paid, whether that's at 11+, 13+, GCSE A level or university entrance.
Basically OP if you do to go and look at any be cynical about everything their marketing machine tells you ask lots of probing very specific question of both staff and pupils so that you can cut through the bull shit to find out what is actually going on you might be in for a surprise!

threegoingonthirty · 08/04/2015 18:57

I've got friends with kids at Highgate - it's not that academic, the pre-prep has been in portacabins for ages and it's much more expensive than similar schools in the same area. They have a sizeable chuck out between 3 and 7.

balletgirlmum · 08/04/2015 19:00

YDA
Tring Park
Italia Conti
Plus the school she is at on a bursary.

merrymouse · 08/04/2015 19:01

Malory towers - like the sound of the swimming pool, but obv has to be hogwarts (although is that independent?).

Original poster

PelicanDaisy · 08/04/2015 22:23

happy and three that's interesting - the reality is always so dull!! It was fun dreaming for a while though. It shows the power of school marketing.
Won't be going to any of them as DC wrong ages/too far/don't want boarding etc but it is crazy how these websites/the wider reputation can make schools sound so 'dreamy'!
I think with the rise of the internet the marketing has got far more powerful. At most you used to pick up a few prospectuses and go for a tour which kept it all far more grounded.

OP posts:

meandjulio · 08/04/2015 22:33

Obv the Chalet School (ds looks great in flame)

I both would and wouldn't send him to Magdalen College School. Amazing sounding place but like most of these schools if you go off the boil academically they will turf you out pronto.

I would also send him to any choir school in a heartbeat if he showed any interest in music at all

instructionsforaheatwave · 08/04/2015 23:28

Three - it's the junior school at Highgate that's in portacabins, not the pre-prep, while they build a new building that is set to be amazing. It's also very academic - strong on extra curricular stuff which gives it the 'grounded' rep - but academic by all accounts I'd say....

Dancingdreamer · 09/04/2015 00:26

Surprisingly my DD's current senior school which was actually not our first choice. Very Enid Blyton and her lovely year group all remind me of the nice girls in old Bunty annuals. They even have the eccentric language teachers who seem to have walked straight from the pages of St Claire's!

Sadly she wants to move at 6th form and have to respect her wishes but think she will have a real shock when she finds out what other schools are like!

AtomicDog · 09/04/2015 00:40

The ones they go to (at present).

2Retts · 09/04/2015 01:09

Oh Dancingdreamer, I know exactly what you mean. Found the absolutely perfect school for my DD (different school to the perfect one for my DS) and it actually ended up exceeding all expectations; small, well rounded, run by a close knit family with varying personalities and excellent teachers...

At one point, when I was struggling with fees for them both, they cared only about maintaining continuity. They loved her and (I felt) co-parented ridiculously well (she was a boarder). I felt truly supported by all but one member of the staff (family).

I truly love that school. I also loved DS's school at the time but I get the sense it is not the same now.

claraschu · 09/04/2015 01:25

The reality of Magdalen is not always so rosy, meandjulio.

It is a good school with a nice group of parents and kids and some wonderful teachers, but schools with top ratings think they are perfect and have little interest in improving in subtle ways. MCS wants to keep getting almost 100% A*, and that is never an ideal which leads a school to care for the individual and think creatively.

Namehanger · 09/04/2015 07:58

For DS1 the school he is at at the moment, he has hated every other school he has been to.

DS2 about to start there, let's hope it does the same for him, although very different boy and much easier I think.

Just wish it wasn't so far away, with better public transport!!

MN164 · 09/04/2015 08:59

We don't know your child so can't possibly know the right answer. All too often parents discuss schools that would satisfy them should their child go their. "My dream school" says it all really.

How about a multiverse time machine where you send your child to all these schools and then get to see them as a 30 year old after each. Then choose.

Original poster

PelicanDaisy · 09/04/2015 10:50

MN164 - I don't want to know which of those I should send DC to, I'm not even planning to send DC to any of them! It is more a hypothetical if you could send your own DC to any of the schools you have ever come across/looked at the website of, which do you think you would pick?

I had a long discussion with a friend about the schools I am looking at which is what got me thinking as she had looked at some schools which look incredible online only to find the school her DC ended up at is far more suitable and near-perfect but online doesn't look up to much. We chatted for a while about how it depends so much on the individual child, about how its finding the school for your DC not yourself, about how in reality their online image can be very different and help or hinder them in terms of popularity... it went on, but was very interesting.

OP posts:

ArcangelaTarabotti · 09/04/2015 10:56

Malory towers - like the sound of the swimming pool
yes!

Branleuse · 09/04/2015 11:05

summerhill

MN164 · 09/04/2015 14:35

Hmm . An independent school with all the cultural benefits of a major city along with a country grammar school feel, lots of space, very little pomp and circumstance, sports, music and drama coming out of it's ears, all on one site, maybe a sprinkling of high attainment, perhaps on a river .... can't think ....

Coconutty · 09/04/2015 14:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Wotsitsareafterme · 09/04/2015 15:01

St chris
Summerhill
Bedales
Frencham heights or King Alfred's at a push

Anywhere with no uniform except steiner

GentlyBenevolent · 09/04/2015 18:49

Kingscote. Natch.

Dancingdreamer · 10/04/2015 21:06

2Retts - I love your username!

Also agree that perfect school for one DC not the same for another. All 3 of mine been to different schools! However, For my 2 DS only managed so far to find good schools but not the perfect school.

AuntieStella · 10/04/2015 21:15

DD would find St Trinians a perfect fit.

The DSes would have to slum it at Eton.

Lilymaid · 10/04/2015 21:18

MN164 I think you described DS1's old school - and as he is now not far off 30, I can say that, nearly 20 years down the line, our choice was just right for him.

MN164 · 10/04/2015 22:48

Lilymaid

If it's in London I can think of only one or two that fit that bill, particularly on the river. Actually only one really...... I wonder if it's the same one.....?

morethanpotatoprints · 10/04/2015 22:54

One of the specialist music schools, and the one dd will attend from september.
I'm still dreading it and don't want to think about it.

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