Independent school from 4-18 or just 11+???

[hemsireJoJo]

Hi everyone,
I wanted to get some advice from other parents who might already have experience of the school system, especially private schools.

We are newish to the portsmouth area with two pre school aged boys. We have just enough money to send them to an independent school like Mayville or St John's College and we are debating whether to send the kids to one of these schools (or a similar school) from age 4-16/18.
Or another option for us would be to put them into state primarys and then try for a senior private school like PGS or Churchers. These schools are a bit more expensive and Churchers is further away (and would require a move) which is why they would only be an option for us from 11+. They are also selective and I'm imagining they're quite competitive. However their exam results are fantastic and we have heard especially good things about Churchers

What would others do given these two options? In all honesty, we dont want to fund them both through private school for them to obtain the same results they would get going through the state system (I know pastral care is also very important though!). But do you think they would achieve differently/better/worse with one option versus the other? Or there any good local state schools anyone knows of (that aren't religious)?

Any opinions on this would be great. Thank you in advance.

And can I just say I have made the comments above having had a child at a very successful Prep school which has a great record of getting kids into selective secondaries.

My DC had a really good experience of Prep - I am not knocking it at all. He was taught in lovely small groups and made great progress. He definitely learned lots more French, Latin and Science than he would in a state school. He had more musical opportunities and sport too (3 afternoons per week and weekly fixtures)
His school did VR/NVR and also provided sessions devoted to looking at past papers for the schools he was applying to. It was all great.

And now he's at his superselective indie. He's doing well and finding the French, Latin and science pretty easy at this point. And half of his year group are from state schools. They didn't need to have done more detailed science, Latin and French to pass the Maths, comprehension and story writing. Their state schools had taught them to a good level in English and Maths and then most did some work on VR/NVR and probably exam practice targeted to the schools they were applying to, with a tutor or parent. And they got in, and lots got scholarships too.

And now they are there, the kids at the top of the class are a mixture of state and indie primary educated kids....often state educated in actuality.

My conclusion.....Prep was lovely and I'm glad my DS had that experience. It was a lovely luxury and he was well taught. It was okay for us because we could afford it without it affecting our lifestyle significantly or prevent us from affording fees at secondary level. But was it necessary or vital? Definitely not.

If you can just afford it, don't. My parents could just afford independent school from 11+ and when they couldn't it was very stressful!
Getting in, I definitely needed tutoring as a lot of the Maths in the exam wasn't covered until June which was a while after the entrance exam. But an hour a week of tutoring is a lot cheaper than paying for prep school!

NoCamping, are your kids in an indie secondary that takes in at 11 and has no or virtually no state primary educated children?

no - there are lots of state educated primary kids, about 25-30% i would guess. (no junior school or feeder).

Thank you for all your comments everyone.

It has given us a lot to think about which is good because I want to be realistic and rational with the decisions we make.

The situation we are in is that I am not currently at work (I decided to stay at home when I had DS1 and hubby works a bit more to ensure we can survive on the one salary). So I am now looking to return to work once DS2 starts nursery and save/use my wages for the children’s education.

The kids are close in age and so will start school one after the other and we have nearly two years until the eldest starts reception.

I think I will return to work as planned and see how things are going for us financially with a view to enter the kids into prep school in yr 3. We are also buying a house in the middle of all this so having a few years to let everything settle makes sense.

I’m another in the camp that says it’s not difficult to move at 11 to the selective independent sector from state. Both mine did, with no tutoring.

The school we wanted just tested maths and English (and interviewed). No preparation was done. Our reserve option tested verbal and non-verbal reasoning and I wouldn’t have let them go into those tests without preparation so I bought one practice book on each, and the children worked through it by themselves and that was enough.

Jojo: I visited Churcher’s with my elder daughter. I didn’t get the impression it was particularly competitive and think a bright child would have a very good chance of getting in without tutoring. Some children from my children’s primary school went, but in general the brighter ones who went down the independent route went to the Guildford schools (we live in between the two and children travel in both directions). The senior school is quite a bit bigger than the junior school, so even if they take most of their junior school children, they will have plenty of room for new 11 year olds.

There will of course be more applicants than places, but given that many parents apply to multiple schools, I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks. It’s in the interests of prep schools to say how important all the preparation for entrance tests is!

I’m not suggesting there are not good reasons to go independent earlier than 11, but I’m not convinced this is one.

Would Churcher’s really need a move? Lots of children travel by train, from the age of 11, going south to Petersfield, and I’d assume many do the same going north too.

Incidentally, both my children were the only ones in their primary class to go to their senior school. The school has its own prep school and has some natural feeder preps, from quite a wide geographical area, but there were also many children like mine who moved up from schools that sent only child, and the new school made very effective arrangements for this in my view.

I was personally educated at a mixture of state and private. I don't think private primary school is something worth stressing over. You could hire them some private tuition time, especially when it came to applying for secondary school. At the end of the day, GCSEs/A levels will have the biggest impact on their future so that's where the emphasis should be IMO. Maybe you could save some of the money you would have used for primary to help them at university or towards buying a house etc.

Thank you both.

Its good to hear from someone who has visited Churchers as on paper thats definatley our first choice atm although we would of course visit all these schools before we got too serious about it. Also thank you for the suggestion about the train. I dont know what planet I'm on but I hadn't thought of that, lol!

I think you are both right that it should be possible to enter a selective senior from a state primary (although it will likely require hard work and maybe extra tutoring especially in VR & NRV) . I think I need to get more of an idea of my children as they grow up (their academic ability, learning styles, personal preferences, etc) and then I'll be able to make the right decision for them when the time comes.

After this discussion I am definately thinking state until at least 7 and maybe 11 depending on whats right for them. We have enough money for non-selectives from year 3 OR a selective senior school like churchers, I dont think we'd be able to do one then the other. TBH a selective would be my first choice but we will which is the more realistic for us in due course.

Thanks again.

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