Non-selective prep vs selective

[Shiggle]

We are looking at a non selective coed prep vs a single sex selective prep for DS. The single sex prep is more academically rigorous (I think!) but I like the idea of coed better. I wonder if a non selective prep would truly challenge the top set?

[AgonyBeetle]

Can you name any where you don't have to buy an exorbitantly priced house metres from the school and which offer extra curriculars as good as those at an Indy?

Lol, yes there are loads if you're happy to move outside the small number of fashionable schools that people get obsessed with, ie. the Yerburys and Eleanor Palmers of this world. Depends a bit on where you are, but in boroughs like Barnet, Islington, Camden it's easier to name the schools that you wouldn't want to send a child to than the ones you would.

Wrt the extracurriculars, my dc's very unfashionable school had lots on offer. If you want high-level music and sport you'd need to arrange that separately, but that's no great struggle, and there's arguably a positive advantage to children not doing all activities within the same peer group as they see all day at school.

[Mary21]

What is your vision of what your perfect school would be like?
Small classes?
Lots of play?
Lots of green space?
There really are lots of different types of school if you also factor in independents
Ideas to look at to help clarify thoughts
www.newforestsmallschool.com
www.dallingtonschool.co.uk
www.aldro.org
www.oxfordmontessori.co.uk
www.newlandhouse.net
This is quite an eclectic selection. What kind of environment pulls at your heart strings.
You said Belmont didn’t grab you. Have you looked at Aldenham or Edgegrove?

[sendsummer]

Shiggle. New College prep is good. Although location limits space it certainly provides a broader education than the academic state primary schools you are fleeing from in London and stretches academically as well.

[Lowdoorinthewal1]

I think, for what you want, a linked Prep/ Senior would be ideal. I assume you won't want to move again for Senior so you need to make sure a school you like for 13-18 is easily available. Maybe Abingdon Prep/ School would be perfect.

There are other places where that setup is available (with closer or looser links between the schools). Off the top of my head..

Warwick Prep/ Warwick
Millfield Prep/ Millfield
Sherborne Prep/ Sherborne
Cranleigh Prep/ Cranleigh
Laxton/ Oundle
Eagle House/ Wellington
The Bedford schools
Cheltenham Prep/ Cheltenham College

Must be loads of others.

[Lowdoorinthewal1]

Oh, I didn't read about not wanting Saturday school or a boarding ethos. That knocks most of those out!

I wouldn't recommend Maidenhead, there's not much in the way of choice for senior schools there. When we lived there somebody said to me that the senior department of Claire's Court was basically an MLD school!

Berkhampstead might be worth a look but I'm not sure it would get you away from the pushy atmosphere. TBH, I think the laid back (we call it 'free range chicken') environment is mainly to be found in country preps, but with that will come the long hours because that is how they achieve their 'time unpressured' feel.

[Shiggle]

@Mary21 Belmont/Mill Hill is selective so I'd assume they'd beat the local comp at GCSE and they didn't. That alone made me question the quality of their teaching. By secondary we may well be looking for a more selective school. The ones you listed are very non academic, I think? Or have I got that wrong?

[Zodlebud]

If you want to avoid the pushy parenting and “London pressure” then don’t look at Berko. Great school academically and heaps going on. Tutoring outside the classroom is extensive though.

[Shiggle]

I didn't finish answering..typing one handed and not very successfully! My ideal for primary/prep age is lots of sport but not overly competitive. Fantastic, enthusiastic teaching is probably top of the list. A broad curriculum and lots of green space rounds it out. But I would expect by 11/13 that assuming DS is academic as I reckon he is, he will go somewhere selective. Im not against tutoring a bit at that age. I won't entertain boarding at prep age but maybe I'm going to have to be open to it at secondary if he is. The concept is just so alien to me.

[Shiggle]

Thank you for the list @Lowdoorinthewal1. I'll have a look. Laxton/Oundle might be one to explore more though I didn't love the area when we went out there before. Laxton got pretty much all my criteria. Oundle does have a day option but I'm not sure how fun it would be to be a day student in a boarding school.

[Lowdoorinthewal1]

I think you would like St Andrew's in Pangbourne. It's a little gem and a lovely area to live in.

Then maybe Leighton Park or Bradfield if you had changed your mind about Saturday school by then.

[newmummycwharf1]

It sounds like Grimsdell and maybe Belmont fit your ideal for the early years but something goes wrong at Mill Hill senior school as the results are very average. We went to see Grimsdell and loved it for that age group but feel we would be committed to taking the 7+ for Highgate, Habs and the like - which is maybe too much pressure at 7. Does your son go to preprep in the mill hill area or is there a chance for him to continue to 11 or 13 at his preprep/prep since u are not adverse to tutoring at a later age?

[Shiggle]

DS is currently in a preprep so has to move for year 3. Belmont would be about a 20/30 minute drive for us. We could park him at Belmont until the 11+ but they won't prep him which would mean lots of tutoring. And then what if he doesn't pass for Highgate/UCS? We have younger DC who will be School age by then as well. Head making noises about UCS being the right fit for DS but I'm not tutoring him and I think it's us and one other family are the only ones not tutoring. I can't imagine DS will pass without tutoring and even if he did I refuse to join the ranks of mothers who circle North London for hours every day ferrying young children to various different private schools because heavens knows they never all pass for the same school!

[Lowdoorinthewal1]

Come to the countryside OP, I think you will find your people.

We moved to Dorset 3.5 years ago and have never looked back.

[Shiggle]

St Andrew’s looks lovely @Lowdoorinthewal1 . Thank you for the steer. I'd have never found it. The area looks good too. I think in some ways we'd fit more in the countryside but I'm not British and we are fairly liberal and left leaning. DH keeps muttering that everyone will be so far right my head will spin. I've also never lived in the countryside and it all feels a bit daunting. But I'm committed to moving where it's best for the kids.

[Lowdoorinthewal1]

West Berkshire might be a good call then, as it has the less pressured feel but Reading is multicultural and has a lot going on. Tutoring etc exists because Reading Boys and Kendrick are highly sought after, but if you are going Independent you will be able to bypass that.

[Lowdoorinthewal1]

There is Cheam in the area too, but I think it's tricky to get a place.

[VeryPunny]

How about Cambridge/Cambridgeshire? Loads of preps and good state/Indy options post 13.

[Shiggle]

@VeryPunny which ones should I start with?

[VeryPunny]

There’s Kings College School, St John’s College School, Perse Prep, St Faiths, Stephen Perse Pre-prep, Sancton Wood, Heritage School. Senior options are Perse, Leys, amongst other good state options. St John’s and Kings are probably your best bet for CE/13+.

Cambridge is full of impoverished academics so the state options tend to be good too.

[VeryPunny]

Just to add, I don’t know what the tutoring culture is like at those preps; we are at a state primary.

[Lowdoorinthewal1]

However, there was a very similar thread on here a few weeks ago with a Cambridge parent debating a long distance move to get away from the academically pressured atmosphere.

[fidgettt]

Outside of London the most academic Senior schools tend to be boarding schools so the top Preps are often boarding too.

I agree Cambridge would also be a good fit OP. Lovely city to live in with lots of academic Day schools. Better Senior school options than Oxford I'd say.

[BubblesBuddy]

Several of my neighbours children went to Berkhsmsted but only because they didn’t get the Bucks 11 plus. Berko is not full of genius children and they didn’t get tutored. They did ok for their ability and enjoyed the sport.

[BubblesBuddy]

Sorry op, I forgot to answer your question. SWB is Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School in Marlow but takes a lot of children from Maidenhead. It is a state grammar school and very popular. It requires pupils to
pass the Bucks 11 plus and live as close to the school as possible! It only takes 120 a year. It’s small.

Claire’s Court does not have children who are, by and large, the brightest and is a refuge for children who are not in a Bucks Grammar school and the parents don’t want higher quality elsewhere or boarding. It’s a nice school but it really depends what type of education you want.

[greyfriarskitty]

Also think about Bath. Access to Bristol for culture, etc and KES is a proper day school but with all the extra stuff you want (and good prep department). Also Monkton Combe; Prior Park has more boarding and long days as a result.