Best time to switch to private

[igglepigglegingin]

Going to try and keep it short.
Our state secondary school options are abysmal and moving is not an option.There is an excellent private grammar (which is actually from 3yrs +) locally to us - intake at 11+ is very sparse although they say if a child attends the school from yr5, they don't have to take the entrance exams.
My question is assume there will be a substantial intake at yr5 which means it may be as competitive as 11+?
We can afford to put DD in from infant school to avoid as much change as possible - has anyone done this to secure secondary places? It feels drastic but I can't see any other option....? Our other DD is 18 months younger so she won't be far behind....

Not exactly the same because I don't think the middle school is seriously over subscribed but our dc go to a private primary and will move onto middle school/secondary automatically. I like it because it cuts down change (Although it is a different location) and is a smoother transition. But where we live in the US private schooling from the start is normal.

People do this at a girls’ school near me. They say they reserve the right to select out at 11 though. They are looking out for league table position. I would imagine selection goes on somewhere at your school. You just need to know what number of DC apply. Is the school wildly over subscribed?

It also depends if your DD will be stir crazy in the same place for all those years! Some DDs don’t like it! Someone I know left a similar school at 11 to go to a more academic grammar school and it saved a huge amount of fees. Obviously those who didn’t go to the grammar, stayed. In your position, I think I would go for it.

We’ve been advised not to use schools that allow children to automatically progress to upper without sitting 13+ because they don’t prepare children as well for the 13+ as independent preps apparently.