Prep schools in Birmingham

[AK86xo]

Does anybody have any experiences with these please? We’re mainly considering West House, St Georges, Hallfield, Blue Coat, Eversfield and Ruckleigh

How old is your DC? And where is your target senior school?

Bluecoat is the biggest of the preps with the best facilities and reputation. Both Bluecoat and Hallfield prep largely for the KES schools and seem to be successful with their students

Ruckleigh won some award for best prep school a few years ago. It’s known locally as a good school but a bit of a hot house prepping students for successfully for KES schools (both the grammars and private). However it tends to serve Solihull families and with changes in the catchment for the grammars (which will effectively exclude DCs in Solihull) I am not sure how that will impact the school.

Eversfield is more rounded and seen as less pushy academically. A lot leave at 7 to go to Solihull although I heard that the school tries to steer parents towards the Warwick Schools at 11.

HTH.
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Hi Dancingdreamer. He is nearly two, and I have noted that one of the schools suggest registration within the first few months of birth which has sent me into a bit of a panic. The target senior school would have been camp hill boys/KES, but with the catchments introduced restricting where we can live and not knowing how it will affect the grammar schools performances, I’m leaning towards just aiming for KES. I’m less inclined to opt for a Solihull based school for these reasons also.

Blue coat and Hallfield were my two of my favourites so I’m glad to hear your comments. I find that the prep schools in Birmingham don’t seem to be as widely recognised as those in London and so there is limited information about them, and I would hate to make a very expensive bad decision that could also affect my child’s education.

In my experience albeit a few years ago now, the popular preps do fill up quickly especially for boys as a lot of girls go to the prep at Edgbaston High or Saint Martins in Solihull. I don’t think you would make a mistake with either Blue Coat or Hallfield. It would just be down to your personal preference. Good luck in your choice.