Best Surrey Feeder Prep for St Johns / Reeds

[Clappers90]

Hello Ladies,

We're looking to move our DS (currently in local primary) into one of the Surrey prep schools for Year 4 entry. He is academic, and we are trying to give him a better chance of gaining entry into an independent senior school.

St John's in Leatherhead and Reeds in Cobham are the senior schools that appeal most, but we are trying to work "backwards" from these to find the right prep school that will give him the best chance of getting into either - we understand both are incredibly popular and entry is competitive.

Would be grateful for any views as to which preps would be best to position our DS for either school.

Daneshill, Parkside or possibly Downsend (although iirc they are expanding into a senior school)

Surbiton Prep Boys, The Study in New Malden too. But if you speak to Reeds & St J's Registrars you will find their intake is from prep schools from all over the area and a large percentage from state sector. A decent primary and a good tutor is equally as helpful as a prep - tutoring happens in the prep sector too.

Ultimately the secondary schools write exams to find naturally bright children - the prep sector provides plenty of exam and interview practice plus advises parents re realistic secondary school choices and write references etc.

My DS is at St John's. His friends came from Downsend, Parkside, Felton fleet and some from South London prep schools. A few transferred from City of London Freeman's.
No particular feeder schools.

They both have people applying from such a wide area there is no such thing as feeder schools for them.

The school I work at was very successful in the Pre-Tests this year for both schools. PM me if you want more info!

Thanks all, really helpful.

We had looked at Surbiton Boys as it is close to us, but didn't quite take to it. Shrewsbury House, also in Surbiton, appeals more as a fully established prep school, but I'm wondering is it almost "too" academic for our preferred destinations of St John's or Reeds, and would our DS have a happier time at a Parkside or Feltonfleet?

Yes Shrewsbury house isn't good for St J or Reeds as they like you to stay until 13 and it's probably easier to get into secondaries at 11. I would suggest you keep visiting preps until you find the middle ground - a school with the 11 plus focus that Surbiton prep has but the ethos of a full prep school. (Do look at The Study too).

Feltonfleet & parkside don't have the age 11 entry exam focus of Surbiton Prep/The Study and Weston Green in Thames Ditton.

You should perhaps have your ds assessed by a tutor to see how much help he needs to enter the private sector at 11 from the state sector & it will help you decide how much help you will need from the prep - ie exam focused or a more rounded curriculum.

It is now hard to get into both St. john’s and Reed’s, they both have extremely high volumes of pupils applying and therefore can be more selective than they used to be.

If it is now so hard to get into St John's and Reeds, will we stand a better chance of getting in at 11 from an independent primary such as Surbiton Boys or Weston Green (neither of which we have quite taken to) or will a prep such as Parkside or Shrewsbury prepare them better and still get them in at 13?

Oh, I'm so confused!

@Clappers90 , it's impossible to know, it's the great debate for parents of boys.
Each year it's harder to get into Hampton due to more children from central London travelling out so it means there is more pressure on Reeds as they take ds who use to go to Hampton. Plus you get years like the current first year at Hampton, too many ds accepted at 11 so they put on an extra class and are taking 1 class less of ds at 13. For this coming year Hampton didn't want this to happen again to they offered a reduced number of 11 entry classes and will take normal number at 13 - this meant it was even harder to get into Hampton at 11 this year so more ds opting for Reeds/St J's as their back up.
The prep school model of going to age 13 is going out of fashion so the boys preps are either stopping at 11 like The Mall in Twickenham or insisting everyone stays until 13 like Shrewsbury & then directing parents to schools that start at 13 only further out of London.

You may want to consider Milbourne Lodge as they seem less insistent on the age 13 departure only.

Good advice is to not get set on a certain secondary school and focus on a prep that you feel will allow your ds to flourish.

It is competitive and increasingly so but having said that, if your son is bright and you're prepared to do some work with him at home, there's absolutely no reason he won't get in from a state school.

My ds went through the process this year for those and other Surrey schools. He is in one of the real high birth rate year; next year (current Y5) is too but I thought it wasn't quite as bad after that so things might be marginally less crazy?

Odds are usually better if going for a 13+ place than an 11+ place.

Apologies if this is a silly question, but why is it that Milbourne would allow for boys to leave at 11, but other preps such as Shrewsbury don't?

Surely if everyone is being prepped for an pre-test at 11, isn't this equivalent to an 11+ assessment anyway? Isn't this even more true for co-ed preps such as Feltonfleet?

@Clappers90 , anyone can leave at any point by giving notice but at Shrewsbury they discourage it whilst the other preps seem to be less resistant. It's helped by Milbourne and Feltonfleet having girls many of whom have to move at 11.

@Gingercat1223, thanks! Does that mean that St John's will happily accept a boy applying from say Feltonfleet at 11?

@trinity0097, what would the above scenario mean for the pre-test process, can preps have boys doing 11+ pre-tests for Common Entrance at the same time as preparing boys for leaving after Year 6 via the 11+?

@Clappers90 , sorry I really don't know. In my case my ds went to 1 of the mixed preps mentioned that finishes at 11 and sat St J's but didn't go there and is now at a large boys only private school with his class made up of state school / preps that finish at 11 and 3 ds from mixed preps that finish at 13. But he is bright and he would have got into the same schools if he had come from the state sector.
I have another dc who I moved from the state to private sector in year 4 and really benefited from the small classes and exam focus and that dc ended up at a more academic school than I ever thought they would get into.

It's all very tricky and depends so much on the dc, current primary, secondary expectations etc.

Yes, for most schools the test is the same. So a boy applying to Reed’s for an 11 place will sit the same assessment as a boy sitting for a 13+ place, only the outcome differs as to when you start.

We prefer pupils to stay to 13 as we see great benefit in doing so for them, but don’t stop or penalise pupils that do want to leave at 11. If you son is at. prep school then schools like Reed’s advise you to only apply for a 13+ place.

Unlike somewhere like SHS that insists you stay until 13. Many parents now hedge their bets and apply for some schools at 11 and some at 13.

Thank you both, that’s incredibly helpful.

I’m now thinking that a prep which can accommodate a boy leaving at 11 (whilst still being able to go up to 13) would be my preference, and, based on all your collective feedback, it feels that Parkside or Feltonfleet best fits this scenario (please tell me if I’m wrong!)

My only hesitation is your suggestion @trinity0097 that a senior school such as Reeds would still advise a prep applicant to only apply for 13 rather than 11+ entry. If this is the case, would they look less favourably on a prep school 11+ direct entrant than one coming through the Common Entrance pre-test? If parents are hedging their bets between both 11 and 13 entrants, which senior schools would be open to this?

You do what you like in terms of applications, but you can only apply for 11 or 13 at one school, so for example someone might apply for 11+ RGS and 13+ Hampton. The Senior schools don’t give a flying toss where the kids come from, as long as they select the best they can given their pecking order in the Surrey/SE London schools.

Reed’s advise staying at a Prep if you are at one as they value 13+ preps and don’t want them to close, but don’t stop you applying. We had a boy leave at the end of Yr 6 to join Reed’s, 3 of his year group stayed on to 13 and leave this year for Reed’s.

Have you been to look at Milbourne? Not sure why you are ruling it out?

Certainly hadn't ruled out Milbourne, but maybe coming into this had been favouring the likes of Shrewsbury and Parkside, as much for their grounds and facilities as DS is sporty. How would you say Milbourne compares?

Sport every day, for an hour (and changing is outside of that time). Yes, we have some children for whom they would rather have their head in a book than do sport, but equally we have some extremely talented sportsmen and women who go on to get sports scholarships and play at academy level outside of school. Work hard, play hard at Milbourne.

Lots of matches and plenty of success in those matches. Year 4 currently is a pretty sporty bunch at A team level.

Many thanks for all your feedback, it’s been really helpful!

I have sons at Shrewsbury House and if you want to get into Reeds or St Johns then its a pretty safe bet. While the top third of boys at Shrewsbury are aiming for schools like Westminster, Kings, St Pauls etc, Reeds, St Johns, Epsom and Hampton tend to be the ones that everyone else tries for and I don't think anyone has come up short without a place at any of them. This year St Johns seemed to be harder to get into but I think its just because its smaller and there are less spaces for boys.

If you want a sporty school I can definitely recommend Shrewsbury House - all boys play fixtures every week and there are enough boys to ensure that the top teams are incredibly strong. Smaller schools like Melbourne, Parkside and Feltonfleet might get lucky some years with a great "A" team but then the standard drops away for the rest of the boys and it can be quite frustrating if you don't make it into the A team.