Lambrook vs Papplewick vs Summerfields

[Fulhammum6197]

We are approaching 8+ next year for my son and debating between the above schools. The end goal is for a boarding school at 13 like Eton/Winchester etc.

Currently have the below opinions - any help appreciated

1. Lambrook - it is the only co ed school I have warmed to. But not sure if I am being wowed by the facilities and not the academics. Also keep hearing negative reviews about the parents?!

2. Papplewick - the school is non selective at entry which would mean less stress. The school also seems to have a great academic record but not sure if they just focus on the high achievers?

3. Summerfield - My main hesitation would be the fact my son would need to weekly board straight away (unlike the other 2 where he could start off taking the bus back to London). Not sure if the entry would be far too difficult and how many boys apply. Could Papplewick do the same job academically?

4. Kings College Wimbledon - should I scrap the idea of the above schools and boarding at 13 as KCW is just amazing?

Mine are headed for Papplewick next year. As far as I'm aware there's no 8+ exam for any of your choices except King's.
I looked at Lambrook and was underwhelmed. Nice facilities yes, but that was it for me. I know others who like it though.
If you want Eton, Papplewick is the obvious choice. Boarding from summer term of year 6, but they can spend Saturday night and any other night of the week they choose, at home.
Summer Fields meant to be excellent too, but I suspect Papplewick is more friendly and down to earth. More of a family feel.
If your son is likely to get into Kong's then maybe enter him for the 7/8+ and see. It's extremely competitive as I'm sure you're aware. So maybe go for it but have a back-up.
I'll tag my guru for you - @Xiaoxiong

*King's

Thank you @Delta1 do you live near Papplewick or will you be utilising the school bus service? Was Papplewick always your first choice and did you ever consider putting him in for this September?

@Delta1 yes Kings is definitely a long shot as it is ridiculously competitive. It just seems in my mummy fantasy to be great to just put them in one school and not have to worry for many years to come. But the chance of him getting in is fairly small and dont know if I can face preparing him for an exam at only 7 years old.

Yes we moved out of your neck of the woods and bought in Ascot. Weren't totally decided on schools, but it was a driver for us buying there. There are loads of great preps in the area.
Have you looked at Woodcote House? I really liked it. It's very small though. They have a London bus same as Papplewick and boys can flexi board at both if the daily commute becomes too much. Also Caldicott, Aldro, Sunningdale. Although the latter is predominantly hoarding and the other two aren't huge Eton feeders I don't think.
I just really felt I could see my boys at Papplewick. You have to go with your gut I think.

If your end goal is for Eton or Winchester then it's definitely Papplewick or Summer Fields and you can make it easy for yourself by dropping the others. These two schools send loads to Eton; kind of "specialist" feeders to this great Windsor school - don't know about Winchester though - including multiple King's Scholars. My DS attended Papplewick many moons ago when Tom Bunbury became Head and he's still there today and so presumably nothing much had changed. DS was very successful both at Papplewick and at Eton.

Cosign what delta and pete say. The bus from london to Papplewick seems fine, loads of boys take it and don't seem unusually exhausted or resentful of the drive - many of them do flexi board here and there as well.

Running through your list, you've got a clutch of good schools there but if it's Eton or Winchester you're hoping for, Papplewick and Summerfields have a higher % of their leavers going to those schools. Papplewick sent 25% of its leavers to Eton in the last 5 years, 20% to Harrow and 12% to Winchester and every year they get academic and music scholarships to one or more of these. And Papplewick is non-selective at the start and is also the smallest of the schools you mention - they have about 200 boys, and from the list of their leaving destinations I think you can see that they're definitely not just focusing on high achievers to the detriment of the rest. (Aldro is only a little bigger at 225, Summerfields and Caldicott are 300 and Lambrook is 560, though it's 3-13 not 7-13.)

That doesn't mean the other schools don't send their boys to Eton, or are less academic, it's just that there is definitely a different emphasis - eg. I know two lovely and super bright boys at Eton from Aldro, but in the last 5 years 30% of Aldro leavers went to Charterhouse, and 12% each to Craleigh, Wellington and Tonbridge, compared to 5% to Eton and 4% to Wincoll - this isn't negligible as this still means 12 to Eton and 9 to Winchester but you can see they are naturally going to prepare with other schools in mind. Caldicott similarly sent 15% of their boys to Eton in the last 5 years, again, this means 36 of their boys were successful so they know what they're about.

So - will Papplewick do the same job as Summerfields, well I think you can see from their results that they both know what they're doing (as do Lambrook, Aldro, Caldicott etc). Boarding is definitely something you have to be comfortable with for your own son - for my own son, I know he wouldn't have coped weekly boarding so early and prefer the Papplewick "build them up" approach, no boarding required initially, build up to it over the years with fun sleepovers and a night of boarding here and there so by the time they're in the summer of Y6 they're practically begging to board.

However...it's better to go with your gut in terms of a school that you feel you'll get on with. Papplewick is unquestionably more eccentric, less sporty and swish than Lambrook. Lambrook is undoubtedly stunning, they do prepare and send boys to Eton, their drama and music facilities were amazing and if you have a super sportsman then they will value that highly. I know one mum with two boys at Caldicott, she loves it and it's right for them.

(I don't know anything about KCW so can't help with that one, sorry!)

Xiaoxiong gives a comprehensive account of the whole picture as far as Eton goes. Of course, other schools do send boys to Eton too - including state schools for that matter, but they are few and far in between - not to mention overseas schools. Eton has a list that runs into multiple dozens of schools that had sent boys there. In fact, Eton has a list, sometimes more than a list, maybe a (few) books, of practically everything under the sun. That's how meticulous the School is.

Thank you @Xiaoxiong@peteneras@Delta1 you have definitely given me clarity. Our end goal ideally is Eton/Winchester at this stage, who knows as time goes on if my son will be suited. But to give him the opportunity to have a chance like you say Papplewick will at least guide him as best they do to be in with a shot. Looking at the London day schools even though their end goal is the same with Eton for many parents being the desired next step the pressure cooker to get in and the highly competitive nature when your in doesnt seem to be felt as much as far as I can see from boarding schools such as Papplewick. Again not sure if this is just from my viewing point at the moment. I also feel boarding schools have so many facilities that beyond the next school destination it will really round young boys.
Did you feel this? do you feel they enjoy school more than if they went to a London day school?

Well my sons have never been at a London day school, but I know there are quite a few boys who join all these schools from London day schools every year, but I don't know of many who go in the other direction. I can think of two in my son's class in particular who left absolutely top preps in London the parents said they wanted to escape what they described as a pressure cooker environment, mountains of prep, ferociously competitive parents. Those boys come in and out on the bus and seem to have enjoyed this year, the parents are certainly happier!

Papplewick (other schools are available!) uses competition to bring the best out of the boys, don't get me wrong - it definitely isn't a "participation award" kind of school. There is competitive sport daily, a big board of house points with every boy's name in the main hall, for everyone to see, and there are regular awards for good work, headmaster's commendations etc. But on the flip side, all the prep is done at school so when you get your boy home all you have to do is feed him, have a chat, maybe supervise some music practice but not the hours of worksheets or home projects that I've heard about in certain schools in London. And the school actively discourages outside tutoring, outside sport or other activities during the week, which has rather taken the wind out of the sails of a few budding tiger parents. I remember one mum who wanted her son to continue doing some outside coaching or tutoring or something after the school day ended and it clashed with something at school, and the school told her that instead of letting him off the school thing, she should cancel the outside sports coaching because he was getting quite enough sport at school.

You have to embrace their ethos though - they very much take the attitude that you need to trust them, hand over your son and leave the academics and organised extras to your son to organise for himself together with his teachers. For instance, there are activities every Thursday afternoon - when my son started we parents all ran around, where is the activity list? When do we sign them up? What do we need to do? only to find out that actually, parents don't have any input, your son chose his activity for this term without you. If your son has a problem, the teachers will tell you politely but firmly that they would like to hear about it from him first without the parents steaming in to fight their son's battles (though of course they are always happy to talk to parents, my son's form tutors have always been extremely responsive over email - it helps that they have such small form groups). I know that some other schools are a bit happier for parents to take the lead on things, whereas it's quite clear at Papplewick at least that from day one they are preparing your son for a situation someday soon (boarding!) where he isn't going to have mummy and daddy there to sort stuff out for him. And of course somewhere like Summer Fields where they hit the ground running with boarding from day 1, it's even more hands-off.

I do think fundamentally as parents we have to be open to finding the right schools for our kids to flourish and be happy, and not the school we think is the best or give them a leg up. Eton is a great school but it's most emphatically not for everybody. Same with any school.

What you need is a prep school where you have such a good relationship and an excellent level of trust with the teachers that if the head tells you "I don't think Eton is right for him, but I think this other school would suit him down to the ground because of xyz" that you believe it and don't see it as a criticism or selling your son short.

Thanks so much for the detailed posts it really has helped me understand a bit more about the school. Sorry going to ask you a million questions! appreciate any answers you can give.

In regards to the teaching I assume they split them into ability? Have you ever questioned their approach to get the best from your son? have you witnessed an improvement? from the parents you have met at the school on any negatives against the school what have these been? did you ever question your decision and think about x school? Did you son have friends at the school? did your son go in at year 4 or earlier?

At year 2 there is no ability split (both mine joined in Year 2). Then starting from year 3 there is a split by ability between form groups (two groups of approx 10 boys) but as the forms are so small they are still combined for a lot of things, sport, activities etc so it doesn't feel like a seismic split. Higher up in the school I know there is a scholarship class that prepares for KS, Election etc but having known quite a few boys who have graduated over the past few years, of a range of academic abilities, only one seemed overly concerned about whether he was in the scholarship class or not so I think that was a personality thing rather than a culture within the school.

There is a lot of work of course, especially as the years go on, but no more so than at any prep school preparing boys for the most academic senior schools in the country and I think the small size of the school makes things more manageable. The social side of things I was worried about because if there are small class sizes then you might not make friends but I have found the opposite - it means that all the boys are friends, especially lower down the school, and there is a lot of mixing between year groups as well thanks to activities and the library where a lot of them hang out after school waiting for siblings etc. I often ask DS1 who he played with that day and he usually says "oh, everyone of course" or will list names of boys I know are in different year groups.

So far I personally have had absolutely no cause to question their approach or to question our decision because I can see the happiness and the progress in leaps and bounds DS1 has made. While I can't speak for all, I think most other parents feel the same from the conversations I've had with friends and on the class whatsapp (the teachers have been amazing through lockdown with remote learning, didn't skip a beat). If I had to really stretch to think of negatives, I know that some parents on the more "involved", tigerish end of the spectrum feel a bit shut out - the school likes to do their thing with the boys during school hours and very much wants parents to be there for emotional support and to basically stay out of the academic side unless the school asks for parental input. But I think that is how they keep it from becoming a pressure cooker like the London preps that so many parents have run away from. Decisions are generally expected to be made by the boys talking with their teachers, not the parents and teacher deciding for the boy, and some parents can find that hard to get used to!! And as such some parents feel a bit like they never quite know what's going on or that there has been a lack of communication with the school when in fact that's a feature, not a bug. I just try to have really good communication with my son, how he's doing, how he's feeling, and every Saturday when I go to chapel and lunch I make sure I see his form teacher, to check in and make sure all's going well.

So much depends on your gut feeling of whether you and your son will appreciate this approach or not. It has worked perfectly for us so far because we feel able to trust the school and go with the flow. If I had a different personality and felt the need to be the one in total control of my son's education, maybe it wouldn't be for us. And we stay vigilant, because no matter how great the experience we've had so far, schools can change for the worse (and quickly), my son might not click with his next form teacher, another boy might take it into his head to bully my son next year, who knows.