Kings College School v. St Paul's School (SW London)

[kookaburra]

We are considering KCS or St P's for DS1 - he is very academic and although he enjoyes some sports does not like football, rugby or cricket...
Does anyone have any experience of choosing between these schools or of their DS's experience at them, good or bad?
Any info gratefully received - thanks!!!!

not sure about st p but as kcs does the IB just make sure you are happy with that possibility though that will be in 5 yrs time for him presumably. also kcs does french a yr early etc etc and am guessing the journey to either has to be akey factor. sure either will be fine academically though if they do the IB they need to be better across the board as it is more diffeult to get out of subject areas they are weaker in/in which they are weaker (for those worried about position of prepositions! and sorry about tying and typos)

Thanks - yes the IB question is interesting - must find out more about that.

Journey to both is similar - 20 mins buy bus - school bus for KCS - public bus for SP ,tho' am trying not to be swayed by the fact that the KCS school bus stops outside our house...

Thanks - intersting about 'vertical forms - is that like houses?
We have not @ the latter two because either would mean a tedious tube commute, and I have had enough of those myself in the past & found it very depressing, so do not want him to have that topping & tailing his day...
Also, the radius of classmates would be higher. As we are SW London, do not wan tto be driving him to Essex or Kent to meet friends (nothing aginst those places - just distance!)

Kookaburra how old is your ds ? I ask only because for St Paul's you need to register very early - y5 or perhaps even earlier. Don't know about KCS. My ds1 is at W, with ds2 following next year (we hope). Ds1 knows quite a few boys who travel in from SW London; of course it depends where exactly you are. I have found the pastoral side of W to be excellent. Btw ds1 doesn't like football or rugby either, so W has been a blessing for him in that respect; they have to choose a sport (subject to numbers of course), but nothing is compulsory. Last year he did judo, and is now doing rock climbing.

Thank you both - - very interesting & helpful! He is registered for both schools & we are going to see them next week (just DH & I initally), so will ask those questions. He is in Year 5 so we will be moving him for year 6, rather than year 7 depending on the vibe we get from the schools (and if he gets in ). Am stteling myself to tell his current headmistress he may be leaving early - she will not be pleased and the refernces are sought before the exam is taken so we have to tell her before we know the outcome...
Am now wonfdering about W for 6th form ,as it is mixed - will ponder that possibility with DH...

So that means Colet Court then if you go for St Paul's ? Great school. Good luck for your tours of the two schools.

Miobombino (great name, btw, when I retire, want to do an Italian degree @ UCL )
yes - I mean Colet Court rather than St Paul's. I was concerned about what would happen if after being @ CC he failed Common Entrance and didn't make it St P - they seem very confident that they can predict if he gets into CC he will make it thru' CE.
Otherwise - I s'pose we could always emigrate to Australia...

I understand that the deal with CC is that if a boy is offered a place he must put St Paul's down as his first choice senior school. So they actively want all the boys to get through - and if your ds gets in he will be 10 or 11 therefore I reckon there is less margin for error in their selection process; as opposed to, say, a very bright 7 yo getting in, then reaching an academic plateau at 12/13 and possibly then not thriving at St Paul's. But at Westminster Under School the system is different; about 70% of the boys go on to W, but they are prepared for other schools too.

The Colet Court to St Paul's transition is just(!) a financial call for you though - check this with questions on the tour. I think you will lose your deposit if DS goes somewhere else after Common Entrance. CC do lose boys after CE to other schools. Eton was mentioned on my tour after a question, and this was confirmed by a friend of ours who is a master at Eton. My friend said at least 2 of their brightest 10 boys each year always came from CC. The line on the tour is very much come to CC and then you are at St Paul's till you are 18, but they dealt with a question about it. You could start with questions about boarding if you wanted to be subtle, because Eton is termly whereas St Paul's can be just weekly.

I'm not sure what happens to your deposit if St Pauls feel it's not the right school for your son.

Is your boy at a state school now? I think the only entry at aged 10 /11 is from the state sector, but I could be wrong.

Interesting re the going on to schools other than St P's because they do stress at every opportunity that you are opting thru' to 18, not just to CE. But the deposit is a term's fees, so anyone thinking of Eton will probably not be put off by that loss .
Yes, DS is at a state school - a handful each year go on to CC, and almost all to other selective schools so he would be going thru all this next year if not this. Intersting & very useful also the W do not insit on w as senior school - I had assumed all the schools did as KCS also do. Dh & I do need to get done to some serious reading of prospectuses this weekend...

Kookaburra, if you have any insights from your reading or open days I would be quite interested in an update. Those are the schools we will be looking at for DS in due course (although probably Latymer rather than St Pauls/CC). Ds is only in Yr 1 and can go through to Year 6 at his current school, but I will start looking at earlier entrance just in case.

my cousin was at colet court then went to westminster. they were cross about him not going to st p but they can't force you
strangely his brother went to westminster under and then to st pauls! So there you go, all things are possible...

Completely NON academic point. My husband spent a few days on site on Kings College installing some computer systems, and he came home saying: "Wifey, or son is most definitely going to this school." He was so impressed with what he saw during those days, the atmosphere, the pupil teahcer relationships, social life, the grounds, equipment, etc.

Kookaburra, I think you live very near me. My son got into both of these schools and is at one of them now. Can you give you more detailed info if you have an email address (I don't have CAT).

MDC - lol!
SSN - that is very useful ! We went to KCS today - liked the HM - very approachable, and also liked the other parents we met on the tour (three other couples) - probably not relevant, as we will probably never meet them again, but the vibe felt right ). In fact although we were only there to check out for our older son, we ended up by getting the entrance papers for our younger son also (who is now 8). We are going to Colet Court 3 Nov 9 any other MNs going that day ????)
MBBB - not sure how to get my email address to you - will ask my friend who knows how mumsnet works how to contact you - thanks!!!!