Consider if you want one which feeds into a linked senior school.
Hawthorns doesn’t and has links with lots of senior schools and looks to find the right fit for everyone from their mixed ability intake.
RSM and Caterham and the others too have mixed ability intakes too but are looking to move most to their linked senior school. There are positives in that they might not have the pressure to take entrance exams, but also the schools don’t have the incentive to prepare them to the levels required for competitive entry. Anecdotally, it’s easier to get in from linked prep schools, but then some struggle because they wouldn’t have got in if sitting the entrance exam. Depends if your child might be marginal and if you are keen for them to go to the more academic seniors and are concerned about being at the bottom or not, if this is an issue for you.
When most children go onto one senior school, it also creates a different feel. There is a sense that most will continue together. Lots like this for continuity whilst others feel a bit of a fresh start with more new children would be good. For those who do t go o to the linked senior, things can feel pretty tricky, especially if they haven’t been given the pass to the senior school. The final year isn’t always a great experience if you’re not goi g the route of the majority and actually some leave at the end of Yr5 if that is the case.
Stand-alone Preps often feed lots of senior schools like the Hawthorns does. Some like that their child of unknown ability can enter at 4 and as their abilities become known, a suitable school can be found. Others find the necessity to prep for entrance exams an unbearable burden. People in this kind of Prep. Are in their view about how well the school Oreos their children for the exams. Tutoring is often rife, as people fear the fact kids in state schools are tutored for the exams,
If you feel the pace at one school is sedentary, the question is, how will you be able to judge the pace of learning elsewhere? A tour or talking to the Head doesn’t really reveal that. I looked at a number of Preps in the area a few years ago and always asked to loo at their Maths and English exercise books to see the quantity of written work. Lots of people might say that’s another a good indicator, but I found it useful and that most schools weren’t over keen to show me.
Things I might ask about and compare to the existing school are things like the grouping (or absence of it) at different ages in Maths and English and the amount of teaching in form groups vs ability groups.
In the end, I think it’s easy to feel a bit disgruntled with independent schools. Sometimes you can pin it down and sometimes it’s hard to know what the issue is. But crucially, it’s often really hard to see if any alternative school will actually be better in those areas.
And it’s so hard at the moment when you can’t visit. Making a move at this point really does feel a. It like a leap in the dark.
But good luck. Depending on where you live, Hazelwood in Oxted is another big 13+ Prep (that’s another question - do you want 13+ exit or 11+ which is becoming more and more the norm if you’re. It looking at the public schools which start at 13) and there’s Micklefield, Reigate (sending about half to RGS and half to Dunnottar) and the smaller schools around Caterham like Oakhyrst Grange, Essendene Lodge etc. There are also a number within the M25 as you head up the A23 or A217 which send children south and north for secondary.
A lot depends on the age of your child. Are they young and just i to school or close to moving onto seniors. What are your plans for seniors....you really have to work backwards.