13+ Prep schools

[AlabamaWorleyyy]

A 13+ prep school near me has just said it will be going to Year 11. They have really small numbers in Years 7/8 so I’m surprised they think they’ll be able to get more pupils that way… More and more senior schools seem to encouraging pupils to come at Year 7 - are 13+ preps going to survive? I teach in one hence my vested interest! How are the ones near you doing numbers wise?

The one DD went to is flourishing. Sends girls to many top class boarding schools and I cannot imagine they would go to y11. Another site would have to be found and parents would never give up Wycombe Abbey or CLC for extra years at this 13+ prep. Other ones I know are equally buoyant. They largely are not getting parents who want 3-16 though. The parents of the top drawer preps want top drawer senior schools and, if possible, scholarships! So just going to 16 simply wouldn’t be on their agenda.

We were told at my school that only 15% of preps now go to Year 8 but I don’t know if that’s true.
I thought most girls’ senior schools already started at Year 7?

Posted too soon - so most girls only preps finish at Year 6 I think.

@AlabamaWorleyyy
My DD went to Godstowe and most stay to 13. It has a usp in that it’s girls and does this. Co-Ed preps do too. Eg Winchester House. The pupils can then access any senior school that recruits at 13. It’s something parents have to want though.

Both my childrens preps go to 13 and are full with WLs. Berkshire/ Surrey.

The independent sector's system of boys'/co-ed schools taking pupils at 13 and girls schools taking them at 11 has always been an inconvenient nuisance. My DD went on to a co-ed school at 13, but had she failed to get in, we'd have had a tough time getting her into a comparable girls' school.

A prep school wanting to extend through to GCSEs seems odd to me. If a prep's purpose is to prepare a pupil for secondary school, the options to go on to an independent school at sixth form are limited - especially for boys (though many are used to taking girls at sixth form).

It would appear your school thinks its new purpose is to prepare students for sixth form colleges, which hardly fits with being a prep school in the first place. It would seem to make more sense to go straight through to A-levels to me.

It also makes me wonder what parents want for their children at this school. If it’s Hampshire where schools go to 16 anyway then I could see some sense in the decision but it looks odd to me in other areas. It’s also implying pupils don’t go to very good schools at senior level if staying put looks better. I would think the prep facilities won’t match those of a top class senior school without considerable expense (and debt). So I would certainly want to know how this expansion would be funded and who would stay in the school and didn’t aspire to better.,

There are 13 plus places at girls’ schools. Godstowe sends nearly all their girls at 13. However they might have a “special relationship” with the school to facilitate that. However destinations are schools like Downe House, Wycombe Abbey, CLC, Benenden, Queen Ann’s, etc although co-ed are used too.

Round here all the preps are flourishing, we have boys and mixed that go to yr8 and they all seem to be full.