St Vincent Marylebone vs Pembridge Hall

[4567a]

Hello

I’m a father of a wonderful 4-year old girl (have 50% custody) and I have to confess that I don’t know much about schools (please don’t judge me as a parent!). I’m a foreigner in London and in my home country virtually all schools were state schools and it worked well.

However, now I live in London and face two options: state school St Vincent Marylebone OR private Pembridge Hall. I would be paying 100% of the school fees personally as my ex-girlfriend says she can’t afford/doesn’t want to contribute. That’s ok provided that I keep my job.

My daughter has no siblings. Pembridge Hall is same-sex, posh and expensive. St Vincent Marylebone is Ofsted Outstanding, co-Ed and free. I don’t mind paying for PH if it’s much better; however, it also feels absurd to pay £26,000+/year for a 4-year old.

Now, I know that the answers will be subjective, but I would be very interested in your answers. Which school would you choose if you were in my shoes?

St Vincent's is an excellent school , and quite religious.. if you're got a place there .. I'd take it as its very over subscribed and save the money for secondary school and if needed private tutoring if she needs that. I have a family member who used to teach there and she said it's really got high standards

Thank you v much.
I’m not religious at all though and my daughter is not even Baptised (we got in via the waiting list) - is it intensively religious?

From what I believe it's follows Roman Catholic faith but is very inclusive so I think it's not OTT .. personally I'll try it there you can always move her, if you're not happy with the level of education a lot of parents move their children to prep schools in year three anyway.. and that's one personal experience my sons lost half they class going into year 4

Thank you very much. Is it easy to transition from a school like St Vincent to a good private school, or is it typically a struggle?

Many kids from state primaries go to private secondaries in C London. Intake at secondary is increasingly diverse. Have you looked at other private primaries with lower fees? Aloha group of schools tend to have higher fees… I am paying 19k for my son’s private primary.

One of my neighbours had their DC there. It is religious, which is typical of RC schools anyway. I was also involved with the school at some point. It's an excellent school. My neighbours DC went to Wetherby later, and coped well. It was a few years ago, but the parents were international - lots of French, Italian, Spanish or South American (typical of RC schools in Central London, especially before Brexit). Lots of parents with great jobs, and quite ambitious - a sprinkling of bankers. A fair amount moved on to private schools. The school would not formally help you with a private transfer, but there would be a lot of parents you could liaise with when you wan to transfer your DD.
If you change your mind about private, they do feed a lot into Marylebone Girls situated at the next street - that is a very good school.

That’s extremely helpful - thank you