Private school admission

[Tigermumhere]

i have two children who are going to year 3 and year 7 in Sep 22. We are in Dubai and due to personal reasons we will have to move to London, south London or south west . Can anyone recommend a private school where I can get an admission now . Both children are bright . Many thanks for your help .

Do you want them both in the same school?
co-ed, single sex? Sporty, arty, academic, pushy..?

I wouldn’t worry too much about your y3- focus on the child going into year 7. Your best bet is to email/ call all the admissions officers on Monday and see where has space - they’ll probably have to sit an exam and May have to go on a waiting list. Are they boys or girls?

Academic , pushy would be preferable. I don’t mind if it’s single or mixed . But since we didn’t do the tests I’m not sure if we could do one now .

I was thinking the same . But just in case anyone knew schools which had places I thought I would check. Thanks

I think you’ll just need to phone round and see if anywhere has a place. If so they can arrange the testing.

I’m sorry to say this, but the pushy, academic S London private schools are not going to have places for Y7 this September. They’re a bunfight.

For the year 3, maybe consider a school like Newton Prep (SW) or Rosemead (SE) which prep for the very academic schools. It's possible Newton Prep or Dulwich Prep (if your oldest is a boy) might have a place into year 7? Dulwich Prep is reasonably competitive, but I think loses a lot of children into year 7 into Dulwich College.
I'm not an expert though - my children are younger, so others at those schools can correct me.

Some might- even at this late stage. They do have late drop outs, people move abroad or out of London suddenly, some get a late place at a state school etc. They will have wait lists but people will have already committed to other schools.
Definitely worth contacting schools. You could also try the prep schools like Thomas’s, Fulham school etc and do y7 and y8 there.

You will not have any problems getting a Y3 place but Y7 in a secondary could be difficult at this stage - though occasional places do come up. Are you looking for a boy or a girl?

In your position I would approach the registrars of all the big sought after schools eg Dulwich College (boys) Emanuel (mixed) Kings College School Wimbledon (boys) Francis Holland (girls). Getting a place is a VERY long shot at this stage, but the worst that can happen is that they say no. All of these schools are over subscribed and operate waiting lists - but many parents on the waiting lists will have committed to other schools now so if an occasional place does come up for whatever reason it might be easier for them to offer it to a new applicant. You might just be lucky.

In parallel, look for places in an 8-13 prep. They will then help you with a transition to a senior school at 13. Many of the children will be aiming at boarding schools at 13+ but a sizeable proportion will go on to highly selective day schools. You should have no problems getting a Y 7 place as many students leave at 11 to go to secondary.

www.schoolsearch.co.uk/independent-schools-in-south-west-london

V unlikely to get anything at Thomas’s or Newton
Broomwood and Eaton House might - the latter goes to 13

I agree - year 7 is going to be difficult.
are you moving back to a previously owned house? Is there a particular area you need to go to? Outside London is often easier.

I was also going to say that academic, competitive schools are going to be hard to get into - especially as they do entrance exams. It's a jungle in London, especially SW.

I do not for the life of me see schools like Dulwich and Kings accepting late comers, unless your DC is spectacularly gifted. I know DC who leave perfectly wonderful schools like Trinity/Whitgift to join these two schools. Parents will leave a sure offer of another school, to join them if they were on the waiting list. You may be lucky, but manage your expectations. What I'm saying above will apply for Westminster, St Pauls, City etc.

London no longer has 'back ups'. So schools like Emanuel and preps like Newton, Wetherby etc. are getting quite competitive to get into.

Even for your Y3 DC, there is a high competition for those who sit exams at 7+, 8+, 11+ and 13+. Your best bet, is to take your DC to a prep that is more naturing without entrance exams, but is a great feeder (say like Hill House, Eaton Prep etc). I would then look into getting both DC at a prep for now. You have to realise that the 13+ schools wrote their ISEBS in Oct/Nov of Y6 (annoyingly, it's at the same time as the 11+ entry). But there'll be late intakes from year 7 sometimes. So your prep Head will likely be well connected and be able to get your DC into this second stage.

You have a lot of work ahead, but ring around. It's possible to get both your DC into one prep with the view of moving them on at 13+. The Clapham/Wandworth or Central London area will have a lot of preps you can try who may eventually feed your DC to your ideal schools.

Someone posted you a great link on this thread, I would look into your nearest schools and research those that catch your eye and ring them.

Good luck