Parkside Cobham

[swappingwellies]

Hi all, would love some help/advice pls! we are looking at Parkside prep for DS who will be joining Yr 8. Our family is moving back to UK and would prefer DS to be in a smaller school and find his feet rather than thrust into huge school that goes upto 18.
Any families currently at Parkside that could share their experiences please? DS is fairly academic but doesn’t fit well in a pressured environment. He’s also concerned he may not find friendship easily as everyone will have formed their friendship groups much earlier…. Wondering whether sending DS to a prep for a year and then moving him again would be worth it all.
any and all advice would be greatly appreciated 🙏

KH has quite a specific profile they take, because they are very small (like classes of 6) and almost a specialist setting. They are on a small site and aren't looking for "numbers" like some schools are.

The comments about Parkside made me smile. I know a few boys there and none of them would be picked by other schools as "tour guides" (most schools usually pick their scholarship stream boys, chess champs, "A" football team types) whereas Parkside gets them ALL to do tours. Even the shy, distracted, bottom set boys all do open days as the school is proud of them all.

I know one very bright chap who was miserable at a super academic prep where they just seemed to plonk them in front of Atom Learning and BOFA who is really happy at Parkside and expected to win a few secondary scholarships ... so it's just about finding the right school for your child, there's no one school that is right for every kid.

My son goes to Active Autism football sessions run by Fulham FC Academy and I was chatting to a few parents of neurodiverse children there and they have all said the same how Kingswood House is turning away the neurodiverse kids. It’s such a shame, and personally I feel hypocritical given they have recently been fighting a threat from a developer to turf them off their site by claiming their cohort are 75% SEN. Come on Kingswood, you can’t have it both ways!

@SuperSue77 my suspicion is that it's about making sure they have a balanced cohort at KH. I know they (and Ewell) are keen to attract more girls, for example. Could it be that the year 6 group moving up was already boy-heavy and ND-heavy?

I don't think not having a natural salesman as a tour guide should rule a school like Parkside out. I'd have gone back to the name tag desk and asked if we could look around again, esp the drama/pre prep or whatever I was keen on. Like Ewell, some buildings are historic. Huge grounds, woodlands and gardens and an old church on site (Surrey's oldest church I think, went to a concert there once, it's beautiful).

Joining in Y7 or Y8 would be unusual though, as all will have taken the 13+ tests at the start of Y6.