Solihull prep or Crackley hall?

[Sooop]

We're looking for a private prep school in the West Midlands for primary, and Crackley Hall and Solihull prep are the stand out prep schools locally (though if there are other good ones, I'd happily receive recommendations).

My DC is an able child (we took part in a child development study, and were told that they're significantly ahead developmentally) but is very mild mannered. DC is the sort of child who picks things up quickly, and gets on well with other children, but wilts under pressure. I am sending them private because they would probably get forgotten about at a state primary. They wouldn't make a fuss if they weren't being challenged. Does anyone have experience of these two schools! Which would you recommend for a child like mine?

I've had friends at both. From what you've described, I'd say Crackley.

@CornishGem1975 Thank you 🙂, what would make you recommend Crackley over Solihull? My knowledge of both schools limited to how they appear at open days

Have you considered Ruckleigh?

Hi what would you like to know about Solihull Prep?

I don’t know much about Crackley other than it’s a Catholic School. Solihull has a strong Christian ethic (CofE).

what would your local state school be?

What about Warwick prep?

Consider where you may want your DC to go to senior school as Solihull and Warwick prep feed DC into their senior school so won’t prepare then for grammar school exams. It’s also increasingly difficult for DC to get places in the senior schools of places like Warwick and Solihull as their prep school students take a high proportion of the places. So if you want one of these schools for senior, you may want to choose the feeder prep. Ruckleigh is seen locally as a hot houses preparing DC for grammar and entry into the independent senior schools such as KES and KEHS in Birmingham. There are fewer opportunities for sport and music than you would get at other preps.

Wasn’t keen on Ruckleigh due to the reasons @Dancingdreamer said above. Eversfield is smaller and a nice family feel to it, but a lot of children left to go to Solihull prep when it opened.

i found eversfield that much more ‘formal’ and prep like (for example they still wear hats). I feel like Solihull has the facilities, a super senior leadership team at the prep and senior school and new overall head coming in too (the current head has been with them a number of years). It’s a popular school, ethnically diverse.

If you're willing to go into Birmingham and want a school that won't overlook him you could.do far worse than West House. It tends to be over subscribed though. Its a small, traditional prep ( albeit stops at 11). It's not big and glossy like Solihull but is extremely friendly and nurturing. It does not have a reputation as a hot house but punches above its weight with entrance to King Edwards School and grammar. I know people with boys there and the main words they use to describe it is happy.

sorry misread your OP. you didn't say whether ds or dd. If DD west House pretty useless to you!

I found Solihull really down to earth and not big and glossy. All staff very approachable. Warwick felt more big and glossy!

if Brum Hallfield prep is very good

From my experience the pastoral care is much better at Warwick than Solihull. It’s very easy for a DC to get overlooked at Solihull. The school makes up its mind very early who they like and those DC have a fantastic time and get showered with every opportunity. Others often then feel sidelined. It’s why Solihull divides opinions. Some people really love Solihull and others have a real dislike of the school: it depends which side of the fence they put your DC. I’d really recommend it if your DC excels in sport, music or academics,. Otherwise if you have a child who needs a bit of support and encouragement, I would always choose Warwick.

@coralpig I don't know much about what Ruckleigh is like theses days, though I'd be more than happy to hear what it is like now. From my experience, it seemed to be very boy-dominated, and there were some issues back in the early 2000s with teacher behaviour and bullying.

@Paris2023 I'd love to know if starting age makes a difference- I would ideally be starting my DD there for reception, but worry that she might have trouble making friends if I did that, as friendship groups might have already formed in nursery. I suppose I would like to know what the prep is like at the moment- what they do to prevent/minimise bullying, and what the school day length is like

I know people who have sent their DS to Hallfield. The academics are good, but the social culture is apparently a bit toxic. Their DS did go about 8 years ago though, so things may have changed

@Dancingdreamer @listsandbudgets I would like to keep my DD Co-ed for primary if possible, otherwise I would be very keen on the preps in Warwick and (if she were a boy) on West house

Several of our local primaries are outstanding, but they all have quite bad progress 8 scores. We'd be aiming for DD to sit the 11+ for Stratford Grammar and Alcester once she's older, so would want to send her somewhere that with some academic rigor

Primary schools don’t use the progress 8 measure.

Are you religious? Crackley is Catholic, Solihull strong CofE ethos (there is a chapel and FT chaplain). I don’t know about Crackley but Solihull won’t do 11+ prep so you would need to tutor in addition. I know you’re not considering state and I don’t know if you’re close enough to get in but there’s a well-established pathway of children attending St Alphege for infants and transferring to Solihull at age 7.

@YippieKayakOtherBuckets sadly we aren't in the catchment for St Alphege, though I've heard it's an excellent school. We have our eyes on Solihull, Crackley hall, and potentially Eversfield. We are Christians, so don't mind DD going to a Christian school so long as they aren't teaching her to be intolerant towards non christians. The data for KS1 and KS2 performance for the local state primaries is not terribly good. Schools in nearby Kenilworth have much better scores for progress, but we don't live in the catchment and aren't likely to move

St Alphege used to take students from out of catchment if they were committed Christians. It’s worth contacting them.

St Alphege doesn’t have a catchment. Baptised children are priority 8 with higher priority given to families who regularly worship in the parish. Admissions generally go to priority 8 or 9 IME. Nevertheless the vast majority of families are very local and you would spend a lot of time driving over from Kenilworth for birthday parties etc, although I suppose that’s true for all of the schools mentioned on this thread.

St Alphege does sound worth considering, I will look into it. given the excellent ISI report, I am now very interested in Eversfield. I realise that neither Crackley hall nor Solihull would prep her for the 11+. My DD is very able (mild mannered, but picks up skills after only 1 or 2 repetitions and keeps them), but she's also quite easy going, so it would be easy for her to get sidelined

Hi there.
We recently start looking at preps in solihull and found this thread.
Our focus is eversfield vs solihull prep. Wondering in the end which one you chose?
We haven't visited yet but from the website intro. Eversfield seems to be a good one esp for DD as they have imo slightly better music and art arrangement.

We have one boy and one girl so need to consider more to make sure both Enjoy the place.
Would appreciate to hear your feedback.

@soleilgalhaving talked to parents with children at Solihull, I was told that children who are academic, sporty, or musical were favoured and the others were left behind. I was also told that it was quite a pressurised environment.

Parents with kids at Eversfield seemed very happy with it, but did note that a lot of people moved their kids to Solihull prep when it opened as they were planning to send their child to Solihull for senior school anyway, so Eversfield has fewer pupils than before.

The best reviews I heard were about Crackley hall, so that's ended up being my favourite

Warwick prep is Co Ed