4+ vs 7+ choices

[Jaylden]

Hello, as we are viewing nurseries / pre-preps how do you generally think about pre-preps that prepare for 4+ vs 7+? Is 4+ actually necessary or just irrelevant at that stage? We would like a more academic pre-prep and continuous school path.

Thank you

Hi, generally people go down the route of the 4+ or the 7+ to avoid having to do the much harder and more competitive 11+. When a child secures a place at a pre prep, the academic work is actually not hugely dissimilar to other schools. They will continue to learn the age appropriate curriculum/material. The main benefit of the pre preps is that the classes will be smaller and most families will be on board with supporting their child to fill in the gaps and there will be less disruption. The selective pre preps will have cherry picked the more 'able' children while the non selective pre preps will use streaming to support the different abilities. What you'll find is that most children attending pre preps will have parents who are very invested in their children's education and I think that is the main driver for children to excel rather than the pre preps working some kind of magic to churn out excellent results and future school destinations. Where possible, parents choose schools that go all the way through to 16/18, with automatic transfer into the senior school and bypassing the 11+.