Prep or All-through - Help needed!

[CandleKindle]

Originally posted in secondary section by mistake:

My daughter is in year 4. We need to choose between two schools (staying at existing school is not an option). School A is an all-through school with no exam at 11. School B is a prep to age 11.

Daughter prefers School B and we also feel she would be happier there for the next few years (feels a bit calmer / smaller / better fit but can't explain why). School B is probably also a bit more academic than School A and will also prepare her for the 11+. But, School A is a good senior option and is likely our second choice for 11 and beyond (there is one other we prefer but it is highly selective and difficult to get into).

So we are a bit stuck. Choose School A and avoid the 11+ or prioritise her happiness now and give her a better chance of getting into our preferred senior school.

If anyone has any thoughts and can offer personal experiences of making a similar choice, I would be grateful. Head I think is saying School A and heart is saying School B.

Personally I would prioritise what is best for her now - so much can change, even in just a couple of years, that I think you can easily tie yourself in knots thinking about all the future what ifs.

That said, I guess it depends on how much of a risk 11+ / senior school admissions are likely to be considering your options. If she didn’t get into preferred senior school, are there other good options that are a bit more of a sure bet? Would you be able to join school A at a later entry point, for example? If yes, then I would go with your and your dd’s preference for B, but if no I would more closely examine that preference.

The previous head of my the prep my sons are attending has once told me, when I asked why to enrol there and not to an all through school, that sometimes children need a change from the environment that they are when they are younger.
You don't have to be the smarty pants until y12!
I found it so true. My DS1 left for a senior school and although he loved his prep, he really wanting a change!
Also, I feel the preps are better in allowing you to move later. You may think in y4 what is your preferred senior but a couple of years down the line this might have changed (i.e understand that your DD is better suited in another school than you initially thought)
My DS1 ended in a senior that I hadn't even thought/dreamed in y3 when he joined prep.

Through schools can be selective at 11+ tho? I’d say go with the school you think would suit your child best. Also Consider the fact that Some through schools don’t offer internal candidates scholarship’s for the senior school either- preferring to give them to attract new students so you might do better changing at 11 if your child has special talent at that age.