London schools for 4yo & 6yo

[loobyloz]

Hello, we are an international family moving to London next summer. Our 2 children (4&6) are currently in a Nord Anglia International School & really happy there. We would like a school in London that is similarly friendly, with small classes, a focus on kindness and ideally gets them outdoors and moving. We are looking at Thomas’s Battersea but not sure where else to look as there are so many! We don’t mind where in London, as we will live close to the school if needs be or even slightly outside if that’s better. Grateful for any suggestions - private or even state.

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where in London will you be living? are you commuting to any particular location? that makes a big difference to where you want to look for schools, because travel times can be long if you don't pick carefully.

Have you spoken to Thomas’s? I’d be surprised if they had space for a 4 year old at short notice - normally you need to register before they turn 1?

Don’t discount state primaries - many are rated ‘outstanding’ and they are generally small schools with very local catchments. Plus - the birth rate has dropped a lot and so it’s much easier to get into the good ones than five years ago.

Thanks for the replies! We will be working in central London (close to Victoria), which is why we thought about Thomas’s - of course there might not be space, we will reach out to them. I’ve also seen Newton Prep mentioned on here but really I’m quite overwhelmed by the sheer number of schools in London!

For small classes, and plenty of PE/sport, you will need private really. Any decent state primary will have 30 kids per class.

Lots of the well off family focused areas of London will have a selection of private primary/prep schools- Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Chiswick, Hammersmith, Dulwich, jump to mind. I expect similar North London areas like Crouch End, Muswell Hill also do although I don’t know these. I don’t think you need to choose an area based on the school, choose an area that you like and works for your commute/housing budget, as long as it has enough choice of schools.

Personally I would choose a school which is a trust not privately owned - so any profits are put back into the school rather than paid out to a private owner/private equity investor. For example Hornsby mentioned above fits this bill, Thomas’s does not.

Re needing to register early - this used to be the case but the birth rate has come down a lot in the last 5+ years so actually a lot of private schools have space in their lower years. But yes you may need to phone round a bit to find somewhere with space for both.

Another thing to consider is whether you want a school that goes to 11 or 13.

A school to 13 is arguably better if you want to send them boarding as many schools don’t start boarding till 13.

However if you want to send them to a day school these start at 11. In that case there may be benefits in sending them to a school where everyone is leaving at 11 and the whole focus is on London day schools.

Of course you may plan to move again before these ages in which case it doesn’t matter!

I’d suggest hiring an educational consultant to help you. There are so many things to factor in, I think anyone would find it overwhelming! Thomas’s may well be full, but there are probably other preps that would have places. A consultant would probably have a good idea where to start, particularly if you can narrow it down to areas that would be easy commuting to/from Victoria.

My children go to St Paul’s Cathedral School and we are extremely happy with it. I know that it is further east than Victoria but it would be easy enough to get the tube from Mansion House to Victoria after dropping the children at school.

I know that the school is full overall but it may be that some spaces come up. Is your 4 year old moving into year 1 (or the equivalent in the current school) in September?

I would be glad to answer any questions.