State school to independent secondary

[Boymama2729]

I'm considering taking my sons out of Cumnor (prep school) year 3 and reception and moving to state school, as we want to save up for independent secondary school. We're hoping for a Whitgift, Trinity or Dulwich entry with a scholarship.
Would taking them out of Cumnor hinder their chances of accessing these independent secondary schools (they will be tutored)?

No it won't hinder them. Lots of state school kids go to those secondaries.

@Boymama2729- try to remember this is an entirely public forum.

My son is starting Dulwich in September. He currently and has only attended a state primary that requires improvement. And he’s had no tutoring.

I don't imagine they would discriminate based on that if that's what you mean. BUT having been at state primary ourselves and done independent 11+ exams it is definitely true that you are on your own wrt prep for those exams in a state primary. They are not allowed to get involved or help in any way. And the curriculum (at least for maths) is around 1 year behind a prep school (largely because prep schools are 1 year ahead purely because that's what 11+ exams expect - you need to be familiar and confident with the entire ks2 maths curriculum at a minimum). Tutoring will obviously partly compensate for this but the thing I found hardest was getting opinions out of people on the level our DC was working to and whether he was doing enough for the schools we wanted to apply to / which schools we should potentially consider for his abilities. The school wouldn't offer views (and didn't know anyway as they know v little about the private schools) and the tutor also seemed reluctant. Only a handful of children in our entire year were going through the same process so it was difficult to really get a sense from peers too tbh.

We used Atom too but found it massively underestimated the level needed for maths for London superselectives / the papers weren't representative.

My DS is at a state primary. We used a tutor to prep him for entrance exams (we are in Oxfordshire) and he was successful in getting offers from indy secondaries. What he did say was that it was hard because none of his friends were doing the same, so he felt a little alone and had no one to talk to about it at school. We did have tears of happiness when the offers came through though!

As has been said, you will need a tutor as the work simply isn’t covered in state school.

Who’d a think it? From a state school???? 🤣🤣

Just be aware that scholarships these days are not generous!

@CurlewKate I know the shock!

On a serious note these groups can be so intimidating. I came here looking for info on the process and immediately panicked because my son hadn't done any tutoring (let alone the years that seems normal on here). I still don't know what most of the acronyms thrown about mean.

That plus the down the nose comments about bursaries could have turned us away (and perhaps that's the intent. Limit the competition). Thankfully the school itself and the people I've talked to at events has been warm welcoming and none of the attitude I've seen on here. I pop in to let folks know that it's possible to get in without the tutoring or coming from a prep.

I actually felt the opposite myself about Mumsnet. I thought most people downplayed the amount of work that is usually required - a lot of comments like 'if they need lots of tutoring they clearly aren't meant to be there'. My experience is that, certainly in London, bright children will be fine at the school, but the level of competition to get in means you need to do more than might think (most kids - obviously there are always some that are fine without much prep). I'm absolutely not saying it to put anyone off - but just to be aware.