Looking for a independant school that can cope with enthusiasm.

[juliet123]

Hi, I am looking for a school for my son, he's 8, has skipped a year at school and is at the top of the year he's in now. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a secondary school that has a junior school attached but it needs to have some sort of financial help as I'm a single mum. He's a bit on the anti- social side, he's like an eccentric mad professor and finds it easy to annoy other children. He gets on better with the teachers then he does with other children as he finds them easier to talk to. He reads alot, full of enthusiasm for learning, asks loads of questions, he's very quick to learn but he also does not like to write things down the way his teachers want him to and is a bit of a clown. He is at least 2 years ahead in english, maths and science (very advanced stuff, string theory, quarks, atomic theory), he also likes philosophy. I've looked at all of the schools where we live, they say that they have children like him but when I take him to have a look around they can be very rude to him and impatient. I have no choice but to move to find somewhere for him, I'm thinking of London as we spend alot of time going to the museums there anyway. I've got the prospectus for Kings in Wimbledon but I have no idea if they would be able to manage him. He's a bit of a square peg and I have not found anywhere that will not try and turn him into someone who he is not. Does anyone know anywhere that will be able to nurture him? Thanks

Whitgift and its brother school Trinity take boys from 10. Whitgift does take in some of the more unusual boys as well, and has a small number of brilliant overseas scholars each year. For some reason details of the bursaries are not on its website but are here. You will note that for a single parent it is the income of the parent with custody that counts, although maintenance counts as income. But if you had for example an income of £23k then the school fees would be reduced to £600. This amount would be further reduced if your son got a scholarship, so a 50% scholarship would reduce this to £300 per year. The bursary scheme is open to all, not just the brightest or poorest and over half the boys pay reduced fees.

I had the prospectus for Whitgift through this morning. WOW! It's fantastic. I didn't even know that schools like this existed.It's everything that I have been looking for. A wide range of academic subjects, well qualified knowledgable staff, bright children, concert hall, excellent sport, encourage individuality, Peacocks and red squirrels in the school grounds (he's a bit of a red squirrel fan so he was very impressed). He was very impressed that they offered philosophy as an after school club. Scholarships are 50%!, busaries readily availiable. I don't know what my income will be when we move. I'm doing an MSc in Environmental Management so I'm hoping to start at 25k. I don't mind paying school fees, I'm just need a back up plan incase I have problems finding a job. This is definately a top contender, with Westminster under school and Kings Wimbledon. I emailed them last week, they don't discriminate on grounds of mischief and anti social behaviour. They must have an idea what they are letting themselves in for! Wish I didn't have to wait until next year, have missed the cut off for this september.

I am so very grateful for all of your suggestions. Thankyou.

Don't know about westminster Under in detail, but my 14yo ds1 is at W senior school (or The Great School as it is known).

At 6 or 7 when the class was meant to be learning times tables, he'd tell everyone pompously that this was just the start, "'cos maths is the language of science; we're just doing this in order to learn to speak". Complete square peg, but wouldn't have conformed enough to pass a 7+ exam. Also in maths lessons he'd drift off and try to distract the class teacher into talking about battle strategy in the Ancient World, eg the Spartans.

So I hope you find a happier outcome for your ds; mine just about tolerated school until after Common Entrance. Now he feels he's at home, and is thriving. Ds2 will be joining him next year; definitely it is a school for brilliant boys - some just across the board bright with highish IQs - and others like mine with quirks and erratic educational attainment, but who have that certain something. (Ds2 couldn't care two hoots about ancient battles or the music of the spheres, but he carries an artist's/writer's journal everywhere just to capture things that matter to him).

Hello nospringchicken - I have been in touch with the OP privately about this, but I completely agree about Westminster - it totally transformed my life, I felt like not-a-freak for the first time. For the right children I think it is a miraculous school; the only thing is that people were so lively and brilliant that I knew plenty of very bright all-rounder boys, good at everything, musical, sporty etc, who nevertheless spent their time there feeling mediocre, which is sad, and not what you'd want as a parent. So from my perspective, I think it does wonders for children who would have problems being happy anywhere else, and in particular really helps to ground and accept the most unusually intelligent/eccentric/driven, but it's not the kind of all-rounder school I'd happily put a whole string of different sons down for, for instance. For the OP though I think it sounds possibly a very good fit. Very amused by your son's "language of science" remarks - he's quite right of course but I can see this might be a bit insufferable in the wrong environment!

One of DS's friends is at Whitgift. My impression is that sport is very important - but that may be just DS's friend. The school has amazing facilities and a very good academic reputation. DS was gobsmacked by the swimming pool with the moveable floor.

He came to Uni with me and the other students have asked me to take him back!! They've asked him how much he charges to do assignments. I've worked out that at key stage 2, level 4 is exceptional, if he was at this level at 8 not 11 does this mean that he's very gifted?

He doesn't particularly like sport, it's a necessary evil. He's asthmatic and has flat feet so ha falls over alot so maybe Whitgift wouldn't be that good for him if it's quite sporty. Soo many to choose from, how do you do that?

Level 4 is the expected level for Key Satge 2 I belive, so would be the target for an 11yo, not exceptional. A good school will have a reasonable number of candidates getting level 5 (some schools have over 50% getting level 5 locally). No idea as to what is expected at 8, just that 2 is the expected standard at 7 and 4 is expected at 11.

So he must be quite clever to get level 4 at age 8 then? He was over level 3 at 7 so could get level 5 at 11? They don't make it easy do they!

sport is v important at whitgift (ds is there) but so is music, drama, lots of extra curricular stuff

It's stuffed full of very bright boys, some of whom are truly brilliant and many of whom are extremely quirky

they have a very good learning support dept which helps some of the more unusual boys reach their potential

ds is very happy there (and he was thoroughly miserable at his last school) but he is v sporty so it's a perfect combination for him

to give you an idea, ds got all level 5 for the optional sats at the end of y4

He wants to have a look, he's a fan of the red squirrel and was very impressed. I have no idea about the academic levels, it's all ablur to me. All I know is that he's skipped a year, doing some of the work for the year ahead, wants to do philosophy and atomic theory. And he can be obnoxious but caring and inquisitive. I am unaware of the talent of other children as we are a bit sheltered from this. I think he's doing well at the moment but do you think that he'd stand a chance given that I have no idea how many other children will be applying? There must be alot of competition so I don't know where he'd be placed. Ohh, it's confusing!

Looking for an independent school

I'm a victim of a state education. What more can I say?

Most of the boys that I know going to Whitgift or Trinity did end up with 5s in SATS. Our prep school doesn't do SATS, so I have no idea as how levels work going through the school, but my instinct is that 4s in Yr3 is very good, but not uniquely exceptional. That said due to the presence of some very good grammar schools in the area, the entrance requirements for Whitgift aren't as tough as say for Westminster or St Pauls or some of the North London schools, and its bursary scheme is one of the most generous that I have seen. As far as I am aware the bursary scheme is not competitive:- if you earn a place then you get the bursary is your family income if below £75k or so. The scholarship scheme is also very generous with a large number of scholarships awarded, though if your son was going for an academic scholarship then there is of course an exam so it does depend on whether he is at a stage where he can or will demonstrate his intelligence through an exam.

My younger sister whose now 18 got levels 444 in her Y2 SATs, Level 666 in her Y6 ones. She got 11A*s at GCSE and has just got 4As and 2Bs at AS level and has a conditional offer for SPS at Cambridge so she is pretty bright.
You are supposed to go up 1/2 a level a year so
Y2 = 2
Y3 = 2.5
Y4 = 3
Y5 = 3.5
Y6 = 4
Y7 = 4.5
Y8 =5
Y9 = 5.5 (but expected level is 5)
with levels going up to level 7 (and 8 in maths)

arionater I've been away for a few days; glad to have someone confirm my opinions ! Interesting to hear about your own experience too. thankfully my ds has grown out of remarks like the one I quoted ! For anyone else reading, I'd just reiterate that W is ideal for the very bright not-quite-all-rounder. For example I have a friend considering it for her son who is a very bright sporty all rounder, but she's not sure...

Hi ladies. Thankyou for the posts. I've filled the form in to register him at Westminster under school, I have been waiting to get hold of the fee, looked at the form and it said that you don't have to pay the fee if you are applying for a busary (doh!). I don't know what his level is to be perfectly honest. His teacher said he was a level 4 when he went back in September (he's 8) but I know that he can do 75% of a maths GCSE paper because I've seen him work the answers out. He can do the maths bond book at age 10-11 and scored 96%, verbal reasoning was at ages 11-12 and he got 100%. He's really good at science and english aswell. I think that with a bit of extra work on algebra he could do a level 5 or even 6 in his key stage 2 sats. I've never been a pushy mum, I make sure he's done his homework, ocassionaly buy him letts or bond books to do at home. I'm not sure if I should try giving him a nudge and getting him to do some extra work for an hour at the weekend.
I've got to talk to Westminster under school and ask them what they would do with him considering he's skipped a year and the busary's are for 11 year olds as he would only be 10. I also need to ask them what they would teach him. It's confusing. I don't think it's a good idea that he does his GCSE's early, I can't see where he'd go from there.

My dh and his very intelligent brother (double first at Oxford) went to Whitgift. he says you do not have to do sport if not keen on it and there were loads of 'quirky' boys (him included )

And I would not worry about him doing GCSEs early - I did and just went to Uni early!

Thankyou. He loved the idea of a school having a philosophy club, and the squirrels were a great hit.

I wouldn't get him too excited about the squirrels - they're in an enclosure in the quad which the boys only get to go into on the first afternoon ..

however, there are two white wallabies and flamingos oh yes, and peacocks which apparently get very annoying during exams ...

The co-curricular stuff is fantastic - not just sport (although there is masses of that) - ds has been to Russian club, Science club (where they do experiments with lots of big bangs!), robotics club, origami etc

they do theology and philosophy in Y6 which he loves too

Thankyou mimsum, I loved it, so many staff from such a varity of places, opportunities to learn, I think ds will be very happy. I phoned them on Monday, they have asked for copies of his reports so it's looking good. I've found out from his teacher that he's a sat level 5 for maths now (he's 8), they are going to give him a level 6 maths paper to see what he can do, they did an english test yesterday and I know that he's really good at this. Whtigift have said there may be a space for him this September. No house, no job!!STRESS!