Willington schhol, wimbledon

[TSOne]

Hi Mums, would really like some advise on pros and cons of Willington school. We have visisted the school a few weeks ago for admission for my DS who will start reception in '16. Though we have liked the feel of Willington and it generally gave a good vibe (also found the headmaster to be quite personable) I have reservations against the school due to the fact that they dont prepare boys for entrance at 11+. Given that the best independent schools in London have maximum intake at 11+ does it not leave boys from Willington at a disadvantage ? On that one hand I really like to idea of the child being able to spend 9 years in one school , on the other hand I dont want him to be at a backfoot for entrance exams later in life. Any advise based on experience would be very very helpful.
thanks

Pros , excellent teachers, brilliant cross curricular lessons, small family friendly atmosphere, lots of school trips , not pushy but excellent 13 + results, very good parent-teacher communication with involved pastoral care

cons, small site , sports off -site, no preparation for 11+ but they will be ahead of state school counterparts by that age, less good at languages than say maths or sciences

Thanks offallygood and mumstheword2b. It is really helpful to get insight from experienced parents on this; I think I would like to research a little bit more on the destination schools from Willington, cause we asked the headmaster for general statistics and were told that on an average about a third go to top London schools, which made me wonder what happens to the others. DS has not even started formal schooling so have no idea how well he might do academically. I fear that personally leaving everything until 13+ entrances might be a risky proposition, kind of like leaving all your eggs in one basket etc .. ! But that's perhaps me being paranoid . Does any of you have any views on the hall school in Wimbledon ? Thanks again .

Oh dear Hall is a lovely school in many ways but if you are concerned about academics and destinations I would look elsewhere. It has its place in the mix of schools and my daughter will probably go there later for senior school if she gets in.
Do you have some destination schools in mind?

The other thing to bear in mind is that those getting in at 13 plus have had to sit the pre-test to these high-flying schools so althoguh there is no overt prep for 11+ the boys are well drilled in sitting exams by that age

Thank you again both. Really helpful comments. I feel bit more informed now to make a decision

Willington is a good school which looks after its boys very well. It is non selective at reception age, however boys wanting to join further up the school have a formal assessment based on ability among other factors. With regards to 11+ preparation. Close to a quarter of the cohort move on at 11+ either to grammar school, other selective indies and for a small number of boys who it feels would not be able for the rigours of the common entrance syllabus to either state, or less selective indies. At age 3 or 4 you don't know which end of the academic spectrum your DS is going to be. The KS2 level 5 maths syllabus is covered by the end of year 5, so in year 6 coming up to pretest it is all revision, the English teaching is excellent and verbal reasoning is covered in class throughout year 5 and 6. So they are well prepared, whatever route they wish to take. However only boys taking pretests to 13+ schools can take advantage of the Friday afternoon Pretest preparation classes in the autumn term of year 6, but given that Grammar schools exams are in September of year 6 they don't really matter to those boys going only for grammar schools.

If your DS is an active one, he will do some form of exercise very day. swimming is taught from year 1 until year 6 all year round. For example in year 4 boys have sports three times a week, PE once a week and swimming once a week. In years 6-8 three full afternoons are devoted to sports (unless you are in a pretest preparation class or a scholarship preparation class - academic, music, DT or Art - everyone's talents are developed).

My DS's are still very fond of their old school still even though they have both moved on now.

Thanks begladwhenitisover. That's a very helpful feedback