Bishop gilpin & state->private / private-> private debate

[TSOne]

Hi mums, looking for some information on bishop gilpin. I know it's rated very highly in the area and is one of the outstanding state schools - I would like to know how it performs in terms of
Students going into good private schools at 7+. One of the options I am considering is to send my son to BG at the start and then make him sit for 7+ entrances, however given that the school isn't going to prepare him for it, do people think it's a good idea or will it be better to put him in private right from the start. Any answers will be very helpful ! Thanks ...'a very confused mom' :)

I don't have personal experience of BG, but it is supposed to be one of the top primaries in the country. Are you sure to get in? They probably require 3 years church attendance or sine such. If you are, I'd go with that and hire a good tutor for the 7+. It will still save you at least 30k in school fees in those early years.

I know that most of the popular Wimbledon primaries (such as Bishop Gilpin and Holy Trinity) do have an exodus when many children 'defect' to prep schools (is it Year 2 or 3?). I know families where the children have got into these primaries from the waiting list when the exodus has happened (and class numbers dwindle significantly).

I was recently speaking with a local mother whose DCs are at Bishop Gilpin. I think it's deemed a good enough school (by local parents) to keep your DCs at for the duration of their primary level education. She was saying that there's an expectation that most of the pupils will go on to either private schools or the Sutton/Kingston grammars. It seems to have a very, very (upper) middle class intake and runs very much like a prep school in all but name.

But Primafacie is right about the entrance criteria (church attendance), although I'm not aware that it's ever featured in The Times Top 200 State Primaries - not recently anyway.

BG is listed in the Telegraph top 100 primaries for 2014.

That's interesting, Primafacie. Mind you, looking at it, the top 100 position is solely based on BG's SATS results which could be anomalous - the children could have been a very, very bright cohort that year (with an excellent teacher). I know BG doesn't come top of the Merton SATS tables year-on-year, although they are more often than not in the Top 10.

I have friends with DCs there (who transferred from other Merton primaries) who are more than happy with it. And as I said upthread, that most of the BG Year 6s go on to private/public schools or the Sutton/Kingston grammars, would suggest that they are not disadvantaged academically by completing their primary years education in the state rather than the private sector.

Thanks Primafacie and LocalEditorMerton. I have seen a recent listing of Top 100 Primaries as Primafacie has mentioned and yes it does feature in at no. 44 or something like that. I am hopeful of DS getting into it due to the catchment area criteria. But basically for me it was a choice between paying for an established independent/privare school from reception onwards or putting him in a good state primary and topping up with tutors etc. Being unfamiliar with this country's education system and not having any first hand experience of how it feels like to be in a state/private school here has made it a very tough decision. Thanks for your inputs again !

TSOne glad to be of service . You are not alone in finding it a very tough decision though - this whole primary and secondary (state vs private/public) school thing in London (in particular) is a nightmare!

Fingers crossed for your DC and a Bishop Gilpin outcome, if that's your choice.