stressed about private schools pls help!

[2stressed]

I'm really stressed! (hence name) Were are due to sit assessments for private school assessments this coming Jan (2012) and I have recently heard of friends children not getting a place at their first or even second choice of private schools. Is it reallt that competitive? What can I do to help get ahead of the 'game'? Anything?

Were in north London were comp for places at private schools is great!

how old is your child exactly?

Don't have any experience with private schools but having just come through the secondary school transfer hell I can tell you that whether you go for private, grammar or state - it is absolutely brutal.

By that I mean that competition for each and every place is high.

You do not say whether your DC is/are in private education at the moment or, indeed, which age group they are in. However, if they are not currently privately educated you will seriously need to consider tutoring. Some will disagree with me on this but privately educated pupils are way ahead of the game when it comes to being prepared to sit the 11+/entrance exams.

The lack of places is becoming a huge problem with some children not being offered ANY of their choices or indeed any alternative. You need to be prepared.

I am sure many more knowledgeable posters will arrive soon to help.

I think you will get more thoughts/comments on this if you post in the Education thread

Sorry I'm new at this what/how can I post in the education thread? I went to education than onto preschool and posted it here. Can you pls tell me how I can change it?

If you what to change, you need to "report" your first post to MNHQ and ask them to do it. It's fine in here, but you mint get more replies in a higher traffic forum, as thinkingaboutschools suggests.

Could you clarify whether you are seeking to join a private school for nursery/pre-school, or if your DC is in pre-school and it's reception assessments that are on your mind?

how old are your children? Are you talking about getting a place in reception or are your children older. DS2 has just been through the assessment process for a recption place but don't want to bore you with tips about that if your children are older.

I'll bore you anyway.

Is the school selective? If so, we found that they are looking for children who are independent, can cope with structure in their day and have social skills.

The children that get in are generally able to have a go at writing their name and know their letters and phonic sounds and recognise numbers to 10. They are comfortable with other children around (i.e they have generally been to nursery school), good at sharing, listening, following instructions and joining in a group conversation. Not clingy and shy. Have good fine motor skills.

we did jigsaws, mazes, spot the difference, matching pairs games, memory games, lego, drawing, number games, jolly phonics.

sorry if this has cross posted and you're not interested in reception at all!

i'm in north east london, and round here the private schools seem to be a little less oversubscribed than they have been in previous years - we had to wait a year to get a place for ds1 when we moved here when he was in reception, but at the moment i believe his school has various places available throughout, so I would expect competition to be less fierce now at the various entry points (i guess this is recession related)

We sat DD for one last year in N London and I would agree with Virgiltracey's list and particularly work on fine motor skills - drawing, threading beads etc. The children I know who got in could all write their name and draw well.

My experience is that the schools that go to 18 are hard to get into especially if there are lots of siblings. Schools that go to 11 are much easier. I would be wary of private schools that stop at 7 as I know two children this year who failed to get any 7+ offers despite applying to several schools.