Hill House School vs Brighton College pre prep Kensington

[ForNewDI]

We have recently applied to both Hill House and Brighton College Kensington for a spot at the usual entry year - reception. As my child completed both interviews, he got offered a spot at HH, but a flat denial at BC…. I am really frustrated with BC because I feel that they are slightly discriminatory. As a parent I was forced to stay outside in the rain while my child was interviewed. I was never offered a tour of the school, not even a pick inside (as I missed the open day). On some occasions I would say they were rude to me, but happily took the £180 application fee. I don’t think so highly of BC anymore, I think they are snobby and maybe not the nurturing environment I was looking for. Is there anyone here with a different experience? Also, which school would you recommend for reception year in Central London?

In what way have they been discriminatory?

Not worth putting any more thought into the school given you haven’t got a place there. Focus on the positive - a place at Hill House.

Discriminatory in the way that they favor British prospective students over European ones. Although everyone had the same interview time slot, some children were allowed earlier while others made to wait in the rain. So I noticed a pattern.

You have no evidence the school discriminates in favour of British parents, you are just annoyed you didn’t get a place.

The schools can’t accept every pupil that applies. It’s competitive. Thats going to be part of the schooling experience in London - it’s incredibly competitive.

You have a place at a good school. Be happy with that, or apply for others.

Yes I guess I am a bit bitter for being denied, I did have high hopes about this particular school. I guess I just didn’t appreciate their communication, it could have been better. Also, if they had all the places filled already why then accept new applications?I just need to vent sorry!

Reading your post I thought it will be helpful to share with you my experience as a parents of two boys with education from Hill House International (London). BTW if you are still keen on Brighton College by the time your child needs to take 11+ exams then with academic, sports and music education from Hill House your child will easily get a place at Brighton College itself rather than in its feeder school. Here are some additional points on benefits of Hill House which I just wrote on response to another parent asking about HH and I thought it will be useful for you too:
I have two sons (now 15 and 13 y.o.), both attended Hill House International School in London from Reception through to 13+ (girls usually leave at 11+, but some stay until 13+ due to the limited availability of secondary school places for girls at that age.)
Hill House is the best primary school I have experienced. I did extensive research before choosing it and if I had to make my decision again I would choose Hill House without hesitation. My older son is now in top academic secondary school and my younger one will start at the same school in September. They both absolutely love Hill House—everything from the teachers and lessons to the trips to the school’s Swiss branch in the later years (they have ski trips in winter, music trip in spring or summer and geography trip in autumn). It is an absolutely fantastic experience for kids. Hill House offers an enormous range of opportunities across all subjects throughout the years. This helped to identify my children’s interests and allowed them to develop those interests further.
From Year 5 (around ages 9½–10) the school begins preparing pupils for the 11+ exams and advice parents on suitable secondary schools based on child’s abilities and interests. The teachers know the children extremely well so their recommendations are very accurate when suggesting appropriate schools. The preparation provided by the school is very thorough and from my experience it is mostly sufficient to get admission to top academic secondary schools. Hill House offers an excellent balance of strong academics, sports and music. My kids were happy to go to school every day and were sad when they had to miss even one day. Having experience with my sons at Hills House now for 11 years I can see that other kids from my sons’ classes went to some of the top secondary schools, including Westminster, St Paul’s, KCS, Dulwich, JAGS, Latymer, Eton, Harrow, Brighton College and other. Also the school has a lot of high-quality sports options, a wide range of musical instruments, orchestra and a school choir if your kids are interested in any side of music.
The teachers are outstanding—highly professional in their subjects, kind, attentive and very approachable. The school and teachers maintain excellent communication and relationships with parents while the children are at the school. It is a school as it has to be. I wish I could attend Hill House International in London when I was a child. I can only highly recommend this school for any parents who wants to have a happy child during formative school years.
Please feel free to ask any questions in relation to Hill House International. I am very happy my kids experienced Hill House International.