We put DS1 in the same mixed pre-prep as DD1, mainly because of superb pastoral care, but also convenience, which has been great for him. He has to move next September as its girls only from y3.
We now have an all-rounder mixed school, all-rounder boys school, and highly academic boys school as options. He could have gone to the "all-rounder" schools at 4 without assessment, but they have academic & social assessments for y3. We're going to apply to the academic one too, on current schools advice, but I think that he probably isn't academic enough.
The current school are helping in class time with the kind of assessments the boys will go through, and he enjoys this kind of thing (problem solving etc..). I'm worried though about the emotional impact of this on him, and regretting not going for one of the other schools initially, to avoid the assessments. We're planning on telling him that the assessments are to see if he enjoys the kind of work they do in each school (he likes schoolwork, especially maths), and then to announce that whichever school he gets into is "the one we've decided we like the best" and not tell him he didn't get a place at the other/s.
Any more tips from those who've gone through this? I hate the idea of assessments at age 6 (he's summer born); it just seems like so much pressure for the child, but that's the system and I can't do much about it...