DS1 is due to start reception in September 2011. We are fortunate enough to be able to afford private education, and were considering 3 schools for him. Our first choice, let?s call it school A, was a co-ed pre-prep/prep school that took both genders until age 13. No provision for after-school or holiday care for pre-prep children so we would have had to organise this ourselves. Unfortunately DS1 didn?t get a place at school A (heavily over-subscribed, lots of siblings).
So now we are trying to decide between the remaining 2 schools. They are both good schools and we feel that DS1 would be likely to thrive at either one. However from our point of view they have very different strengths and weaknesses, and we are finding it very difficult to choose between them.
School B:
- Newly-established, up-and-coming school, small but expanding, styles itself a private primary rather than a prep school
- Very modern ethos (e.g. lots of emphasis on being green)
- 16-20 per class
- Takes boys and girls until 11
- Frowns on children leaving before 11, so no preparation in school for 7+/8+ - but we would almost certainly want DS1 to move to a prep at 7 or 8, rather than for 2 years at 11
- Seems academically good, but only a couple of cohorts have made it all the way through the school as it is so new, so limited experience in transition to prep/secondary
- Very local ? 3 minute walk to school
- Excellent wraparound care ? breakfast club, after-school care, holiday club
- Very popular with parents from DS1?s preschool, lots of good feedback, children very happy etc
- Several of his good friends from preschool will be going there
School C:
- Small, long-established pre-prep/prep school
- Traditional feel and ethos
- 12 (or less) per class
- Boys in pre-prep only (girls until 11)
- Academically strong, well-organised preparation in school for 7+/8+, very experienced at getting boys into excellent preps that suit them (whether academic or not), but not a hot-house
- Not local ? 30-45 minute journey to school by public transport
- No after-school or holiday care available via school, would have to organise this ourselves as we both work (but were prepared to do this for school A anyway)
- We don?t know anyone with DC there, so only going on our impressions from open days/Good Schools Guide/internet reviews
- DS1 won?t know any other children going there (but he has a good network of local friends so won?t necessarily be ?relying? on school for his friendships iyswim ? although obviously we want him to be happy socially at school)
- More expensive than school B, even before additional child-care costs
So it seems that with school B we are trading short-term convenience (wraparound care, local school, children and parents we know) for long-term uncertainty about the transition to prep, while with school C we are balancing the likelihood of a much smoother prep transfer (and possibly a better destination prep) for the more immediate headache of organising after-school and holiday care - WWYD?