Have I missed the boat? 2 yr old ds, not down for ANY London pre-preps.

[PuffPants]

Is this a major oversight on my part? I naively thought I could wait till about now to think about schools for DS. He has just turned 2. We are thinking about moving house and would like to base our move on schools. I am getting panicked that everyone I ask seems to have had their DCs names down on school lists since birth. Do you think I have left it too late? He's a bright little thing and I really want to try to get him into a decent pre-prep with a view to ultimately going to somewhere like St Pauls, Westminster, Dulwich College etc.

What do you think?

I was responding to didfido up thread who was certainly implying that the private system was the only route to success.

Hi, we were the same as you last year and realized very late on that if we didn't get into a state school in our borough ( given the lack of reception spaces in our area) then we needed a private back up...naturally everyone else seemed to have clocked this . However we applied to three private schools...one supposedly really hard to get into and did get offered a space in the end from the wait list.....my dd was 2.5 at that stage so no I don't think you have missed the boat.

Look up a site like Gabbitas or The Good Schools Guide. Some schools do have lists from birth (gerenally those favored by US parents). One I called I remember actually asking - are those children born yet?? When she said that the year 200X list was called. She didn't appreviate my humour 'yes they aren ma'am'.

Try to visit as many as you can. Pre prep doesn't guarantee which school the children go on to. Competition is very very hard and it is ability. Of course, some schools do seem to have better results - but these are also selective, so oick the best pupils and work them hard.

You have ages to worry about that. Look for somewhere in a good location, nice classes and teachers and somewhere you would be happy to send your little one to every school day. When they are little, it is important that they learn the basis but also that they are happy, confident and learn to enjoy school. Don't pressurise them and yourselves planning for Oxford at this stage!xcuse my terrible typoing (Blackberry!)

You still on for a meetup ? ('tis I, MrsDistinctlyMintyMonetarism in a new guise).

And I was state all the way through and have an excellent degree and Masters from a RG uni. No one doubts it can be, and is, done. But it was easier in my day - not so much govt interference and less competition.

Hello Mrs Minty!!! Like the new name. Yes am defo still up for a meet up/reminisce about good old blighty! Let's arrange with other sheilas!

Some have been a wee bit snarky on this thread, wrongly perhaps, but OP might do well to avoid the phrase 'bright little thing'. Such a MN cliche. He's 2. They're all little and most of think our ones are bright. It's impossible to say at this stage and it just makes me teeth itch. Ditto when people tell me that they have to opt for private because they're child is very bright and so sensitive. I don't care that they're at private school, but I resent the implication that children at state schools must be ergo thick brutes.

I must be a thicko brute then!

My dad was Very Socialist and decided that the local crap hellhole secondary school was fine for us. If you had talent and application, you would do well, he thought. As he did. He was a super smarty pants, with a memory like a steel trap, qualifications coming out of his ears, and was about to do yet another degree in retirement, but alas, he passed away before he got a change to go back to the top university he graduated from in the 1930s.

I like to think that had I gone to St Snootyknickers then I would be running the country by now (though I think not!).

gosh, some v snarky posts here. It is a perfectly sensible question if you live in West London and plan to go independent (and given the paucity of good state primaries (or indeed just any state primaries, and don't start on secondaries) around here, that covers a v large proportion of families here.

I am sure it depends where in London and how rigid your plans are. You are too late for Wetherby and possibly for Eaton House (but may be OK). Otherwise, just get your name down now (although do you research first as at circa £50-75 a pop it isn't a cheap hobby). A few of the selectives rather meanly close their lists when they get to a certain number (Thomas's sometimes does this I think), but you should be OK.

Do get on with it though.

Waves at Michael-the-wise... you know what its like around here!

What's it like for the other 93%?

Seeker - fairly easy I would have thought. They just go where the LEA places them, right?

Yes sconeinsixtyseconds but if you can't answer the question what is the point of your comment. Good for you going to 'a' RG university lots of people do it from state, grammar or independent schools but the op has made a personal choice and is asking advice. Mn is so ridiculously judgemental why on earth people click on a thread and post pointless insulting comments is beyond me.

Op for what it's worth I had my first dd down for a school but we ended up sending her somewhere else last minute. London is very transient. From my personal experience very few schools are full a year before reception. With my last child we just phoned our school of choice 2 terms before. You'll be fine nd have plenty of choice.

Oh, come on you guys, you can't see that on a forum open to all the world, from common-as-muck to private-island-owning, asking if you've ruined your (very bright!) 2yo's life because he's not down for a pre-prep yet... is going to invite a teeny bit of sarcasm? Hmm? Just a little bit?

Particularly from those of us who are state-educated and have somehow managed to go to good universities and have professional careers?

Not so much a first-world problem as a Masters Of The Universe problem (Tom Wolfe not He-Man...!)

quite
or,
Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursel's as others see us!