Help - St Christophers Hampstead or Emmanuel CofE

[sugarspiceandallthingsnice324]

My 3 year old daughter has a year one place at St Christophers Hampstead, the well respected prep school and a place at the outstanding church school Emmanuel. We very lucky to have got in to such an excellent school due to the bulge class and the school will have a new building which my daughter will start in. But then we also have a place at St christophers which is a very well respected school prep school and will leave me with no worries about her destination at 11. We have accepted both places, as we just can't decide, is there really much difference between state and private in the early years???

My son will be starting at Emmanuel in September. I am feeling really positive about the school, the new building is looking fabulous and i'm sure it will be very attractive for teachers. The school is receiving so much extra funding from camden for the new building as well as the bulge class that i am sure it will be very well resourced. I don't have much personal experience about St Christophers Hampstead just have heard things from from friends whose children are there. I personally don't think that going to St Christophers will remove any worries for her destination at 11 as most children are tutored, so if you want a private secondary you will have to tutor whether at state or private, the main difference is if your child doesn't get into any of the private options at 11 a private school will have connections and will find somewhere for your child to go.

If it were me, i would draw up a list of pro's and con's for each school, cost of going privately all the way through etc, and maybe the process will help you reach your decision though.

How funny but another mumsnetter who I've been PMing with just pointed me towards your thread as I am in the exact same situation. However I have been putting off having to think about it as I don't need to make the decision until next year and DD has to go somewhere for reception! At least we will be able to make a more informed decision by then and maybe our DDs will become friends in the meantime :-) What was your option for reception if you hadn't got Emmanuel out of interest?

Goldysmum, how strange i am pm you about it - we can chat more via pm.