Buckingham Prep or Reddiford

[prettymommy]

Hello All .. First time post.. We live around South harrow region. We are looking for a good prep school in and around Pinner region for reception with high emphasis on acedemics.. Pondering around the forum, we have arrived at either going for Buckingham or Reddiford.. Looking for some help in choosing..
Would be great if i can hear some suggessions please...

What's your longer term out look? Then have a look at where the children move on to from these schools and if that's what you want ir your DD.

Ir= for

Thanks mumteacher.. Not sure if i have got your question right. But in terms of long term outlook, we would want our DS to stay till the 11+ exams whichever of these two he goes and if he does well get into a good private school with a scholarship.

Any suggestions??

I think academically there is not much to choose between them. If you are after a scholarship then you will have to work with him yourself and in all probability consider tutoring in year 5. This area is very competitive, no prep school will prepare a child completely, unless they are brilliant.
I think you need to see what your priorities are and what would suit you.
The biggest difference is that Buckingham prep is all boys, Reddiford is mixed, would this be a factor for you at all?
Buckingham is a smaller school, just one class per year. They do hot dinners. They have an orchestra.
Reddiford has two classes per year, no hot dinners, no orchestra.
You need to compare how much sport they do, swimming etc. Look at the afterschool facilities if that is of importance.
Did you have a better feel about one over the other, same with your son. Just choose the one that you like, better/suited you son more.

Thanks Hawsie... for your valuable comments

Go Buckingham Prep all the way

Anyone going to Buck prep in Sept 2015 for reception class?

Hello Member659467,

Hope your ds has started Buck prep in September.

I'm looking for some feedback on Buck prep and was wondering if you could let me know your initial experience with the school?

many thanks

I would recommend reddiford as they are more driven towards academics. Buckingham prep although a new and small school does not have any statistics that can support or even compare to reddiford or other private schools. Also their prep work for 11+ is not up to the mark as I’ve heard. Their head teacher (verygood at sales pitch) is only interested in increasing the number of boys in the class so pretty much any boy will get through the assessments unlike reddiford that’s quite particular about which child gets through.

Definitely Buck Prep. My son was refused admission in Reddiford few years back, apparently he was not strong enough academically. After this I went to Buck Prep, explained what happened and also described my son. He was extremely shy and bilingual with English being his second language. He got admitted straight away, I was reassured that he will thrive within few years. He is finishing Buck Prep this year as a totally different boy, well spoken and much more confident. Through his 11+ he got offers from a fantastic independent school and also a grammar school, we chose independent simply based on a remarkable work that was done in Buck Prep.
I would like to add that he was extremely upset all these years back when he was not admitted to Reddiford, I will never forget how he kept telling me that he feels stupid.
I would like to add that Buck Prep has absolutely best teachers I have ever met. All of them know each child very well and the quality of work they do is absolutely amazing.

Hello, are you still active on Mumsnet, any reviews of Bucks prep in 2021. I'm concerned that it is too academic :)

Hi OP,

I am in the same boat and looking for reviews from parents. Have heard the school is lovely but the headteacher a nightmare. Also kids heavily tutored so not sure tbh. Have you heard anything that can help?

Thank you

Bump