Good boys pre-prep/prep schools near Brook Green, Hammersmith?

[LuLuBG]

I was convinced I was having a girl so was set on Bute House/Kensington Prep. Turns out I am having a boy which is just wonderful but no idea of the education options near Brook Green for a chappie. I know this sounds daft but I have recently noted lots of male siblings of Bute House girls dressed in a grey uniform with a red trim (what better place to start!?). Does anybody know which boys prep school this is and/or know the male equivalent prep schools to Bute/Ken Prep etc./any west London prep schools for boys they would strongly recommend?

The only one I know with a grey uniform and red trim is Wetherby but that is near Marble Arch.

www.perryuniform.co.uk/online/WTH_Pembridge_Square_New_Summer.html

For prep - you do have Colet Court if you want St Pauls. Otherwise there are some boys preps in Ealing such as Durston House.

Sorry to clarify -
Wetherby pre-prep is by Notting Hill Gate and the main prep in Marylebone

Ok here you go

• thomas's either fulham (down by the river) or kensington (south of high st ken). Both great schools, fulham has better outside space. You need to register on day of birth and there is an assessment in the jan before they would start in sept. Coed.

• Wetherby as above. Register day they are born, if it's later in the month they will go on a wait list, and you won't know until the feb-ish before the sept they start

• Norland House. Coed til 8 then girls only. Holland park. Register day they are born, you may or may not get a confirmed place depending on siblings and time of the month. They take 2 boys and 2 girls for each birth month. Boys leave at 7+ or 8+ for sussex house, westminster under, colet court and other schools like caldicott

• the falcons. Chiswick. Lovely school. don't have to register at birth but not a bad idea. No selection. Open days regularly.

• Orchard house. chiswick. mixed reviews but one family I know v happy there including one child who has some learning difficulties. Coed

• fulham prep. In fulham. Lovely school. relatively easy to get into, very good art and drama and music, academics absolutely fine. Goes to 13, boys go on to public school (harrow, wellington etc.). Coed

• chepstow house. part of alpha group (like wetherby). Also notting hill. register at birth. I don't know anyone who goes here. Coed.

• ravenscourt park prep. register the day of their first birthday and then not guaranteed. Smaller school, coed.

That's not starting to go towards knightsbridge where you have hill house, eaton square etc etc.

You can also look at Hawkesdown House, all boys 4-8. Yes that grey uniform you saw would have been Wetherby pre-prep.

Thank you so much for all your help - that is great. Goodness me it all feels very daunting needing to be so quick off the starting blocks! I am actually having two boy twins so fear that some of these very selective small pre-preps will automatically be a no/no if I want them to go to the same pre-prep....yikes! But there are lots of other options out there and Fulham Prep looks like a great possibility for the two of them.

If my aim is to try and get them somewhere like Caldicott at 7/8 do you know if I need to register them for birth for Caldicott as well? Do I need to think about registering them for public school from 13 from birth too? Eek, it looks like the headteachers of prep schools tend to guide on the "right fit" public school from 13 so fear I may waste my time registering them so early for their big school?

I also had not appreciated the private nursery element to the educational jigsaw puzzle! We both work full time and I was intending to have a live in nanny for the twins and then send them to a nursery from age 3 before they start at pre-prep aged 4. Does anybody have any views on that?

Also does anybody have any nursery recommendations in the Brook Green area? Either state or private? I read a scary article about needing to choose a private "feeder" nursery for the pre-prep you are most hankering after...goodness me it really is quite complicated!

Thanks ladies for all your help and sorry for sounding so clueless!

Register with Fulham Prep when they are born and you will get a place for both boys. Then you have it as an option. From what is said above, Wetherby is the same. Don't worry about "feeder" nurseries. We did the nanny option for our 3 followed by nursery and it worked very well. The only public school you need to register for from birth is Radley as far as I know. All others are school year 4-5 onwards (different for each school), but the prep school will tell you when (or should do!). No idea about Caldicott I'm afraid, but if you are set at moving them at age 7/8 to boarding school maybe you should put them in a school that prepares for the 7/8+ and where all the boys move to other schools at that age rather than a prep that goes to 13 and where the majority of boys will stay until then. Most of the guidance as to the right school starts in school year 5. Good luck with it all - enjoy them while they are little and don't answer back!!

No need to register at birth for Caldicott - it has a very gentle examination process, but rapidly increasing demand for the school due to an extension of the increasing competition to get into London preps has seen its demand increase, so who knows what it will be like in 5+ years. Once there for a couple years, the head will guide you as to appropriate senior schools to target.

I have never heard of feeder nurseries, but perhaps I have just had my head down during the process.

There aren't feeder nurseries as such, but there are nurseries that have good connections. The closest to a feeder is miss Mynors in notting hill where big majority go on to wetherby and pembridge (but may be facet of everyone registered at birth). But that's A long way for your dss to go at 3.

Ours went to miss Delaney's in holland park, good 15 min walk or scoot. You should register ASAP for it as they only have 10 morning and 10pm places in each year. Miss d gives good advice on schools but seems to do less string pulling than I thought she might. One big advantage is it has fantastic outside space which almost no other nursery does around here.

Other options: busy bees on Milson road (I heard there were probs there but it's gossip). Really liked it when we visited, bigger and more chaotic than miss d's but nice caring atmosphere. UNless things have changed you wld also need to register soon after birth.

There is one world on brook green (in Chinese church), more Montessori than the others. Also seemed very nice but wants them all day at age 4 (ie second year of nursery) which I didn't want. Uses time to do lots of music etc. can register a bit later.

There is another v small nursery somewhere around Addison gdns which a friend loves but I can't remember the info.

Others go over to Jordan's, just this side of ravenscourt park. Great facilities including its own coffee shop for parents to hang out in! They have all children at 1330 though in first year which again didn't work for us as my children were still napping at 3. Register in first year.

One thought: if you know now you are having 2 boys then presume they are due in the spring? So they will be young for their year and start nursery at 2.5 and go to school at 4.5 - that may factor into your choices.

Clearly we live within 200 metres or so of each other - let me know by pm if I can help more.

We've got our son at Hawkesdown (has been since nursery) and planning for the second one to go. Very happy with it. They can do do nursery there and it goes up to 8.

PS Re' feeder nurseries. I checked out Jordans and yes, the parents coffee room is nice but its kind of the nicest space in the nursery - and the classrooms are very big and have loads of kids in them.

Hawkesdown seems a really excellelnt school..but it has only been around for just over a decade. I would really appreciate any feedback on boys experiences there...

Falcons is an excellent pre prep in Chiswick - haven't needed to register so far but it is very popular and I believe at capacity so might be a good idea to register early on. They also have a nursery which seems very popular although my son joined at Reception so cannot comment.