Help! Hampstead school for a non-english speaking 6y old girl?

[asap7375]

Hi there,
We are going to move to London next year (summer 2014), currently leaving in the french-speaking part of Switzerland. We are most probably going to be located in Hampstead.
We have a 6 (almost 7) year old girl, who will be almost 8 when she will start school in England... We are worried because she is just starting to learn english and we wonder which school(s) might be appropriate for her. We are rather looking for an happy and creative environment without too much academic pressure as the transition might be difficult enough.
Would someone have some advice for us? We have heard about Village School, Heathside, Hampstead Hill, St Christopher, etc. But no website mentions anything about expatriate admissions, without english fluency.
In the meantime, we are starting to give her private lessons, but I doubt she will be fluent anytime before moving to England.
Thanks in advance for your help!

May not be what you want, but isn't there a French lycee in Kentish Town? Have no idea how private schools deal with new-English speakers, sorry - state schools are used to it and will cope.

Hi Spinstrel... Yes, it seems that there are many french schools around in London, but actually we really want our girl to learn english. It might sound a bit confusing as we are worried but at the same time we feel it is a great chance for her to learn a second language. We just wonder whether some schools are better used to deal with it?

Hampstead Hill is very academic so might not be what you want. was talking to a teacher there who told me that as well

If she's nearly 8, she'll be going into year 3 - prep school when she starts. Hampstead Hill is only up to year 2 so not an option.

Lots of schools have an exam (7+) which they have to sit to get into year 3, they usually sit it very soon and lots of schools will have prepared their pupils for this exam. Lots of schools will also be completely full, maybe call a few and find out how they could support your daughter, if they're likely to have places and what she would be expected to achieve before entering the school.

The village school and St Chrisophers are both very nice but still fairly academic.

The other option is a state school - even for a just year or so. Both HPS and Christchurch are very good and will be used to having children who speak little English.

Another alternative would be King Alfred's school - its not really my cup of tea as its not academic, but it may allow your daughter to develop her English skills for a couple of years, you could move her in year 5 if needs be.

If you want happy and unacademic, don't go private. Any state school can accommodate children whose first language is not English and the early years curriculum is mostly learning through play (apart from the recent additions added by Gove).

Hi OP

I work in an independent girls' school in Hampstead as it happens (although I'm not a teacher).

At our school, if we have a girl who needs extra language help, we would come up with an appropriate programme for her to help her with her language skills. It might be something like having a teaching assistant (paid for by the parents) sit with the girl in class one-on-one for 3 hours every morning. We do this for a term and then re-assess the need for it. I would say most girls are fluent enough by the end of the first term with us to not need as much support. But there is none of this information in our prospectus or on our website because it is relatively rare and the solution for each girl and each family will be different.

Just in case it helps, this is a pretty comprehensive list of all the independent primary schools for girls or co-ed in NW3 (Hampstead):

Devonshire House Preparatory School (Mixed)
Heathside Preparatory School (Mixed)
North Bridge House School (Mixed)
Sarum Hall School (Girls)
South Hampstead Junior School (Girls)
Southbank International Preparatory School (Mixed)
St Christina's School (Girls)
St Christopher's School (Girls)
St Margaret's School (Girls)
St Mary's School (Mixed)
The Academy School (Mixed)
Trevor-Roberts School (Mixed)
Village School (Girls)

Some are charities and some are proprietorial, if that makes a difference to you.

I would suggest you go and have a look as you will get a good idea of where your dd will fit in best

she will pick english up really quickly if she is in an all english environment at school.

dh started at an english school at 11 and couldn't speak a word of english. by the end of term 1 he was competent and by the end of the year near enough fluent. didn't impact his exam results etc

Hi,

I tutor a girl who lives in hampstead and came to the UK with no English two years ago when sje was almost 7. She goes to South Bank international school and from what I have seen, they have been very supportive and have a good ESL programme. They don't seem nearly as pushy with the academics as the private british schools in the area (based on my tutoring experience).

Not in Hampstead, but have you considered The Mount school in Mill Hill. They have somewhat of a specialty in taking girls who don't speak English and teaching them English fairly intensively until they can keep up with the class.

The relevant bit of their website is here:

www.mountschool.com/ESOL

It isn't the most convenient but may be a good place to start? Not hugely oversubscribed either, unlike SHHS, St Christopher's etc

Thank you for all your answers! So many ideas... We will look into various options suggested, also have a few discussions directly with the schools to see what they suggest/offer. And I will keep you posted once we have decided!

I would have thought it would be worth having a look at Hill House in Chelsea - I know it is out of your area, but could you travel or look at other locations? They are very international and have a site in Switzerland I believe.