Pls Help!!!!!! trying to decide on school for DD

[NewmumEA]

Hello,
Can anyone help pls. My dd is 2 and we have to decide on school for her. She is doing really well at moment and just feels like nursery is not stimulating her enough. She can converse with you at a reasonable level and can put together a reasonable sentence i.e “Mummy put my plate down please”, can count to 20 – to 30 with a little help, knows her colour, shapes e.t.c

I know it is not a big deal and probably normal but she is my first so not really sure what to expect. Ok back to my dilemma before I keep ranting on like a proud mum ?

I now work in Kingswood, planning to move to Kingswood or nearby area, DH works from home so we are looking at prep school around surrounding areas but I am just confused as there are so many different opinions about schools. At moment looking at:

Aberdour – It is close, head master appears to have a genuine passion for the school and pupils. The class size a little big for 3 years old – 12 if my memory serves me right. But not selective, I think I would prefer a selective school - based on a child’s level of ability

Caterham – not too far and seem to have a good results, has a good ranking
Plan is for dd to go until 11/ 13 and then possibly grammar or a scholarship, I don’t think we can afford to go all the way. Worried Caterham might not prepare the kids enough for grammar school as may be bias as they have an upper school. I may be wrong in my assumption as I have just started my research …..

Pls let me know if anyone has any recommendations on prep/ primary school as I don’t know where to begin ……..

Thank you

Sorry I can't be of help with specific school but some things to look out for when looking at prep schools are

1. Selective vs non-selective - I know you mentioned you didn't like one as it is non-selective but I would suggest you look round thoroughly. Our DD is at a non-selective but it's results are only just behind the local selective schools. When you consider the other schools hand pick who they think are the brightest and the best their results should be far and away better than DD's school! To take a general cohort and raise them to a very similar level as a selective cohort, in my opinion, makes for a better school and often it is not a hot house environment.

1. Class size - you need a balance, too few and there won't be enough for good friendship groups or later on fielding any decent sports teams, too many and you would be entitled to wonder what you are paying for. I would suggest a class size between 15-20 is about right but that is just IMO others may give different advice.

1. HT - make sure you speak to the HT and get a feel for their personality. Especially at smaller prep schools a HT's personality permeates through the school, if you like the HT it is likely you will like the way the school does things. DD's HT is a little....eclectic shall we say, but it suits us down to the ground as we are generally considered rather eccentric!

1. Destination schools - look at leavers destinations and see if they are school's you would be willing to send your DD to. It will also tell you a bit about the personality of the school and how "academic" their leavers are.

A small word of caution but the achievements you list above are more "learnt" skills and lots of selectives are changing their approach and instead testing natural intelligence. Not saying your DD doesn't have that but just something for you to be aware of.

JM thank you, some very valid points there, I guess I was a little attracted to the closer personal relationship with the children in a smaller class and that dd does not disappear in the number. I guess a balance needs to be had – one could be worried about the financials of a school with very small classes. Will definitely be visiting the school and speaking to HT before any decisions are made.

Thanks