3+ 4+ 5+ 7+ support thread 2014

[mumteacher]

I started the below thread last year and have had so many people find it useful I thought it might be worth doing it again.

I have had a number of messages asking if I have any spaces in my classes. I'm really sorry but I have been at full capacity for some time now.

However, I do appreciate that this is a very stressful time of year for parents who have children sitting these private school assessments in January 2013. So, I'm hoping that by setting up this support group thread I can help by answering some questions you have about these assessments.

Hopefully this thread will also contain some useful insight from the experiences of parents who have already been through the process.

Did you miss the dining halls on your tours? Habs's dining hall is due to be rebuilt (got delayed because they found roosting bats) as it is pretty shabby compared to the rest of the school. NLCS does a wide variety of food. The younger girls are required to have a hot lunch (older ones can choose from the salad bar and sandwich buffet if they wish). All the food is excellent. Veggie options, international theme days and traditional puddings. The lunch ladies help them make good choices and communicate with teaching staff if your DD is eating the same thing too often- and give them a sticker if they try something new.

Thanks horsemadmom, I did see them but wanted to check if they used it in Reception? But sounds great from both schools perspective.

Do you know when channing is sending out letters?

Gemsept I don't know but my understanding is that the schools generally coordinate and send results out on the same day so people can make up their mind if they get places at multiple schools.

I don't know about Channing but Habs and NLCS both post on 3rd so it may be the same for Channing.

Good luck!

Do you think Habs and NLCS tell the schools head teachers in advance of Monday?

No, I asked that question at Nursery yesterday and she said they wouldn't tell them first (though may just be my nursery)!

Nurseries general have results a day or so before parents. They don't usually let you know though x

Our pre prep was not told of results before we were.

I could tell by her reaction that she had no idea of whether DS had got in or not to any of the schools we sat.

My DD has been made an offer at Radlett Prep at 4+. We are not from the South Herts area, so are relatively unfamiliar with the schools etc. We hear RP is good at academics & has a larger number of boys than girls. I understand that it is one of the 2 prep schools that is popular in the area, the other being Manor Lodge. I get mixed reviews on the school & quite confused at the moment ! Any views or feedback on the school would be so appreciated !! Is RP also a good feeder school to Habs for girls or NLCS ? Thank you all !

have you not looked round RP then zenmum? if so, what did you and more importantly dd think?

they should have given you all the leavers' destinations when you were in correspondence with them about your dd's place?

tbh, it's one of the first things you should have asked them?!

they have the details on their website, it won't let me link directly but click on the school information tab and then senior schools, there's a pdf that shows what schools year 6 went to last year - www.radlett-prep.herts.sch.uk/index.html

RP is good value in that it's £7,500 p.a, so almost half the price of habs. they seem to have a good success rate according to that pdf of students going onto habs, but not for nlcs. I'd also contact them and ask for the leavers destinations' for the past 5 years as well, that will give you a good indication of how many go to habs and nlcs.

have you searched RP on MN? there's lots of info:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/a1599138-Radlett-preparatory-school-or-Manor-Lodge-School

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/a1583587-Radlett-schools-and-where-to-stay

that's just two links, you can find plenty of other threads if you do a search.

from what I've heard (totally hearsay) rp is fine. don't think sports are too good and there's no hot lunches/catering facilities so dd would have to bring a packed lunch. I've heard it's very academic and not too much focus on anything else so if this matters to you great, if you want dd to have other experiences maybe not...

manor lodge is meant to be excellent and as far as I understand more selective than radlett prep - quite a few that don't get into manor lodge end up at radlett prep. again, do a search on manor lodge on mn to find out more. fees at ML are 10k so you may feel it's worth saving 2.5k a year as the leavers destinations are pretty similar. I don't think the 'overall experience' at RP is as good though and ML seems to be a better school.

there's no substitute for tours and visits though..hth

Hi Loveroflife - thank you. That was very useful. So sweet of you of you to take the time out to write the above. I've heard good things about ML as well, but we were too late for the registration at ML. I did take a tour of Radlett Prep - yes, I do agree with you on the above, but the school was quite keen to emphasise how they wanted to focus on sports as well. So, maybe they're turning a new leaf there. They're also building a new playground for kids (well, something of the sort) & they do acknowledge they have no dining facilities. It was actually a truthful representation of the school & they were delightfully warm & friendly.
Not being from the area, I suppose I was looking for some reassurance from more knowledgable mums like yourself, that its a good school & I'm doing the right thing ! Academics is super important for me - so I suppose its a good thing from that front. If the sports improves, then I presume, it'll be good on all fronts. The only concern I would have is the low girls to boys ratio. Again, thanks a million for all the input !

Current reception classes at RP only have 3 or 4 girls in each. I called and asked them the ratio for this year and they fobbed me off with a 50/50 split saying that it was too early to say anything else because they don't know who is going to take up the offers. I was unconvinced and turned down the offer in favour of ML.

I think RP is good overall academically but I would be worried that the low ratio of girls makes it difficult for them to flourish.

There may be the odd place which becomes available at ML once the Habs / NLCS results come out so it may be worth contacting them next week and you might get lucky.

4plusmum - thats very useful indeed. Will see how things pan out next week !

Other possible options for you could be Edge Grove? Lovely school and new head doing fantastic things and Aldenham - less academic but having said that, the bright kids do really well. I would agree with 4plusmum re girl ratio at RP and trying ML post next weeks results.

Or St Margarets? I agree with above poster. Schools do take children off cycle so def worth asking.

There are at least 6 girls in each reception class at the moment at RP.

Do the tell the nurseries irrespective of whether a place is offered or not?

I think it depends on the relationship the head teacher has with the school as to whether they find out in advance or not.

Thank you all. I've just joined this forum & its wonderful see mothers being so helpful & offering each other great advise & suggestions. On a less soppy note now (!), I was given a tour of RP by the school & actually didn't mind it too much. The ratio of girls to boys was definitely low, but I would concur with dropsy23, that I too noticed the number was around 5-6 perclass (still low though !). But, overall, I have to admit I did like the school - it seemed to have a nice old world charm about it with traditional teaching methods. It also seems to have good results & the students seem to do well, with 2 students even making it Westminster this year. I also do agree that it doesn't have the facilities & all round capabilities that ML has & from that perspective it may be at a disadvantage - but overall, I'd probably be satisfied with Radlett Prep.
Thank you all for all the different perspective you have all given - helped immensely !!

True there are more boys than girls at RP. Remember that some boys may leave if they go to Habs as the latter start at 5+. That will equalise things a bit... RP tend to have larger class sizes 23-26 kids in anticipation of some leavers. Remember that the main reason for more boys than girls is probably to due NLCS/St Marg/St Hilda being in the area and these are all girls schools (exlc Habs as they have boys+girls school). Clearly that leaves less girls to go around and last I heard there tends to be a 50:50 population split of males vs females....
Actually in year 1 there are far more girls in my son's class -10 girls I think vs 13 buys (3 left the school)

I would agree with MHdad. It is also a great school!!!

Kings 7+ results are out x

I don't know why some people are so negative about mum teacher or indeed tutoring. We had our son assessed by mum teacher to see if he would have a look in at 7+. We were coaching him at home, but I didn't know what all the ins and outs were and that's where someone who knows children comes into it. She pointed out his weak areas but also told us that we could continue to coach him at home. I just really needed to be the mom without the stress of coaching so she agreed to take him on as a late contender but only as we had already been prepping him. Her insight really was excellent. She adjusted her tutoring according to the different schools exam criteria. She plugged all the holes and worked out his weaknesses. Then she was able to work out a time frame for him to achieve his goals. It was a lot of work but he was self motivated to do this work for her rather than me nagging him to do work that I had set him. It's not just Bond books! Going through this school entrance procedure, I have seen enough moms breaking their children in the process and I didn't want to ever be that parent. Just to tell you that our son has been offered a place at every school he sat for. And he has chosen the super selective that we think would suit him best too. Thanks for the insight and the information and the tutoring mum teacher.

Ooooh...another stealth advert for mumteacher. I bet her PM box is overflowing.