altrincham prep vs hale prep

[Naijadad]

Hi ,
Family just moved to altrincham but we have been informed by the council that the good state schools we had hoped to get inot are full at present.

We have been offered Broadheath and Navigation which are not outstanding like Bollin , Stamford park and Altrincham CofE. We have therefore decided to go with either alt prep or hale prep as the nearest privates.

Unfortunately, other threads related to this topic dont seem to conclude about which is better. The ultimate yardstick for us really would be academic results. 6 year old Ds easily loses focus and attention despite having excellent potential according to his present teacher. We dont want him to miss out on eventually passing the grammar school exams. Is there a website that compares prep schools?

Pls help.

Have you been to look round the state schools? You could always move him to one of the others when a space becomes available? You might like the 2 mentioned??
The only way to choose any school is to visit really

Have you looked at well green? I don't think you'd get in to hale prep as generally their lists are full before the children start nursery. Not so such about Altrincham prep.

Another option is Ambrose/ north cesterian

Also get your name down at the state schools anyway, they will offer you a place as soon as one becomes available and the waiting lists aren't very long.

Btw there is no guarantee for the grammars as they are fiercely competitive so even getting a place in one of the prep or state schools on your list is not an automatic you'll get in. Most children in the great schools are being coached for the entrance exams so be prepare for this .

The schools are also massively strict on postcodes so it does matter which borders you live on.

Yes I would check length of relevant waiting lists

Thanks Reindeerbollocks,
I have checked the profile of wellgreen and st ambrosse. Seem impressive. Wonder how come we never noticed them in our searches. Well, we were actually looking at the nearest 5 to the house.

However, it appears our minds are now made up for a prep school. That means I will modify the original question. Which of hale prep , alt prep and st ambrosse prep is best for results. I will take your advice Bamboobear and start by visiting the schools.

Thanks

I think St Ambrose Prep is applying for Free School status, don't think I have made that up. I bet the 11+ forum has more answers for you :)

Ambrose has applied for free school status as has North Cesterian.

Like I said OP, hale prep is notoriously difficult to get into because the waiting lists are long. I doubt you'd get a place unfortunately ( I know people who put their name down when pregnant for a place).

However as your child is coming up to junior school age I would hang fire. I would pretty much guarantee you'd get a place at one of the local schools or the preps Ambrose/Cesterian/Alty prep. The only place you'd probably have extreme difficulty getting into is Hale prep as I said before.

All the schools are extremely good though, so try not to worry too much.

Clarification on the above I think is necessary.

St Ambrose prep was thinking of going for academy status but now is remaining independent.

My son goes there and it is a lovely school, from other mums in the playground the majority of boys pass for Alty Grammar or Ambrose.