Wimbledon independent primaries vs public primaries

[Haejin]

Hello.
We recently moved to Wimbledon from another country and we found that King’s college is one of the best schools in London and Wimbledon Common Prep School and Rowans are feeders of King’s. We are aiming at these two primary schools for our two-year old son. But, if he doesn’t get offers from these two, I am not sure if sending him to other private schools like Donhead, Willington and Prospects are better than the top rated public schools like Wimbledon Chase, Dundonald or Bishop Guilpin. I am aware that I might need a tutor if WCPS and Rowans don't work out. What I am asking is which schools are best aligned with King's College Primary? Which school out of these would best prepare our child for King's College Junior school entry?
I am not used to these private/public schools since there's not much difference between them in cost and quality wise in my home country except very very few. Any opinion will be grateful.

[mertonmama]

Glad to hear you're keeping open-minded.

I'd suggest you take a good look at all the schools in the area - both indie and state. All of the schools mentioned above get boys into KCJS and other great schools.

You then have a bit of time to really see what your DS is like and what school will suit. For instance if you have a really sporty DS Shrewsbury House would probably suit much better than KCJS. It just depends on the child....

[Haejin]

mertonmama, thank you for your concern.
We are not fixated or obsessed on any of the schools. We are focused on King's because our research suggests it gives our son the best opportunity in the future. If he doesn't fit in there, we are not going to put our son under unnecessarily huge pressure and stress knowing what it is like from my own experience. We don't know what potential our young son has yet. But, I think most parents would provide the best education opportunities for their children given our circumstances.

[Haejin]

DrE678, thank you for your comment.
Now I understand the difference between independent and state schools'
difference. They be must more "focused" on each student than state schools, and they do preps. When I visited one of the indenpendent ones not visiting any state schools, honestly, I couldn't understand why people would pay for independent schools because the school looked too small to me.

I read or heard somewhere that only WCSP and Rowans do preps. Is the infomation wrong?


We are quite young parents. So, even though there are friends living in UK, we have no one to ask about the education. I do appreciate all of you comments.

[Haejin]

LocalEditorMerton, thank you for your comment. I will check Merton & Wimbledon Talk board and research the schools you mentioned.

[Haejin]

SelfRaisingFlour, thank you for your comment.
I don't expect all kids of WCSP or Rowans will go to King's. The reason why I want to send DS to WCSP and Rowans is because I am very new to this education system. So I thought WCSP and Rowans will give me a guidance how to prepare exams. I heard other independent schools other than WCSP and Rowans don't prepare exams.

We are renting a place at the moment, but we are planning to move to near one of these top rated state schools for commuting and school.

[mertonmama]

KCJS is a fantastic school if it is the right school for your child. A lot of parents get fixated on the school without necessarily considering this.

If you have to jump through hoops to get your child into the school then you may not be making a good choice. By that I mean if the only way your child will get in is if they go to one of the pre-preps and get tutoring then you might be better off looking at less academic schools.

DS1 and DS2 both went to Merton primaries and got in - albeit with some tutoring. I love the school but I do worry when people get obsessed about getting in. There are other great schools out there as well you know!

[LocalEditorMerton]

Hi Haejin, welcome to the UK and particularly to our family-friendly part of SW London .

Also worth popping over to the MN Merton & WimbledonTalk board, where you will also receive some helpful insights from local Mumsnetters in the know.

If there's one thing Mumsnetters are passionate about in SW London (and indeed elsewhere), it's education.

We have one of the best public schools in the UK in KCW, and easy access to seven grammar schools in total, in neighbouring boroughs: Sutton and Kingston. And there are many sought-after pre-school and primary level private and state schools too.

[SelfRaisingFlour]

Children do get places at Kings from the state primary schools, but you would have to have tutoring for the exams.

However, only a third of children from WCPS go to Kings and I've known people who knew early on when their sons were at WCPS that their son wasn't "Kings material". I also heard that the children there had extra tutoring to try to get into Kings too.

All the state primary schools you mention have quite small catchment areas (unless you go to Church for Bishop Gilpin) so you need to be living very close to these schools. You can't be living close enough to all of them, so you need to look at Merton Council's admissions on their website to find out how close you need to be and which state school is actually a possibility for your son.