From state primary into selective prep?

[PrideOfLions]

For work reasons we are moving out of London for a few years and DC will go to the local state primary (which is apparently excellent).

The plan is to move back to London at 7 or 8, and get them into a selective independent - either an occasional place or 7 plus.

We are thinking of schools like The Hall or Westminster Under (if the DC are academic).

How big will the gap be, coming from a state primary? We don't want to do masses of tutoring. Will a bright child be fine without it, or will they just be too far behind to pass the exams no matter how "clever" they are?

Thank you!

Bump!

Where in London do you plan on living? It's just that The Hall is right up in Swiss Cottage while Westminster is down in Pimlico.

We haven't been through the 7+ but my first thought is that your child may need some sort of tutoring - not to make them cleverer but more so the exam format is familiar. I can't imagine sitting an exam without preparation as an adult so it must be even harder for a child (particularly as the other children will be prepared).

I don't think The Hall has a 7+ entry (although it may do - or may have occasional places). Do you know where else (apart from here and Westminster) you would look?

My dc went to a not particularly brilliant state primary and moved to a very selective prep at 7. This was in London. They weren't tutored but I prepared them both with Bond papers and a couple of practice papers. They were both extremely fluent and avid readers, which helped enormously.

I really believe that children who are suitable for these schools don't need lots of tutoring (though plenty have it), but you do need to familiarise them with exams and make sure they've covered the topics that will be tested, as many state primaries won't have done this.

I also believe that at this stage a lot simply comes down to whether your child is mature enough for such exams. Many just aren't ready at 6/7/8 to tackle them seriously, but do brilliantly when they're a bit older.

Thank you both.

CruCru we are in Fitzrovia, so could go north or south. We would be looking for an occasional place at The Hall or Arnold House. I guess the other option would be Wetherby Prep which does have an entry at 7 and 8, but I am less keen on that (although perhaps that is unfair - it would certainly be an easier school run!).

Lala how did you get your children up to speed on topics they hadn't covered, did you just do it yourself through Bond practice etc? I am totally against masses of tutoring, but I am worried that they just won't have been exposed to the concepts they will be tested on.

But perhaps the gulf between the state primary curriculum and a selective indie isn't as big as I think?

It depends on the primary, at my dc's school it was pretty massive but it wasn't a high-powered school ...

I can't remember very well as it was many years ago now, but they do publish the curriculum somewhere for the schools you mention, so it was just a question of going over the topics. IIRC there are a lot of maths problems, designed to test the children, which are a bit more challenging, so doing plenty of them would be good. But as I say, at that age I feel you either have it or you don't. One child struggled with the maths side and it was pretty stressful trying to engage him, but he obviously did well enough on the day, the other picked it all up instantly.

I'm not sure whether you will find this helpful, OP.

Thank you both - really helpful.