Selecting a school before relocating

[dxbmom]

Hi Everyone,

We are moving from Dubai next year around April and we have been doing some ground work for my DD school. She turned 3 this October. We have so many questions with regards to shortlisting a school and to be honest the more I dig in .. it makes us more confused and lost .. like a labyrinth ;) .Can anyone help us with these pointers for a start . My husbands work would be in Mayfair so we are not looking at commute time of more than 40 minutes.

1. Why choose a private school. Our inclination so far is towards private school.
2. Top 5 private schools ( not as per ranking by parents feedback)
3. Best Public Schools which would be as good as a private one(if there are any)
4. Do we need to prep her for the admission test??
5. Are we rushing too much in making a selection, since she will be in reception year only in 2020. So will it be wise to come and settle down first and the start the ground work?

Any other advice or tip would be welcome.

Thank u

Hi DXB. We are not far from you in the ME but are from Putney in SW London and have a house there. Will probably move back in the next few years. I have a son in the same school year as your DD and one in the year above. We registered with a number of pre-preps and preps in SW London to enable us to have choice. We just deferred my older son's place at the one we really want. That is the main advantage of private in my view. Choice. I can give you my views of preps in SW London if you're interested in that area. I'd say 40 mins to Mayfair is just about do-able from Putney / Fulham.

The main advantage from your POV is that you can choose your private school (you still have to secure an offer, but you can apply to ask many as you like, and choose any from your offers)

For state school you can only indicate your preference (6 choices on the London form) and then wait to see which one you are allocated, usually based on distance from the school. If you apply outside the main applications round, you can nohy be freed a e aschool with vacancies. You cannot apply from a future address (unless you are British Armed Forces or qualifying crown or civil servant) so our need to have at least. exchanged purchase contracts or entered a rental lease - in some places you need to have actually moved in.

(Public school btw refers to a subset of the older private secondary school, I'm assuming you mean a state school - ie a government funded school which is free to enter)

Agree about Mayfair being easily reached from SW London where ere are lots of schools (the area around Clapham and Wandsworth Commons being known as Nappy Valley for good reason)

Hello. First of all, bear in mind that to have a chance with a good state school, you need to be in the catchment area and that can be very tricky / expensive. Which is partly and I stress partly why a lot of people who can afford it go private (prep schools tend to cost around £15k per year and that's without the extras). If you want to go down the private route, I would say start by getting the Good Schools Guide (online or from say Amazon), and get cracking with shortlisting, visiting and registering - don't think you've got that much time. Many families register their children at birth for the best ones. Now this is London so there is movement but assume good schools have got waiting lists. If you can afford it, perhaps speak to an educational consultant like Gabbitas or the Good Schools Guide consultancy service. And on the subject of prepping, Many prep schools have a light entrance assessment tests to check they will fit in - the test will depend on the school.

Hello .. thank u for the response. There is a bit of typo in my above message.. what I meant for the commute time to work was NOT more than 30 to 40 min max. By public school , I meant state schools.