Hello,
I would very much welcome a recent opinion from parents of children who go to WLFS (primary), Melcombe, Queens Manor and Sir John Lillie Pope. We live too far to get to John Betts, which considered to be the best school in the borough. How good these schools are in terms of teaching (with/without private tutoring), children happiness and social/cultural mix (inclusiveness)? I read all the ofsted reports and saw data on K2 results, so it's more like and insider's view which is of great interest from the current/past parents.
We live in the area, but highly unlikely can get a place in the faith schools (definitely not in the RC school), which are considered very good in the area. Hence the choice is narrowed to maintained schools/academies. We are registered with a number of private prep schools as a backup plan but as these are not selective, I wonder if they provide a better start compared to state schools (if we are very hands-on parents and happy to take a child to extra-curricular activities: sports, arts, languages).
Ideally, we would want the child to start at state primary and move to private selective secondary (either at 7+ or 11+), providing he proves to be academic, but it's hard to find out if many children get to private senior schools from state primary schools.
Any guidance on the schools is much appreciated.