Lyndhurst or Hall Grove school Camberley Surrey

[Coffeemorning579]

DD is at state school in yr 5 doing ok but could do better. Planning on private for secondary school and concerned she won’t be ready for entrance exams and move to private school so thinking of moving her to Lyndhurst or Hall Grove. Any views particularly from parents who may have moved children from state to private or parents with children at these schools would be appreciated. Thankyou

If you move to private day secondary at 11 or 13 you still take the entrance exams of Jan in Year 6. You need to speak to the local private secondary schools you are considering and ask the percentage intake from state sector - you will find its high - also get your dd assessed by 2 preps mentioned and ask how much work needs to be done between entry & exam dates to get her up to level needed. If you are considering boarding this is different, you have more time, somewhere like Charterhouse or Cranleigh will be much more flexible re entry at 13.

Thankyou that’s very helpful.

If anyone has recent experience of either of these schools it would be appreciated.

Hi, we aren’t at these schools but we have recently moved from state to private and we live roughly in this area. I know a few children at HG and their parents like it a lot. Lyndhurst is relatively local to us but I was concerned with the very small numbers in my child’s year - plus I have heard mixed reviews although those are only hearsay. For what it’s worth, we chose OLPS in Crowthorne and we really like it. Moving from state to private has been a positive experience for us, smaller classes and a broader curriculum have really helped my child engage with school which seems to strike a good balance - we have 21 in a class and there’s nowhere to hide ! I think HG will have about the same number, but Lyndhurst has significantly less.

Thanks for your reply, really helpful. Yes Lyndhurst is very small; very friendly but a bit too small I think as only 10 in a class. Younger classes seem to be bigger. Think we are leaning towards HG. We’re very impressed with our visit and DD has now done a visit too and loves it so just waiting to see if we get offered a place.

@Mumtofourandnomore

Sorry to @ you and summon you back to this thread! I had a DS in nursery at OLPS, we then moved away and put him in a different school when we moved back. I am toying with the idea of moving his younger sibling to a different school for a number of reasons so would be interested to hear what OLPS is like now?

Do they play competitive sports against other schools? Do they still teach across mixed age groups (it was 10 years ago that DS was there)? Which secondary schools do they typically go on to?

We looked at Lyndhurst about 7 years ago and found it too small and I really disliked the head. No idea if he has changed since then!

OLPS is probably much bigger now than when you last saw it, it’s only Prep IV that are a small class (about 13), the other classes are all either full (21), or only have a place or two. We only joined the school in September (Prep I - we were on the waiting list for a year) but we really like the school, small classes, academically disciplined but not selective, nurturing etc. The children go to Forest school every other week, do cookery, pottery, three languages etc - my son loves it and is getting on so much better than at his previous school - which was still good. Now, we knew that the school didn’t have great sports provision but actually I think they do OK, the fees do reflect the lack of outdoor space. That said, they’ve put a lot of artificial turf down and it means that the children can play football all year round (and they do !) - they have a nice netball court too. The children swim and have a dedicated PE teacher, my son also does fencing as an extra curricular activity (they have a new, small sports hall which is fine for the size of the school) and I know that the older preps have competitive sports fixtures but I’m not sure how many (I know there is netball and football). We play hockey outside school so my view is that sports are easy to top-up if that makes sense. I haven’t experienced other prep schools but I do really like OLPS, the children play so well across year groups and the school is quite disciplined - my son is so engaged. We also like the holiday club, so although they run a four term year the children can go to club in the holidays so it’s useful for working parents. The Head is retiring in the summer (she has been at the school for thirty years so you might know her already) and a new headmaster has just been appointed who has a good reputation I think. It’s a bit of a hidden gem, the website is rather dated, but the staff are great and we are really happy.

I’m not sure about secondary schools, because the fees are lower then I think it’s a mix of state and primary, there is a bit on the website but it is not terribly informative. I know that they formally start 11+ coaching in Prep II (year 4), I think they prepare the children properly even if only about half go on to selective schools. We looked briefly at the school when my eldest son (now 14) was little but it was very small then - only a handful of school-aged children, I looked again when my yougest son was falling behind at his state school, plus a work colleague had her son there and we haven’t looked back.