Most affordable primary private schools in London

[DianaNS]

Hi, sorry if I’m repeating the subject. Things seem to change in London frequently, also with £ going up and down against other currencies. We’ll have to find spots in a private school in central London for 4 kids aged between 3 and 9 and yet to make an agreement with our employer about how much of the school fees they’ll cover. Yearly fees I see for the ages 3-9 are between £17k-£20K. Are these the prices to stick to and hope for some siblings discount? Or is it possible to find more affordable options? Everything times 4 seems quite a lot. I know that not so many schools have prenursery but ideally we’d like to drop all 4 kids more less in one place as logistics is really a killer. Another thing is that we will be moving from Sweden where the educational standard, even in an international British school, is quite relaxed due to Swedish government regulations. Kids are not pushed too hard, at least in primary. Therefore I don’t feel like throwing them into very selective environment right away. Any recommendations on high standard, warm environment but reasonably priced for a large family?

I think Hill House is cheaper than some of the others?

Dania School might interest you, it calls itself a 'Scandinavian School' with a more relaxed approach and has Danish and Swedish lessons by native speakers. Fees are £9.4k annually for primary age. I don't have first hand experience of it but it's local to me and I've heard positive comments from local mums.

Hi, I don’t want to push the issue if you’ve totally decided against it but London has some of the best state schools in the country and you might find the state system more aligned with the Swedish ethos. Totally understand if you are nervous about finding a great state school with places across four years but because London’s population is so fluid places do open up all the time even in the most sought-after schools and if you got one in all the others would go to the top of the list on sibling preference. If you said where you were living then mumsnetters might be able to advise you on good state options. Anyhow, just a thought, good luck with whatever you decide.

Unusual for London schools to offer significant sibling discounts. You need to factor in fee inflation of 5%+ per year so fees will double from age 5 to 18.

Also some London schools already over £20k per year

www.londonpreprep.com/2018/10/affordable-prep-schools-in-london/
you can check out this article

We moved from Sweden and decided to put our kids (well at the time we only had the one) at Hill House International Junior school. It's not really International, more than the fact that it's very open minded, and we've been super happy.

It is an academically challenging environment - after all, the purpose of prep schools are to prepare for entrance exams into competitive secondaries - but none of us have ever felt that it's been too much pressure. They're great at guiding the children and making them feel safe and confident. Our eldest is 13 so in his last year there, and we have nothing negative to say about the school.

Fees are also slightly lower than many other central London preps, especially for the younger years.

Its not in Central London but Oakfielld Prep fits that bill in West Dulwich. Its non selective admission. Its runs from nursery (2 years old) to Year 6 (10 years old) and costs circa 11k a year.

Its not super academic but manages to get plenty of smart kids into good independent secondary options.

West Dulwich may not be convenient for you though depending on where you are planning to live / work. Good luck!

Go state! There are so many good state primaries in London that it's hard to go wrong.

There are some independent schools with a liberal and relaxed ethos (e.g. King Alfred's in Hampstead) but not that many.

Many of the preps are full of pushy parents which I'm not sure helps in the long run. It'll be a shock in the short-term compared to Sweden.

www.londonpreprep.com/2018/10/affordable-prep-schools-in-london/

Waldorf/ Steiner do delayed/more relaxed learning.

If you can stand some of the smug, self satisfied arseholes you'd have to be around.