Wimbledon primary school advice please

[Wimbledonmumm]

Hello all,

My son has places at Rokeby, Squirrels (Wimbledon Common Prep), The Rowans and Merlin (in Putney). We are struggling to decide which school to go with as they all seem good, but to offer different things.

Parents with boys at these schools, we would love to hear from you! What are the best things about the school? What do you wish you had known before your boy started? What kind of child would thrive at the school.

Thank you very much.

Suggest you to pick the one with easiest transport arrangement. Stuck in traffic during the rush hour in the morning is not very enjoyable for both parents and kids

Thank you.

It depends if you want to do the 7+ or 11+/CE.

I don’t know Merlin at all.

Squirrels I’m told has become incredibly pressured lately. They do get some boys into KCS, but it’s only the top 10-12 in the year - and all of them are heavily tutored in English and maths outside the school. You have to think about what will be your alternatives if DS doesn’t get a KCS offer.

Rowans- have you asked about their leavers’ destinations? They used to be very cagey about it as they barely got anyone into KCS, has that changed?

Rokeby - will give you the option of staying until 11/13 if not successful at the 7+. They have school buses, which may help with logistics. From what I gather, it’s quite pressured and a slightly formal prep. It has a good reputation with the local indies and gets a good number of boys into St Paul’s, Hampton and KCS.

I hear they are very keen on the environment. The children wrap up warm and go out litter picking.
Fantastic school.

Sorry.

I’m sure OP has already looked on the Squirrels website and seen that offers for KCS have ranged between 18-25 places per year for the last 5 years rather than believing well-meaning but totally wrong information on mumsnet
My boys have different personalities; neither were “heavily tutored”; both have thrived at Squirrels. I’d rather get the entrance exam done at 7+ given the current state of flux for 11/13+. If there’s any pressure at 7+ then that comes from the exam process and parental hopes and expectations, not the school at all.

Blimey @outoftime1, no need to be so snippy. Your tone isn’t a great advert for the school 🙂.

I think the “state of flux” around 11+/13+ is greatly exaggerated; almost all schools that have a 13+ entry now rely on the pretest in year 6 anyways.

Just correcting inaccuracies, no snippy tone intended!

Thank you everyone.

I should mention sports is a real strength of Squirrels - the head of sport is particularly wonderful and gets boys of all abilities involved and enthusiastic. Good range of clubs too. But I agree the your first reply - Definitely consider somewhere local with an easy commute, makes such a difference when they are small.