The Study Prep

[Rainbows18]

Just wondering what people’s thoughts were about the The Study in Wimbledon. How academic are they generally as there 11+ results are impressive but can they get girls into the very selective schools like St Paul’s, G+T? Also I am aware they had a new Head starting in September - what are people’s experiences of her? Any expected changes to school. Would be grateful for your opinions.

I'm not sure why you would pay so much money for a school with such desperately poor facilities? How broad can the curriculum be with only tiny tanks for learning. No labs? No art studio? No DT workshop? No dance studio? No field? No courts? Not even a dining room???

Not worth £12k a year.

To be honest there aren’t that many prep schools with DT workshops and dance studios!

Really? That must be a London thing where they are crammed into these tiny little sites. Just not the same thing as a traditional 3-13, especially in the countryside.

The WHS junior down the hill has often attracted bright girls in the area and this is even more so since 11+ became such a major industry that people are keen to avoid if they can; also property prices have increased so much a lot of families with girls at reception age live down the hill rather than up. That said they do have good years there and there are certainly study girls in small numbers at the schools you mention. But given the location and the fact a lot of families travel into Wimbledon now for the school they naturally have a more SW focus; lots of people don’t want a Hammersmith school when they live in SW19 or 20.
As for the facilities they are completing a major new building project but agree DT lab and dance studio are not the norm, and frankly nor is a school to 13; 11 has been the moving point for London girls as long as I can recall!

How odd. My DC's prep had a DT workshop, and the prep round the corner had a drama/dance theatre.
Not London though, tbf.

These are the three stand-alone preps nearest to my house:
www.portregis.com/
www.sandroyd.org/
www.hazlegrove.co.uk/

So looking at what they have, I wouldn't be happy to pay nearly the same money to send my child to a school smaller than my house with absolutely no facilities- not even a blade of grass.

Facilities are not everything; quality of teaching is more important, but there comes a point at which facilities are so poor it can't help but impact negatively on the curriculum- and personally I think that little school is definitely over the line.

The Study has a drama studio, art room and lab, but these are all located on the prep site rather than the pre-prep and tours of the school tend to be of the pre-prep building. That building has just been rebuilt and includes a performance theatre / auditorium. The fields and netball courts are a reasonably short coach ride away.

So I don't think the facilities are quite as lacking as that. It remains a small (cosy?) school though and that's why many people like it.

OP, happy to answer any questions you might have in a pm.

Odd that they have all of those things but didn't include them at all in the virtual tour??

@reefedsail

These are the three stand-alone preps nearest to my house: www.portregis.com/ www.sandroyd.org/ www.hazlegrove.co.uk/

So looking at what they have, I wouldn't be happy to pay nearly the same money to send my child to a school smaller than my house with absolutely no facilities- not even a blade of grass.

Facilities are not everything; quality of teaching is more important, but there comes a point at which facilities are so poor it can't help but impact negatively on the curriculum- and personally I think that little school is definitely over the line.

You do seem very anti The Study for someone living (probably) in Dorset! It’s London. A lot of us live in terraced houses when we could buy a bloody great Manor House in Dorset- not a like for like comparison to compare a country prep school in 100s of acres with a prep school in prime SW19! I have no connection with The Study but am sure it’s a perfectly good school capable of getting girls into the right schools for them. But agree that if you live around there you’re less likely to go to the Hammersmith schools when you have great schools more locally.

I'm not anti that particular school. I'm just questioning what anyone would be getting for their money over the state offering in that type of school with so little space and so few educational facilities. There seem to be a lot of these little dame schools in London, and I'm just not sure I see the value.

I suppose you don't need anything more than a desk in a corridor to go through 11+ workbooks though, which perhaps is the point? Primary education is seen by some purely as a hurdle to get into the 'right' senior school- not otherwise valuable in itself?

Go upstairs to KS2 and tell me honestly you'd be happy to part with 50k for it!
www.thestudyschool.co.uk/interactive-tour/

Although PP says there are lots of facilities they didn't include here.

Oh I see we are talking about different schools!! Haha. I'm talking about this one www.thestudyprep.co.uk

Sorry OP ignore me if that's the wrong one!

@reefedsail , the state sector can be quite harsh in SW London. I had to remove my dd many years ago from her state primary and send her to a small prep similar to The Study to get her learning back on track. She wouldn't have thrived in a high pressure prep with lots of facilities, she needed a "home from home" which is what I found for her.

I’m talking about the Study in Wimbledon not New Malden but my point that you can’t compare country prep schools with London prep schools still stands!

But they seem to have a Forest School in the one linked so that’s good surely??

The one in Wimbledon looks to have much more about it.

Hi @Rainbows18! Many Study girls are of SPGS, LEH etc. caliber. However, the reality is that very few do apply.

When you have Wimbledon High School and Putney High School within walking distance, many families end up deciding that these also highly academic schools (but a notch below SPGS, LEH) will do just fine...

@Rainbows18 please avoid The Study for numerous reasons:

The class sizes are increasing since new head arrived.
The teachers are not nurturing nor communicative.
The school does not utilise it’s location on the common.
It is not a supportive school if you daughter has any SEN needs.
Girls that have been bullied have not been supported well.

The Study is literally right on Wimbledon Common - you can’t get much better outdoor space than that.

But it’s not utilised!

5 years down the line and the study is still full of mean unsupportive teachers, no real SEN support. Classrooms and toilets are filthy. We have moved our DD to another school and could not be happier to see her thriving.