Cheshire private school parents: ladybarn house? Ryleys? King's Macclesfield?

[Ihavepixies]

Does anybody have any knowledge of Ladybarn House School, The Ryleys or King's Macclesfield?

We visited a few others but ruled them out as they did not have the right vibe.

What is the teaching like? Girl / boy ratio? Balance between outside/physical play and academic learning? Building children's confidence and aspiration? Encouraging creativity versus rote learning?

We are considering schools for our Dd. We have visited two of the schools but not the third due to covid rules.

Our state schools locally appear to be struggling to meet national pass rates and I did not get a good impression that they were well managed and that this was being addressed.

We might ultimately go state for secondary but we we want dd to go somewhere that won't hold her back so that in theory she would be ready to go to any school type we choose, whether that was private day school, highly selective boarding or state (depending on aptitude of course) so we really want somewhere that fosters her motivation, confidence and individual talents early on.

I'm happy to drive twenty to 30 minutes or so distance is not a huge factor.

A teacher at one of the above three schools did say that an invested parent could get a bright child in to a top school from any state primary, the advantage they offered was more flexibility to teach to the childs strengths and beyond the curriculum and more targeted practice for entrance exams which is fair enough and quite honest I suppose! I just want insurance in case dd becomes less motivated and more difficult to teach at home. Also we are likely to move to london at some point (or another country entirely) and I'd like to know she would stand a chance at passing a 7+ at a london prep without heavy tutoring which she might not want to engage with at such a young age. Would any of the schools mentioned match a lobdon prep in terms of curriculum content etc?

Thanks!

Go to the closest? Then she'd have local friends

Local friends is a fair point but I found at this age I drive mine everywhere and arrange all the meet ups anyway so local doesn't really make any difference. My children play after school with the children that live in our street, they all go to different schools. Secondary school is when this matters most but conversely this is when many children travel further.

I have heard about a few of these schools. I have heard that King's Macc is good but it doesn't get the results parents hope for at the end of the day and very few go to russell group universities let alone oxbridge. You might as well choose state and save the money. This is true of many middle of the road private schools these days though. So I guess a prep would make most sense if you aren't going all the way through?

The Ryleys looks like it is hugely improving. Very Cheshire set though. It seems to have a caring ethos from what I have heard and is using some innovative teaching, it also sends the occasional child to boarding school although most go to local independants. It is selective by the back door but not hugely, just any obvious developmental delays will probably not secure a place.

Lady barn house school was previously highly rated but appears to have a new head which might be a bit risky. I think its reputation might have waned a bit recently and I have heard the teacher student ratio isn't so great, quite a lot of reliance on unqualified teaching assistants. I think it is very grammer school focused so is probably the best for transitioning to London but I can't imagine many parents there would be thinking about boarding schools or even bog standard state. Also depends where you are? The majority of the parents are in the trafford area and Cheadle, maybe Wilmslow.

Have you considered Terra Nova if you are considering boarding later or is this miles away? It seems to get a fair few in to decent schools but I'm not sure whether that is down to aptitude or teaching as I had heard the teaching was not fantastic across the board. Parents tend to choose it because of the next destination rather than the academics.

I'm not sure any of these schools are on par with a london super selective, you would probably still have to tutor is my guess unless your dd is a mini genius of course.

You could just tutor and send state, but then she might feel the odd one out at boarding school coming from the state sector!