Prep Schools in Kensington near St. Pauls Girls School

[Mjoshi28]

Hello All - My elder daughter has just secured a place at St. Paul's Girls School (SPGS) and we would like to move near SPGS in the next few months. My younger daughter is 7 years old and we would like her to secure a place in one of the good prep schools near SPGS. We asked a few schools like Bute House, St. James Prep, Queens Gate Prep, Falkner House and we received positive replies only from St. James Prep and Queens Gate. The others are oversubscribed and asked us to look for occasional vacancies in future. We would ideally like our daughter to start Year 3 in the new school from September, 2021. Any recommendations will be highly appreciated. Thank you.

Just about to leave spgs and it’s a dump, best part is leaving. You want your girls to end up with mental health issues, eating disorders and social anxiety at the cost of 30k per year then go ahead.
The “ it’s suits some girls but not all” mantra should be “it suits parents wanting Oxbridge and Ivy League irrespective of their daughters mental health “ then that’s great.
Disengaged teachers, sausage factory approach and beyond crap pastoral care.

Oh, and I’m not bitter I’m going to Oxford but have lost at least 5 friends leaving the school since year 7 to eating disorders/self harm and mental health . My friends at G&L have achieved the same results, far happier and same Uni results.spgs is focussed on the Chinese market and no money is being spent on teaching staff in the Uk

@Thankgoditsfinished I’m really sad this was your school experience. It doesn’t reflect my daughter’s at all at SPGS and I have found the vast majority of the teachers absolutely engaged, perceptive and insightful when I’ve had interactions with them directly or read remarks on my daughter’s work (and all were unfailingly competent). I’m so sorry you and other students in your cohort weren’t happy but ( for benefit of OP and others reading this) it isn’t reflective of the experience we’ve had or heard from others we know. Good luck at university and hope you have a happier time.

Thank you everyone, we finally chose Pembridge Hall. I visited the school and found it quite nice. The head was impressive too. It is quite expensive, but I think my daughter will fit right in as it is quite similar to the prep school she currently attends.

To everyone who is wondering why we are moving just to be closer to SPGS, there are a few reasons:

1. Will be more convenient for my elder daughter as she is not the strongest physically and too much travel will eventually take a toll on her;
2. Nothing really holds us back in Wimbledon, we just randomly moved here many years back and just stayed on as it was comfortable;
3. Both my husband and I work in the city;
4. We are so BORED of Wimbledon, need the change;
5. My younger daughter can't wait to go to a new school (I know, would have thought she will be devastated at leaving her current school)… :)

@Drainrat - I agree with your thoughts. We are not new to London, been here for the last 15 years, so do know what you are talking about. I visited a few schools that had no diversity at all, and we politely declined places at those. Pembridge Hall seems fine though and am sure our daughter will be fine there. :)

Thanks again everyone! We are looking at a property in Notting Hill.

So many girls feel the same as me but many say they would never tell their parents. So many parents have this dream of the school but the reality for many girls is different. They don’t want to tell their parents how toxic the day to day can be, how obsessive so many parents are that their girls can’t achieve less than perfect. The teachers although they say they promote a non competitive environment is simply not the truth. My maths teacher openly stated “ I run a competitive class , anything less than 90% is a fail”My Uni mentor told me anything less than oxbridge is a fail when we know oxbridge is moving away from priv schools, and we now have a situation where girls are embarrassed to be named at valediction for oxbridge places.