Putney High, Wimbledon High, Ibstock for reception

[Garfield007]

Dear parents, my DH and I are looking into some straight through school for our DD who will start reception next year. We are considering Putney High (near), Wimbledon High (furthest) and Ibstock (nearest).
We are new in this as our original plan was to send our DD to state primary and switching to private for secondary, so had not looked into private school for reception previously.
As our autumn born DD grow, we noticed that she is quite bright and have ability beyond her peers, sometimes even including those a year older than her, in terms of her language, reasoning, logical thinking etc. From young age she much prefers playing with older kids and it was obvious how much she didn’t enjoy the first nursery school we sent her to, where classes were organised by school age group, and ended up switching her to a mixed age setting. We think she will be better stimulated in a private school environment so are now looking into the various options. We are both working parents with demanding jobs, having seen friends who have been through 11+ with their children we don’t think we have the time or stamina to go through 11+, so will prefer a straight through school do have the choice rather than being forced to go through 11+.
we are keen to hear from parents who may have considered similar schools, and how you made your choice? We don’t even know what necessarily to look out for so any pointers will be much appreciated. Thanks.

Sit all assessments and create the problem then decide. It is very competitive.

Decision depends on the child. You don't want a child that just got in them struggles, and dents confidence and you would need to change schools again eventually.

Personally I liked Putney High when I visited a couple of years ago. I hear they are changing headteacher though. ibstock has also been going through some changes and some people have not been happy, check the threads here. Know nothing about Wimbledon High prep.

Putney High and WHS both very good schools so,. personally, I'd go for the one that's closest to you. Girls do very well at both schools. I have a DD at one of them.

I'm not sure, in our experience, that a private school will necessarily stimulate your child more. You can do that at home and outside of school but WHS and PHS do offer the benefit of avoiding the pressure of 11+. Girls are guaranteed spaces in the high school though they still need to sit the 11+.

I have no idea what they look for at 4+ when giving our reception spaces. My child was also bright for her age, early reader etc but fairly quiet. She didn't get a spot at 4+ but got in a 7+ when actual academic performance was taken into account. At 4+ they look at potential and they don't always get it right. Impossible to at that age.

Personally, I think if your DD is as bright as you say and doesn't plateau, then she won't have any issues getting an 11+ space. However, it is a stressful process so I can understand why there's value in avoiding this. If you can afford it and can get a place, go for it. Good luck!

If you have a bright kid - and are in one of the ‘academic’ preps in the area - you won’t need some sort of special stamina for 11+.
I think it’s quite hard to chose a school at 4 that will have to be a good fit until 18.

The horror stories you hear about 11+ are often from parents where they have a particular desire for their kids to be at school A, but their ability/temperament is better suited by schools B or C. Parents don’t want to listen to their school’s advice and there is tutoring and more tutoring to get hat coveted space at school A.

Anyway - back to your choices - I’d not chose a school with long commute, not at 4. It may be a better choice to move at 11, as it is indeed a nice school.
I don’t know how to choose between PH and I - maybe visit and get a feeling?

But I’d also try for Ken Prep

I might be wrong, but I don't think you can go "straight through " to the upper schools without sitting the 11+.

I understand if you are in one of the straight through school, the space is allocated at Year 5, so whilst the children still have to sit 11+, there is less pressure of not getting a place at all. My husband and I both typically have 50 hours working week so we want to spend weekend as a family time rather than on endless tuitions. My friend’s daughter received offer from every top girl school in London that they applied, but for a whole year I barely see her as she was so busy supporting her daughter. That felt like a full time job on its own and I am not sure if my DD can handle the stress, but I’m pretty sure I can’t 😂. We are looking for insurance policy, if DD turns out to be bright enough for upgrade to other too girl school then good on her, but no pressure.

I wouldn’t go by one friend’s experience. I have two girls that went through 11+. Got in everywhere, at a top secondary now.
i did NOT dedicated a year to ‘supporting’ them. I certainly didn’t spend all weekends with tuition. Never used a tutor.
They were bright AND were at an academic prep that made sure to teach/challenge them appropriate to their ability.

The path you appear to consider now - less pressured school - if able - move to a more academic school is actually harder than you think. And in that scenario - you will need to work with your daughter to get her to a level of the more academic schools. Or, if you in fact decide she should sit for the top Hammersmith secondaries - it will be much harder on her and you. Straight-through schools have no need to prepare their girls for external examinations - and they don’t want their best kids leave.

Essentially - you are choosing to close a lot of doors for her now that she is 4. On a fear and experience of one data point of your friend.
If she is bright - and were in an academic prep - PH and I would be her backup school, and she can always come go there.
But then she’d also get a better chance at the top league schools too.

Putney and Wimbledon are quite similar but lots of girls get into one and not the other at 4+ and 11+ so worth going for both. If you want to go for the hardcore preps with your eye on the Hammersmith secondary schools there aren't that many in the area around Ibstock/ PHS area. They tend to be more gentle with parents not desperate to get their kids into St. Paul's.
To be honest though if she's very academic she's going to get the same results at either of those schools as if she went to St Pauls etc. and with a slightly gentler 'journey' and less loony parent body...( I do know some nice ones though! ). St Pauls is great for a certain type of girl but is slightly seen as the holy grail and is not always the right choice. If it is at 11 she can apply then. I know a few who moved there from PHS.
Ibstock is Co-Ed and a bugger to get to on public transport. Lovely grounds compared to PHS/ WHS but nowhere really for the kids to go as they get older.
I wouldn't worry about the 11plus- also certainly didn't dedicate my weekends to it and my DCs were at a state primary and ended up at a variety of the schools you've mentioned and the 'Hammersmith' schools.
Basically, try for a few and go for the one easiest to get to on public transport!

Thanks for all the advices and pointers. It is a good point about taking into consideration of the school run.
To us it is not all about academic, pastoral care is very important, we want our DD to be all rounded and grows up a confident person. Just not quite sure how to determine if a school has good pastoral care. What questions should we be asking? It is also a good point that certain schools attract certain type of parents, so definitely something we need to watch out for. How do we get more ideas about that?
From experience and observation, those who graduated first class and went to the best schools in our cohort at uni don’t always ended up being the most successful career wise or most happy in life, so we are trying to find the balance. Good academic results from top schools certainly open many doors, but so are soft skills. The ones who get furthest in their career are not always the brightest, but certainly the ones with the best social skills. A hardcore prep school is therefore certainly not in our consideration. DD is a relatively confident child and with the right school environment, stimulation and nurturing, we hope she will continue to flourish. I have friend who even quit her job to support her two children over 11+, and also friend whose DDs went to North London Collegiate without any tuition or extra support from her, so yes, not all bad but unfortunately the horror stories stick😂, work is stressful enough we don’t need more stress, so we are just keen to not get suck into the 11+ rat race. It feels like a minefield out there at the moment.

The SW London schools are pretty much the same in pastoral care, parents etc, A large number of dd will sit the entrance exams at 11 plus of the 3 schools you have listed and get offers and make a decision of which to accept based on the journey time or sport - lacrosse v hockey v rowing. I suggest you are overthinking this for Reception - there is so much churn in London of both pupils, teachers and heads. The heads at both Putney and Ibstock have had an influence on their schools but 1 is leaving to go to a brand new school currently without a name or location and the other is new and may stay many years. Just go with the offer that suits your family life best.

Having said that, it will generally be easier to switch to Ibstock than from Ibstock to the other two school.

*schools