From State school to Highly selective Private school

[deeib]

Hi ! Does anyone know if it's possible to enter highly selective schools like UCS , Highgate or Westminster if a child was in pre prep at a state school. We are considering Primrose Hill School , but we are worried that pupils who were in private schools will have priority for 7+ entrance for these very selective schools , any opinion would be useful , if your child was in the primrose hill school , what schools do pupil enter after?

UCS*

Wow that’s impressive. Will the children finish school a year or two early given they’re flying through the curriculum? Remarkable. 🙄

I think you're a bit confused. First of all there are multiple Northbridge schools - Nursery, Pre Prep, Prep and two senior schools. It's the Independent Schools Inspectorate who review the Prep for example not Ofsted. The Prep is an entirely different type of school to the senior. Different aims, different cohort, different outcomes.

Secondly and more importantly the idea of fees being related to results is ridiculous. You're paying for the provision not the results! The teachers cost the same, the rent costs the same and as someone else has said you need to find a nurturing environment and support your child to reach their potential. They may go to Westminster, Cambridge etc etc or they may not. At 3 or 4 you can't possibly know their academic potential

Find a school that you believe will nurture your child and that alongside you will help them reach their potential. As a veteran of the North London school scene I can assure you that when parents have a 3 or 4 year old and are talking about schools like Westminster more often than not it leads to over tutored and stressed kids and disappointed parents.

Kids change. My son was no way ready for super selective schools at 4+ or even 7+ but he's now going to one of the best schools in the country. Later listen to the advice of your prep school or find a tutor who really knows the local scene so you can get realistic advice on the right school for them (not your dreams for them). Through schools will not support learning specifically for 7+, 11+ or 13+ Prep schools are all about this.

He may be a Westminster/Cambridge child or he may not. You definitely can't know at 3.

Good luck.

@Cigarettesandbooze with easily double the resources of state schools they can target children’s needs properly. No rocket science in that, state schools are bled dry. State school teachers are amazing, but they have neither time nor resources.
No, they won’t finish early. Much better, they’ll have time to adapt to their new school, go in depth beyond the curriculum, work on their strengths and weaknesses, learn presentation skills etc. All things you can do at home, but that’s a lot of work after a school day!

Completely agree re charging - buildings and maintenance and teacher salaries etc etc don’t change with results!

Primrose Hill school is great. Northbridge (anecdote/observation only) is a bit rubbish by comparison. I see zero benefit to any kid I know locally from private preps round here, and if you want him to move on to private I’m sure you’ll make it happen. there’s this myth that it’s hard to go private later, but literally every single kid I’ve known who has wanted to move has been able to!

OP your focus seems a little too targeted on the top academic schools imo without considering the overall benefit of a private education.

We have gone private for the small class sizes, nurturing environment, tailored curriculum, specialist teaching and confidence all these things give. An academic child is given extra challenges whereas I felt the state sector (especially the first 3 years) have their hands tied by Ofsted. You must have seen the number of threads where parents are unhappy with approaches to reading for an able reader. I also wouldn’t view schools based on their Ofsted results - this does not give a picture of how good the school is. Go see it

Selective private schools want the brightest children - whether they come from private or state is irrelevant. However, those in the state sector will not have completed a fraction of the syllabus for 7 plus in school. You will need to do the work yourself or have them tutored. It is fairly common for a private school to have completed the syllabus (my DC certainly had by end of Y1) and then parents to still tutor for exam technique.
(We didn’t actually do 7 plus exams, just their prep had covered syllabus had we decided to)

Btw if you want an exam factory neither option is right. Both Northbridge and State schools are mixed ability - some children will go on to academic excellence some will find excellence in other ways. If you are only interested in results I suggest you look at highly selective nursery's/pre preps although I have seen parents who crumble when their children don't get in to those or don't get into target schools afterwards alongside their peers.

As a PP said go see some schools and think about a rounded education for your child rather than exclusively thinking about big name schools.

At the Highgate 7+ open day last month, the (new) head said they assess kids from state schools more ‘favourably’ than applicants from independent pre-preps. Not sure what that means in practice though!

So they followed the national curriculum? Weird thing for an independent school to do. I thought one of the advantages of an independent school was that they were free to set their own curriculum. Or was it their own curriculum they finished ahead of time?

@Brigadoon23 most independent schools follow the national curriculum, at least for maths/english . It outlines the bare minimum a child should learn. They then add to it and enrich it.