Suggest prep school

[expat3]

Dear all,

We have got our sons name in a very reputed prep school which is for 2-7 year old , mulberry house after 2 years of waiting.

Situation changed for us in two years. We moved out of London for a year after applying and now we have to move back . Which means he went to another preschool in this year. Total 2 play school already changed in past 2 years.

Now he will start reception in Mulberry House this September. My concern is we will again have to look for another school after three years and we are in London for next 5-6 years only. We are not British.

I was trying to find a prep school for my son in north , north west London or any other amazing area like west hampstead which is not too quiet and has parks and all . A prep school where he can continue for 5-6 years continuously. And then we exit London. Don't want too many changes for my son ... as we will be moving out of Uk . Don't want 2 schools in 6 years ...

Please suggest. Admissions must be done by now. But any good prep school which can consider transfer case.

Help please.

Hampstead hill school goes until 11 now. Also Ivy house is coed, in Golders hill and goes till 11

Are you looking for co ed only or boys only? There are tons of great prep schools in the area but the more selective ones may not have spots at the moment as their main intake is 4.

Have you accepted a place for September? Be aware of the standard terms’ notice period if you’re moving.

Where are you now? Why not just look there, moving back to London just for pre-prep seems mad.

Mulberry House is great for the prep years as they have small class sizes with only one class per year of about 20, it’s academic (if that’s the type of school you want), the children are very confident and get to take leadership roles as there are so few of them. Whereas Hampstead Hill School has up to 60 children in the prep years.

The non selective schools are usually not oversubscribed.

Just to clarify, some of the selective schools also do another intake at 7. How old is your son?

Thank you so much everyone 🙏🏻

Highgate? It's an all-through school

Children are quite resilient to change so it’s not necessarily a bad thing especially when they get older. (Settling my 2 year old at a new nursery was a complete nightmare but moving schools with my 7 year old was not)

Avoid Mulberry House. In hindsight we should have too. Hampstead Hill is much better and goes up to 11+.

To add to the above, this year many kids have no 4+ offers and are choosing to leave mulberry for Hampstead Hill starting Sep 24. They could have easily stayed on at Mulberry. I know lots of current parents at Hampstead Hill and so far haven’t heard of one switching to Mulberry this year. This itself speaks volumes.

Interesting as I have heard from Hampstead hill parents that they aren’t very happy with the school and very tutoring heavy for 7+ to attain the results. Hampstead hill only focuses on 7+ (or maybe only 11+ now with the change) so wouldn’t really expect anyone to switch from Hampstead Hill to Mulberry unless it’s for location.

For Mulberry, my friend mentioned for this 4+ cohort, the children did really well and has been many children with offers to the top schools (8-9 offers at NLCS etc)

i think at the end of the day it’s about each individuals experience and their desired outcomes - no school is perfect.

But to the OP’s question - yes Hampstead Hill will be a good choice if you were not intending on staying in London for longer than a couple of years post 7+. As is St Anthony’s.

You have a great choice of schools in that area. I would subscribe to the Good Schools Guide and do a search. Excellent schools include Herewood House, Trevor Roberts and Arnold House. I would say the Hall but it is impossible to get in there now.

4+ results are always unpredictable. There are children that move from hampstead hill to mulberry (in the prep years) and the same the other way as well. Remember that hampstead hill has 70+ children doing the 7+ and mulberry has between 16-20 so class sizes are very different. Last year the entire prep 1 class was existing mulberry children with no one new coming in and there was a long waiting list for a reception place. A lot of those that didn’t get places have gone to hampstead hill.

Mulberry house and Hampstead hill are very similar and these are marmite type of schools, its a fast pace targeted learning environment to get into the selective schools at 7+, some children struggle to cope with the pace then parents hate it, others make it through and parents love it.
The main point of 7+ is to avoid 11+ so If you are moving to England temporarily id completely avoid 7+ rat race in your place and will put a child in some prep school or all through school.

Hall is much easier to get into these days, last couple of years they made quite a few offers to the kids who didnt get any offers from other selective schools in the area, some just relocated from abroad and kids barely spoke any English and were made offers (something unheard of a few years back). of course OP missed the 4+ selection boat for 2024 reception but its worth registering for occasional place. its a nice school but quite limited in terms of the space/facilities (they need to walk somewhere) and i believe they ask for packed lunch ( at least they did in the past, its a big NO for me personally).

All other prep schools listed AH, HH, Trevor house are even easier to get in so OP can try.

All prep schools though will start prepping for 11+ so things might get unnecessarily heated (if you dont plan to continue education here)

OK, I stand corrected on the Hall. I agree, getting a place would not be a problem. BTW, the Hall is still getting big numbers into good schools. Self selected group, perhaps.

Packed lunch at the Hall only for reception. Only way to get in now is if someone leaves - and people do relocate/move countries - so worth putting your name on.

I think there's a 1/4 chance of the hall these days. That's hardly a guarantee of a place or 'not being a problem'

@Mumposty agree that the grass is always greener. There is a lot of tutoring at Mulberry at the 4+ level too. Don’t know about 7+ but should be the same as the 7+ is so much more difficult. Barring a few people, most seem to have been tutoring for 4+. Guess it’s the same as Hampstead Hill then for tutoring.

The problem is if a few start tutoring or if the teaching is not great quality, no one wants their child left behind.

This year Hampstead Hill 7+ doesn’t seem to be as good as previously- or am I wrong? Still very good but just compared to previous years..

When I said not a problem I meant getting a place somewhere including TR, AH, HHouse etc. Maybe not The Hall because people slightly fetishised it, at least they used to.

There are plenty of kids who ended up with none of those. Please prepare accordingly

I would agree with @preppingforlife. All of those schools are selective and highly sought after. They all have waiting lists for reception, when chance vacancies arrive they normally go to those first.