7+ for girls in North London?

[timefortea43]

Hi all,

Starting to think about school options for DD who is currently 3. Our 8 year old DS started in a local state school then we moved him to independent at 7+ (trying to avoid the stress of 11+). We had planned to do the same for DD, trying to save money for the first few years and also our local state primaries are lovely and I'd rather she had a few years in mixed state school before looking at the independents, a lot of which are single-sex.

However a friend mentioned that 7+ options are a lot more limited for girls than boys and recommended we just go straight in at 4+. Is this true? I would rather avoid doing this if possible (mainly the fees) but equally I don't want to wait until year 7 and would rather avoid the stress of the 11+ for her too.

We would prefer that she goes into a through school so options would be Channing, South Hampstead, Highgate (not my first choice), any others?

DS is at UCS so need to factor in school commute too and not having them miles apart.

Any advice welcomed! Thank you

NLCS? CLSG?

Habs Girls

St John's (Ridgeway)

Not an expert re 7+, but my friends have said Channing do not have a 7+ intake (their main intake is 4+). SHHS take an equal number at 4+ and 7+. I understand that NLCS's main intake is also 4+. There are, of course, occasional spots at 7+.

How about St Christopher's though they are not a through school so you would need to sit 11+.

As @BubbleTe says, Channing don't have an official entry point at Year 3 (7+) so that's only an option if there happens to be an occasional space come up.

Others do take fewer - in most cases far fewer - at 7+; NLCS take 8-10 at Yr3 vs about 40 at reception; Highgate take about 50 (boys and girls) at Yr 3 vs 60 at reception. Habs take about 10 at Yr3 vs 40 in reception.