Less expensive London prep schools

[Anteater5]

Hello - we are looking to move house at the minute and have a son who will be applying for school next year. We are planning on prep school but also planning on having at least one more child so would like it not to be one of the super premium schools.

Super open to any suggestions! We would ideally be around Fulham area but as we say we are moving so not tied to there. Looking for somewhere with small class sizes, pastoral and ideally academic with some good sports facilities (a golden egg, I know!). Also ideally coed in case a future child is a girl.

thank you in advance!

I think you're better off subscribing to the Good Independent Schools guide (or similar title if you google it) and then you can filter your requirements.

Is there much variation in prep fees? Yes, there is for Seniors but I thought preps were all within the ~ £5/6k for reception to ~ £9k for y8 range.

(London preps at least)

I think there’s quite a bit of variation, if not for pre-prep then definitely prep. We looked at 2 schools (both owned by Dukes Education) where the prep fees were £8.5, pre-prep was about 7!

Edit: so OP probably knock anything owned by Dukes off your list!

Unless you move out to the outer suburbs you won't find any prep 'less expensive' and easy to commute to from Fulham.

That's what we did ( North London zone 2 in our case to Wallington).

In your shoes, I'd either move out to Surrey or Kent or Essex etc or do state till 11 and use the saved money for the real jump in prices for senior schools. Most of the state primary schools in Fulham are full of parents doing the same, saving for private school at 11+ if their DC fails to get into grammar or other semi selective school like Greycoats, etc.

Closet prep to Fulham with less full on fees is Wandsworth Prep, and that's only a few grand cheaper than Fulham prep and a huge pain for commuting with a 5 year old.

OK, £7k is the higher end for pre-prep but £8.5k for prep is reasonable.

Dolphin School (SW11) is cheaper than the average prep but you wouldn’t want to commute from Fulham.

Where I am (which is much further out than Fulham), fees range from £12k in Reception to £12-£16k in year 6.

@BendingSpoons I think previous posters are referring to cost per term! Certainly Fulham prep is just under 7k per term at pre-prep.

Oh that makes much more sense! Yes the cheaper, less well known preps where I live are £4-6k per term.

While a higher price certainly does not guarantee a better "product" (education, experience, etc), I'd be wary of targeting explicitly lower cost preps.

The combination of cost of living/lower birth rates/possible VAT on fees means not as many students are enrolling, and the less "desirable" schools are having to compete for students. If they don't have the reputation or facilities, one way they may choose to compete is on price.

At the end of the day, though, most private school "consumers" are relatively price insensitive (especially in central London) and will choose wherever they think is best for their kids -- and that's going to leave some lower tier preps struggling and even closing. There have already been a couple of closures and mergers around our part of SW London.

I agree with other posters here -- rather than looking for a unicorn "good value" prep, get them into a good local state school, supplement with tutors, extracurriculars, etc, and save up for secondary. School fee rises over the past 20 years have far outstripped inflation and pay rises, and they show no sign of slowing down, so think long and hard before making this commitment.

I say all this as a fellow mum about to send her first child off to a prep this year, and thinking about the massive financial commitment ahead!

Sorry, not sure what happened with the strikethrough there! Not intended.

I agree, if you have flexibility about where you live, move to an area with an outstanding state primary. There are so many positives: easy walk to school, friends are all local, get to know local parents/families and feel part of the community (important if you’re moving to a new area) and extra money and time for extracurriculars and tutoring if then looking at selective secondary schools.

I do understand your desire for small class sizes, which state won’t provide, but from our experience, having to learn to cope with a large class - and many different personalities - early on has served our DC well later in their schooling. State won’t have sports facilities, but most London preps won’t have that either (some London senior schools don’t even have that!). You’re probably better off doing extracurricular sports at that age anyway.

PP’s point about some private preps closing is an important one. This may start happening more and more with a fall in birth rate and threat of VAT meaning some private schools can’t get enough pupils to stay open.