Kensington Prep diversity?

[Elrond]

Hi all, I am considering Kensington Prep for reception for my daughter, but a bit worried about the school environment having seen Porsches doing pick ups! Wanted to hear from current parents on diversity at school, whether girls feel any peer wealth pressure, and make friendships regardless? How would you compare the school to other GDSTs in South West or other privates (Broomwood, Newton...?)

@B05 I mentioned in an earlier post that the attendance record in our Y6 was staggeringly low (most days, about half the girls would be off). I'd thought at the time that everyone was tutoring at home (I'm sure many were - there was certainly no point in being at Ken Prep to prep for 11+ - the academics were risible) but now I wonder if others were taking time off because of pastoral issues too. School was so bad for our DD's mental health and general happiness by Y6 that we were totally fine her spending time at home instead, especially once exams kicked in. The last thing she needed was to be in a school with a toxic peer group and incompetent, gaslighting teachers.

Plenty of people in our year group had planned to complain to the governors and the GDST about Ken Prep once they'd left, but I don't know how many did. I know some good teachers who'd left - who'd been appalled by the change in culture at the school - were planning to write and express their concerns too. Maybe that's why the current head is finally leaving. But it will take years to turn the school around, if ever.

That's great that your DD has had such good support from her primary school and now secondary. I just hope that, in time, Ken Prep seems a thing of the distant past for both our girls.

@TheGreatOutdoors23 I hope so too 🤞🏼and do hope that a collective formal complaint can be arranged one day because no child deserves to go though this, especially when the adults at school play a role in it.

@B05 Unfortunately, I think most parents feel that post 11+, once their child is almost out of that place, they just want to leave and not look back. Which is obviously not great for future years. All the parents in our year whose kids were going to GDST senior schools didn't want to rock the boat with the GDST. And nobody (except a tiny handful of parents) would challenge any of it prior to 11+ in some mistaken belief that the Head would give the child a bad reference or refuse to help if you didn't get the senior schools you wanted. As it was, she did nothing for the parents who didn't get their first choice school anyway.

The other massive question is how the governors and the GDST management team seem to have absolutely no clue as to what a terrible culture has been created at Ken Prep. Where's the oversight? What's the point of governors and a GDST senior management team if they have no clue what's actually going on in the school? Surely the mass departure of great teachers should have been a huge red flag at the very least.

If you're considering sending your daughter to Kensington Prep, it's probably best not to pay too much attention to an obviously disgruntled former parent or two.

Of course nowhere's perfect and improvements can always be made. It was a shame that the excellent head of science left, but she'd spent six years working for the current head and has left the teaching profession entirely - make of that what you will.

The former head of sport was completely out of her depth, however, and this was evident when she was on maternity leave. Her maternity cover was a noticeable improvement. No loss there and I wouldn't be surprised if she was managed out.

The longstanding head of music (Mr B) who left a few years ago, was a one of a kind and very well liked by students and teachers alike. The more recent head of music (Mrs R) was a marmite character, to say the least!

As a previous poster mentioned, this is London and turnover is to be expected.

Unfortunately some parents believe that paying fees at a West London prep school should guarantee their daughter entry to their school of choice. Naturally these types see no shortcomings in their own offspring!

Teaching has similarities to managing a football team - drunk bores in a pub think they can do better than a Premier League manager, except it's snarky messages on WhatsApp or Mumsnet with parents for teachers. That's not to say that teaching can't be improved, but is it a case of grass is greener elsewhere? Possibly..

On the whole, the seven years my daughter spent at Ken Prep (six of which was under Mrs H's leadership) was a highly positive experience. Bullying was never a problem or ever spoken about, at all. Was it really bullying or a highly irritating girl who annoyed everyone in the year group and struggled to form friendships because of this?

Tutoring is unfortunately rife at all West London prep schools. On the whole it probably makes little difference to the outcomes. Some parents tutor (I include parent 1:1 study time as tutoring - it's the same) because they have unrealistic expectations of their child. Other parents feel they need to do it so their child isn't at a disadvantage. The impact is probably marginal at best.

In summary, Ken Prep's a school that's well worth considering and is mostly attended by girls who live within walking distance of the school, giving it a local community feel. Having outside space for netball courts onsite is also a bonus that few central London schools can offer.

Good luck in your school search!

@WestLondonPrep this is exactly the toxic culture I am referring to- parents of children who aren’t treated kindly get dismissed for speaking up and raising awareness.
its very sad and immature for an adult judging children who were mistreated and describe them as “irritating kids who annoyed everyone in the year group” where as in reality you do not know anything about their real experience. But then again your post was very much aligned with Ken Prep’s entitled culture.

I’m genuinely glad that your daughter had a wonderful experience at Ken Prep and won’t dismiss the fact the some children do. But that doesn’t mean that those who didn’t have a good experience should be bashed for sharing their experience.
We have been to two other west London schools (primary and secondary) since Ken Prep and have had amazing experiences at both. That said, there are parents who are t happy with those school and they have the right to be heard.
I strongly suggest that we live in harmony and not spread hate on innocent kids who have suffered bullying. It’s not a great place for a child to be and just because your child hasn’t experienced it it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen!

I completely agree @b05.

If any parent needs further confirmation of the toxic culture at Ken Prep, then WestLondonPrep's post should tell you all you need to know. Referring to 10 year olds in such a disparaging way is pretty revolting behaviour. Perhaps their child was one of the bullies in their year group. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, after all. And denying the experience of multiple posters on various threads on here - many of whom report the same bullying and toxic culture, across different year groups - smacks of the kind of parental arrogance and ignorance I'm happy to have left behind.

@TheGreatOutdoors23 you are right. This post was a great reminder of how happy I also feel to have moved my child away from that arrogant culture!

I fully agree with @WestLondonPrep. I commiserate with those parents and girls who have had a difficult experience at the school but the majority of girls at Ken Prep are happy and thriving. No school is perfect. And not every school suits every child. I’m also slightly raising my eyebrows at parents who have left the school but who still have oodles of energy to levy negative sentiments against the institution long after their daughters have left. You’ve come out attempting to steamroll the first balanced post on this thread so I have to wonder what your larger agenda is.

I just hope prospective parents read this and at least see that the school is a source of passion for girls and parents even long after they’ve left. I think many will struggle to find a better prep school for girls. It’s a wonderful community with happy children but yes, it can’t be for everyone. No such school exists.

I have 1 girl remaining at the school; two have now left. Sadly I have seen the school change for the worse over the past few years. The bullying is a serious, unchecked issue. In the older years it’s psychological, but there is also a lot of physical violence in the lower years- biting, kicking, hitting, and even one occasion involving a chair being thrown by a particularly problematic child which injured her classmates. The current head is completely resistant to feedback of any description and refuses to acknowledge there is a problem. The 11+ preparation is woefully bad: the girls are just not prepared properly by the school. They waste time in the autumn term of year 6 doing visits to old people’s homes and getting the year 6 girls to help hand out Christmas cards to the lower years: what a waste of time when they have important exams! It was infuriating, and the teacher in charge of 11+ had no prior experience.

@Onedayatatimetoo rest assured we have no interest or passion for the Ken Prep’s toxic people at this point and we are more than pleased with our amazing secondary school. As for me, an unhappy current mum from Ken Prep sent me this thread to let me know how things still haven’t improved and my agenda in posting for the first time in my life here is to raise awareness for the prospect parents so that they don’t go into the school blindly.

@Juicystar thank you for your honest feedback as a current parent who has seen the school’s downfall. We also realised that the head was aggressively resistant towards any feedback that was not positive!
also, as my final post, I’d like to mention that I made friends with two staff members there that I’m still in touch with and both repeatedly have told me how badly the school in managed both in terms of toxicity amongst the kids and the staff!
that said, good luck to everyone who is joining Ken Prep.

@Onedayatatimetoo A post that describes bullied children as "highly irritating" isn't what I'd call balanced.

@WestLondonPrep I have one daughter who left a few years ago and one still at the school. Both girls are what one would consider “popular “ with friends and well liked so it’s certainly not a case of an “annoying girl” ( even thought that’s shocking to refer to child this way as deserving being bullied ?) however they regularly described some really nasty behaviour that isn’t managed and totally denied - physical aggression was not imaginable 7 years ago and would
have been dealt with swiftly - not anymore , the playground is like lord of the flies and the stuff that happens is very concerning and has been raised numerous times with the school- again the answer is we havent seen it really so can’t do anything about it. For my older daughter I’m aware of a girl that was so badly bullied by a teacher that she didn’t come back to school after the exams - teacher still there.
the school has excellent facilities and amazing potential to be a fantastic school again but right now facts are facts - academics pitiful I even see it in the difference of a few years as have many friends with even older daughters and the change has been sad for all as it used to be a happy academic neighbourhood school. I genuinely hope a new head will turn it around but as things stand we are all cheering that Ms H is leaving !

Anyone here joining Reception 25? 😀

Was it really bullying or a highly irritating girl who annoyed everyone in the year group and struggled to form friendships because of this?

Am I the only one to comprehend the "highly irritating girl" in this sentence as the alleged bully rather than the alleged victim?

It was in respond to other MNs saying their daughters were bullied and knew others girls in year group having a tough time.

"It's a private school in an affluent neighbourhood with fees over £20k per year, wealthy parents are obviously the norm"

Indeed. What sort of diversity were you expecting, @Elrond?

Yes! I definitely wasn't getting that, especially with the high volume of parental unease around KP in recent years. I've been horrified by some of the things I have heard.

I had 2 daughters there and I have seen the school both pre & post Ms H. It was very sad to see such a great school turning into such a dark, toxic place for girls, as well as for teachers and staff. Best teachers left one after other. Bullying became the default culture.
My younger daughter was victim of bullying and physical violence. I am not talking about one occasion, it was ongoing day in day out! The aggressive denial and gaslighting from Ms H despite several witnesses and report from the GP was excruciating. Finally I had to stop sending my child to school for her mental and physical safety. I simply kept her at home for an entire term.
She left 3 years ago and even though she is very happy thriving in her secondary school, PTSD still surfaces time to time.

Yes, I still take the time and give my energy 3 years after we left, to share my horrid experience at KPS so that no other child and family has to go through what we went through. No other agenda.

"All the girls have tutoring from a young age, extra classes and workshops all to boost their 11+."
Simply not true. Maybe a small minority at SPGS (or any other top London day school) have been tutored for years. Most haven't.

You are unfortunately very deluded if you think a school that has 700 applicants for 120 places, that most applicants are not tutored.

The two girls I know who got in were tutored to within an inch of their life. Their mother prepped them from the age of 2 for 4+, 7+, 11+ etc. Every single minute was spent doing homework she set them and she would sit them down every single Sunday and not let them move from their chair until they finished the work she set.

Was it really bullying or a highly irritating girl who annoyed everyone in the year group and struggled to form friendships because of this?

You validated the comments made by the PPs (TheGreatOutdoors23 and B05) regarding bullying by that one sentence alone.

How sad - I wonder how damaging this is to their mother/daughter relationship

She's not deluded at all. Most of them have had some preparation but few have been extensively tutored to this extent for years on end. The two girls you know have been unlucky. Parents with girls at the school see a broader spread than just two children.

I think it depends on what you mean by "years", "tutoring" and "preparation". Focused 11+ exam prep throughout Year 5 is quite common among successful applicants, as are things like creative writing classes and camps and other workshops starting well before that. And it is true that quite a few of the successful applicants to SPGS spent time preparing for the 7+ process as well; many of these girls barely had a breather in Years 3 and 4.

Parents with girls at the school see a broader spread than just two children.

Parents with girls at the school are often less than open about how much preparation their girls had. The girls have a better idea of whom they ran across previously at various camps and workshops.

"Bullying was never a problem or ever spoken about, at all. Was it really bullying or a highly irritating girl who annoyed everyone in the year group and struggled to form friendships because of this?"

What a very embarrassing thought for an adult to put into words, I don't think your support for the school will be all that enticing to many when linked to a mentality like this.

This, however, isn't normal, not even at the most selective schools:

The two girls I know who got in were tutored to within an inch of their life. Their mother prepped them from the age of 2 for 4+, 7+, 11+ etc. Every single minute was spent doing homework she set them and she would sit them down every single Sunday and not let them move from their chair until they finished the work she set.

I wouldn't know re camps and workshops. We didn't do that sort of thing.