Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Wimbledon Schools - Nervous first time parent

2 replies

LemonBiscuit11 · 08/03/2026 20:17

Hello all! Hoping for some help please, would really appreciate any thoughts.

We’re non-religious and looking at houses around Wimbledon which would put us in catchment for Pelham Primary. It seems like a good school but not quite as strong as Dundonald or Wimbledon Chase, which we’d be outside the APA for unless we moved a few streets.

We’re trying to work out whether it’s worth compromising slightly on house/location to get into Dundonald or Chase instead. For parents who know the schools: does Pelham feel materially different in terms of culture / expectations and the peer group?

We noticed a smaller proportion of Pelham pupils seem to go on to grammar or independent schools compared with Dundonald/Chase (which may just reflect parent choices rather than the school itself).

We do realise all of these schools look good and that parental input probably matters more than the exact primary school. We’re first-time parents and don’t have real-world experience yet, so just trying to make a sensible decision without overthinking it too much.

Would really appreciate any first-hand experiences, especially around culture, socialisation of kids and secondary prospects.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
BendingSpoons · 10/03/2026 07:24

I vaguely know the schools, but not well enough to comment individually. As you say, I suspect it is mainly the parent body that produces the difference in 11+ results. The 'top' primaries are targeted heavily by the aspirational parents, who will also be the ones who tutor for 11+.

Where we live it's a similar picture. A friend viewed one of the 'top' primary schools to possibly move her son. The school said they don't do any specific 11+ prep (I don't think they are allowed to) and basically you have a higher proportion tutoring their child at home. In our more mixed school, there are still a decent number aiming for grammars, but a smaller proportion.

PlainSkyr · 10/03/2026 21:48

the key difference would be the parent community - WC & D have higher proportion of 11+ parents aiming for grammar/indie.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page