Feedback appreciated on primary education options in Hammersmith!!

[mammydee]

Hoping for some honest perspectives! our son starts Reception in September, and these are the options we've considered, all in or around the Hammersmith area:

• Earls Court Free School (state, part of the West London Free School family — though we have some concerns about stress and academic pressure)
• Kew Green Prep (independent) - offer extended, but it's a bit too far from us
• Ravenscourt Park Prep (independent — no spaces available to us)

Our priorities, roughly: a genuinely nurturing environment; good teaching, strong resources and good support; and a school that's strong on academics but with a real focus on extracurricular life too. DS is a keen reader, so somewhere that nurtures that without hot-housing him would be ideal. Longer term, Latymer is a genuine goal for us, so we want a school that could prepare him for that.

Our working assumption is that an independent would give him better resources, support and breadth, but I'd genuinely like to be challenged on that, especially by anyone who's seen a strong state free school deliver just as well.

So the real questions: for a child like this, is a good state free school enough on its own, or does a prep meaningfully add? If independent, would you choose Kew Green? Are there other independents in the area we should be looking at? And we'd really welcome an honest read on the West London Free School schools - is the academic pressure as intense as we've heard?

Any direct experience of these schools very welcome. WWYD?

Do you actually have a place at Earl’s Court free school? There is no pressure in the state system including free schools, you are misunderstanding the education system, pressure comes from parents. Go state, the pre prep schools are not full in Kew, you can move there at a later date, it’s not worth the journey for Reception.

I do have a place already. Our concerns more about a larger class size, potentially less resources, or more bullying? The stress part was about some detention cases I saw on other threads about WLFS?

But honestly we both grew up from state schools but we are not too familiar with the UK education systems for sure!

There are quite a few outstanding primary schools with good track records of getting kids into private schools in the area

@mammydee, just stick with the state school place and move later on if you want to. There is lots of movement in all year groups in London. It’s not worth the hassle of travelling to Kew. Also re secondary school, in 7 years time the cost of private school fees is going to be sooo high, you can’t really plan to commit so far in advance because the educational landscape keeps changing (partly due to government policy).

@poppybuttons I would disagree that there is no pressure in the state system. It very much depends on the culture set by school leaders. Teachers under pressure do not always manage to shield their classes from pressure and, despite the Ofsted ‘reforms’, being a headteacher is incredibly stressful, particularly if you do not have at least average results.

Yes @partystress, I agree (as I work in a state primary), but it’s not like the pressure in the west London preps for 7plus and 11plus - years of tutoring outside school and constant pressure on the dc from the parents.