DS starts reception in September and we have him registered at an independent prep nearby and the plan was always to send him there. It's the same school I went to primary and I adored it, as did all my siblings. We have extremely fond memories there but I don't want that to cloud my judgment.
We live 500m away from raglan primary and even the admissions dept told me we basically had no chance of getting in as it's so oversubscribed and their general radius for admissions is <200m. We thought we'd chance our arm and lo and behold, he got in. I am now completely torn.
Does anyone have experience of raglan? Are you happy?
We are keen for somewhere with good pastoral care, DS is a bright kid and very kind and sociable but doesn't necessarily prioritise making "friends" - he's happy to play by himself / with anyone but definitely won't be the cool kid, or the popular one. All we really care about is that he's happy and settled wherever he ends up.
We are not pushy parents and dont wish to push academia necessarily, but we do want somewhere that will challenge him and nurture him and push him to do well, and be a happy, kind and well rounded kid. We can afford private (there will be 3 of them there eventually) and shouldn't have to sacrifice much in order to be able to send them all, but I want to make sure the cost is worth it.
Raglan seems to be very well regarded locally and I know lots of friends over the years who have desperately wanted to get their DC in but have been largely unsuccessful. The prep is ofsted outstanding and raglan is good (although we do not place much weight on this) and I am as certain as I can possibly be that our children will thrive at the prep, especially our eldest as that's who's I'm focusing on for now. But is the extra cost worth it? I know that's probably "how long is a piece of string" but I guess I'd love to hear from local parents what their experience / knowledge is on raglan and do you think they can compare to a prep?
TIA