Joining London Prep School in Yr 6

[HowFarIsTooFar]

Very grateful for advice!

We are relocating to London from Home Counties. DS is in Year 5 and currently at an all through school (so hasn’t prepped for exams at all).

I’m wondering whether we move to a prep school that goes through to Year 8, or if I should accept moving in Year 6 and then again at Year 7.

My instinct is that it is better to give him some stability, rather than try to do two big transitions in two years. I also don’t know what would suit him for secondary, so I’m nervous about having to decide that so soon.

However I’ve heard a lot of London day schools are moving away from 13 plus, is that correct? Does that mean very limited options in Yr 9, basically you are looking for an Occasional Place and joining a year group with well established friendships?

Very grateful for advice.

Thank you so much!

As far as I know most London day schools do secondary transfer at 11.

When we left London when my DD finished year 6 we chose a through school so as to avoid her moving again at 13 (which is what happens where we now live). Perhaps you can find a school that goes straight through for your son. Do you know what area you'll be moving to?

Thank you @Okayornot - that is what worries me.

We’ll be renting at first so we won’t know exact location, but I want to end up in central/north london.

@HowFarIsTooFar , it's worth you spending some time in the secondary education section as the London secondary private school offers came out on Friday. You will see from the thread there is a lot less options for ds compared to dd. The all through central / north boys/ mixed schools with preps include
City
Highgate
UCS
Latymer upper
Travel out to Habs
Maybe Harrodian?

There is some thought that due to vat on fees central London parents are dropping the boarding school option focusing on London day schools instead making it even more competitive.

If you travel SE or SW you would have far more choice.

Also You may be aware that both Thomas's and Wetherby have newish senior schools so that may be an option but the Thomas's senior school will open in Richmond in Sept - moving from Putney vale.

You should probably get your ds assessed by an academic prep to see what they consider would be possible too, ie get him to sit an entrance exam for an occasional prep school place.

Thanks @redrobin75 - I’ll do that.

The thing I am worried about is it looks like City and UCS are phasing out their 13+ entry. So then you’d just be reliant on an occasional place?

Yes but also to get him into UCS or City you would need to find an academic prep that would take him on. Prep schools don't like taking dc into year 6 if they need too much work to catch up. Remember for 13 plus the entrance exams still start in Nov of year 6.

If you would move to the Surrey side of sw London or somewhere like Dulwich or north to St Albans you would have far more choice

Also if your ds in a school with facilities on site how would he feel about travelling to SE london (Grove Park) for his sports if he went to City. You probably need to speak to some prep schools and view some secondary schools. I would also contact Harrodian and envisage living on a train line to Barnes.

Thank you - so so helpful.

He is an academic kid (although I appreciate London seems to operate on a different standard to everywhere else in the country!).

We need to be within easy access of Kings Cross area so pretty set on NW London. But doesn’t seem straightforward for schools. Will crack and start making some calls!

@HowFarIsTooFar , for KX I would start by contacting Forest School and Mill Hill
School as they are both all through.
Yes academic in a central London school is completely different to outside London, in central London you are competing globally.

We have done exactly this and are based v close to KX. Our DS has just received offers from City, UCS and Highgate and awaiting Westminster. It’s a v tough year to join but doable 😵‍💫. Feel free to DM me - v happy to give tips too on the preps you could go for.

If your son is currently year 5 and you haven’t started any prep, you may want to get him to sit some mock tests at a centre that give you benchmark expectations and will give you advice based on your child’s test result.

The schools you have listed City, UCS etc are extremely hard to get into and have 500 candidates for 36 places at 11+. Most kids start tutoring Year 4 at the absolute latest.

We started Year 5 as we moved house so 11+ wasn’t on our radar earlier than this. DS scored in the bottom 40% percentile at the mock test centre. Of the schools that gave feedback he came in the bottom 20%. He scored in the top 1% for state school SATS so clearly exceptionally smart by state school standard but London 11+ is like being on another planet and you are up against exceptionally competitive families.

Bancrofts is all through and is a good school but it's East not North. I think it's better than Forest, which is down the road (unless a PP's 'Forest' is a different one). It's not really near the tube though.

Thanks all - very grateful for the advice