West London Prep

[pushmepullmewestlondon]

I hope you can help me.

We are moving to West London in 2 weeks. It is quick and we have no school for our DD (year 4). I know of state school places so I am not worried and can apply once we have moved.

We would like her to go to a very good Independent Secondary School. We see that in West London they are very good but also very competitive, in Hammersmith. We want this and do not want to pay for just a nice school, we do want a very good education.

Our DD has lots of hobbies and we want her to do them, also to help her make more new friends. We worry a primary school will mean lots of extra tutoring outside of school, and perhaps we are already behind.

So we think we should try to send her to a good prep school. Are there any that would take her after half term, or the summer term. Or is it too late. I see we are too late for Latymer Prep but I don't know about any others. I know year 3 is the usual entry point and year 4 they start the 'prep'. Is she is too far behind because she is to come from a state school and they would not take her?

Anybody know of preps that have spaces? We will be near Ravenscourt Park W6 tube. We can drive or tube if necessary to any good prep school.

Thank you in advance.

You will just need to call around anywhere of interest, both through schools and preps. You get more movement than you’d think and spaces will come up sometimes even in very popular school. Ask to go on a list for spaces if there is nothing right now.

I would flag that whilst a good prep will certainly help a lot towards 11+, many parents also tutor even when school discourages it. So I wouldn’t assume a prep school will be doing everything for you.

Thank you. Yes, I assume some outside work too but not as much as would be needed if at a state school I hope. One tutoring firm said a 3 hour assess and 1 hour a week now, 2 times a week year 5, then 3 times for year 6. I assume this comes with homework that is more hours. I was not prepared for London schools.

You could try seeing if there are any occasional places at the likes of Bute house, glendower, Faulkner house - and maybe put her down on list for any that come up if you get into another school.

If your longer term aim is to get into the top secondary schools any prep by itself won’t be enough - you will have to do a bit of work at home and maybe even tutor if necessary

Orchard House School seems to be a popular local prep school in West London and has good results in terms of offers at 11+