Offer from academic school! Now DS is unsure!!!!

[letstalkaboutthis]

Hi!

My son currently attends an all-through private school. The school is good, but considering the fees we pay, I sometimes feel that the facilities and clubs could be better. It is also a mixed-ability school, and around 74% of students get A–A* grades. My son often gets full marks without studying much, which makes me feel he may not be sufficiently challenged there.

He has often said he would like to change schools because he feels he is not learning much (although I think this may partly be because the material is repeated). Because of this, he took the 11+ exams and was accepted to King’s College. However, none of his friends got into that school and they will not be going there, so now he feels unsure and is wondering whether he should stay where he is.

If he stays at his current school, he will probably continue to get good grades. But I feel that at King’s College he might be more challenged, develop more academically, and benefit from the facilities and clubs there.

I’m not sure what the best decision is. Should he stay at his current school, or should we send him to King’s College?

Do you mean he would lose his scholar status if he left and came back? Other than the impact of the fee discount (and only you can decide how much this bothers you), that sounds like something pretty minor unless it affects the opportunities they offer him - but surely would be negotiable given they know him.

Kings Wimbledon has a very good reputation. He’ll probably do as well academically at his current school as there. Look at what the extra value is in terms of grounds, facilities, clubs or interests and how they can be accommodated.
It can be quite difficult for a child used to being top academically to suddenly being more average amongst all clever children and it can lead to more pressure. This happened to my dc in maths. Despite getting a 9, they had to work at maths harder than some of their peers and subsequently felt they weren’t ’good’ at it when, in any other less academic school, they’d have been top. This can knock their confidence. However, it sounds like your ds is naturally clever if there was no prep for entry. I’d encourage him to give it a go and reassess at the end of year 7. There are likely to be spaces at his old school if he really doesn’t like it.

Or he could carry on until 6th form if he’s happy and move then. As others have said, it really doesn’t matter if he gets a mixture of grade 8’s or 9’s at GCSE. That will be enough for competitive entry to Kings and many other top London independents.

There are advantages to both. Kings is a great school, but having a happy settled school life where you're at or near the top of the pack is also a very beneficial experience. If he goes to Kings he'll likely be bang in the middle. Mine went to a very academic London private and all did very well, but I suspect they would have done very well anywhere and for one of them, anyway, I think if I could go back, we would have made a different choice.

Honestly, the GCSEs ultimately don't matter all that much - Latymer isn't even doing them any more. And he can always move at sixth form if he wants a more academic environment.

Well one thing to consider is that in his current "mixed ability" school (agree with PPs, that you need to consider how you are thinking about this - I think you mean "not as heavily academically selective as other schools") despite "not being challenged" he has managed to pass the entrance exam for Kings with no other preparation. So it's likely that his current school actually is working at quite a high level, but you can't see it as your perception is skewed by the intake.

11 year olds don't get to make decisions about schools. So you need to decide whether (assuming you can afford it and it's not too ridiculous a commute and other practical things) you want him to be in a more highly academic environment, or one where there are students who are not solely getting a string of top grades (albeit still good results). IMO getting top grades is a lot down to student motivation, and your child is likely to achieve similarly in both schools. So does he want pressure and more strongly minded peers and to be a small fish, or does he thrive in a more relaxed environment with more mixed peer group?

@oneoneone So what happens with universities that consider GCSEs when making offers then? Oxford and Bristol definitely do. Seems a bit odd.

Latymer has the GCSE subjects and awarding bodies on their web site.