Is poor communication from London private prep schools now standard?

[CommunicationNation]

FWIW, we are located in London. I have reached out to four private prep schools, this includes emails and telephone calls. The communication has been dire, with 3 out of 4 not bothering to contact me back (I contacted them before Easter), and the 1 that did contact me back promised a phone call the following day which never materialised.

These schools aren’t cheap, they are all in the region of £30k+. Is this just standard practice that private schools do not respond or are poor communicators? I have heard great things about these schools and they are well regarded locally, but I feel as though I am harassing them to take my money, when it should be the other way around! There is the other possibility that I could have been blacklisted, though I have no idea why, none of these schools have met me or my DC before.

my kids prep school was good (ish) at communicating with parents.

prospective parents less so. They were very over subscribed.

I do understand being oversubscribed and that it’s a busy time of year for admissions, but it seems madness to me to not acknowledge emails and phone calls, or even worse, promise phone calls back and then just not bother. Should I keep trying or move on to different schools? I feel as though I am begging them to consider my child, which is insane considering the price I would be paying.

There’s normally a process. With open mornings. Assessments and the like.

they don’t normally encourage contact outside the process because so many applicants/contacts.

presume you are looking for out of normal year application?

honestly most preps are oversubscribed and it’ll just be a no.

No, not at all standard in SE London, but they have been shut for around 3.5 weeks for Easter. It’s a long old holiday in prep school land. Not excusing failing to call back but if there’s just one person in admissions its tricky during a holiday shut down.

What are you asking?

Is this normal, should I continue to contact them, is this indicative of the general standards of the schools?

I do understand that, and I thought I would hear back from the schools today, given they’ve now been back since Monday (one of them since Tuesday). But it’s been absolute radio silence. Do I wait longer, do I continue to contact them, do I write them off as being full or poor communicators that I do not want my child to attend anyway?

What are you asking of them exactly? Is it info you’d get from their website or open days?

It’s information regarding reception availability for 26/27 and when we can organise a taster day after visiting the school for a private tour. They all advertise private tours and advise parents should contact them.

You need to stop right there OP.

I know this system well, and the parents who really don't get on and don't fit in are the ones who lean on "the large amount of money we are dangling."

Seriously, these schools have positively overflowing waitlists, and ALL of the parents are going to pay them. Some will have four dc lined up to go, or relatives in high places who can offer all sorts of other perks - even if just that Grandpa can come in and talk about his time running the country or whatever.

The parents who rock up thinking its a big deal they can pay the fees run into lots of problems ... It's genuinely no big deal to them if they are some of the better regarded London preps. Most dc will have been waitlisted at birth. I've known dc to miss out because they were enrolled weeks after birth.

I'm in N London and most preps have been good with communication (the undersubscribed ones reaching out multiple times). But we've always done the normal admissions cycle so most emails were generic and I didn't have specific issues I needed to discuss. I've usually done the general open day visits so not needed much direct contact with the schools.

That is perfectly fine, ultimately they are businesses though and I can’t imagine a business just not acknowledging emails / phone calls / promise to phone back the following day and then they don’t. It’s surely ‘not a good look’.

My opinion likely isn’t helped by the fact I work in PR and I would lose my job if I didn’t communicate well with clients.

Demand vs supply: oversubscribed London schools ‘sales’ service for prospective families (buyers) is likely to be less responsive.

Doubt it’s an indicator of school quality or their comms once your DC are in.

Think you need to get real about dynamics of the London schools market.

They are businesses up to a point.

They need a certain number of children to fill their places and beyond that the need to court custom drops away.

And their reputation flies on their results and treatment of actual parents, not returning phone calls of prospective parents.

There is an arrogance in it, and if it bugs you, it isn't the right place. But any hint of annoyance and you won't be welcomed is my advice. This is a case of whatever the opposite of "beggars can't be choosers" is. I know a mum who early in Reception stormed in and complained about something and was literally told if she didn't like it, better to leave early while her dc could still join another school's cohort without missing too many weeks.

Exactly.

You’re looking for a reception place for this September?! Good luck. The taster day is for them to invite you to if they want. Asking when a taster day can take place before you’ve even been in contact with them is interesting. Have you acknowledged that you are applying very late in the process?

I agree. People are saying they’re over subscribed/full, but from what it sounds like you’ve already had a private tour - why on earth would they have arranged this for you if they were full for the entry point you want? It would be a waste of their time. Even if they are full it takes 2 minutes to email back saying ‘sorry we have no space’ and they should do that IMO.

i worked in a very small prep outside London and this would not be how we responded - but we were not full and very low on numbers so every potential applicant was treated like royalty!

You have left it late to apply for 2026 entry but if they has spaces presumably they’d be keen to get you in asap. Have you tried calling instead of emailing?

Unless that's a typo that's probably your problem. Most schools will have already finalised their intake for September, and even if someone does drop out (unlikely as they'd have to pay the first terms fees) they'll have a waiting list ready to take the next person off. They'll only be interested if they're undersubscribed and still have places to fill, but in that case I'd be worried about their financial health.
If it was a typo and you meant 27/28 then you're probably looking too soon and should probably wait for the open days.

Yeah OP I think you seem to be coming from well outside the "circle of knowledge" as it were, and you need to be careful how you tread if you want the chance at a rogue free spot.

All my dc's classmates knew they had a place at the school when they started nursery, and most had known from well before.

It does depend a little on the actual school, but there are a handful that are first-in, first-served from birth. Without knowing the school, we cannot help you with that, but you will have an idea if it's one of the very well-esteemed ones.

OP - with respect, you sound a bit naïve re school admission process. Did you just move to Central London?

You are writing to prep-schools in the summer term - inquiring about Reception place for the next academic year. You do realise that these schools ran some sort of selection process back in the fall/winter, and allocated places by now. There is probably a waiting list already that is closed.
Why are you expecting these schools to offer you a settling in tour???

"The amount of money we'll be paying them" - that attitude is not going to get you far in Central London private schools system. There is more demand than supply, despite the cost of living crisis. So - you still need to understand the system and work with it on its terms.

For e.g. - if you are applying out of regular time - your write a nice letter, explain your situation, and say how excited you are about the school, and ask to be put on a waiting list. Then follow up regularly - show interest and commitment.
If you work in PR - you must understand what you need to do.... do PR for your family.... not the other way around, as you seem to expect.

My experience exactly. They have a system, and they are excellent within that system. If you want something bespoke, you need to be more patient.

You also say they are “businesses”. Many - and indeed most of the best ones - are absolutely not businesses in the sense of trying to generate a profit for private owners or shareholders. They are not for profit organisations, they are oversubscribed so aren’t like a business that can just sell more to make more money, and they are trying all the time to be as efficient as possible so as not to put fees up even higher following VAT and having to increase teacher salaries (quite rightly) in the COL crisis. They may well only have a single admissions officer who will have returned from the Easter break to dozens of emails from prospective parents. You will probably get a reply. If you don’t, a polite “sorry to chase, just wanted to follow up on my email below as it may have slipped through the cracks over the Easter break”.

(I know some private schools are now owned by private equity groups or profit-making companies. Generally not the most highly regarded schools though.)

If you work in PR - you must understand what you need to do.... do PR for your family.... not the other way around, as you seem to expect.

That's a very good way of putting it.

So in short you haven’t got in the school that you chose and now frantically looking for a private place. Most people do it the opposite way around and have the space as a back up if not successful in normal application to school of choice.