Best feeder schools for St Paul's Girls' and Westminster?

[Newgirlandboy]

Does anyone have thoughts for the best prep schools to feed Westminster and St Paul's Girls'?

This is for a very bright, all rounder, international student. Obviously Westminster Under School, but which are the other best options for both?

Thank you

Bute house, falkner, glendower, Kensington prep

Agree with the above however it depends which year group your dd is in - Bute has a big year 3 intake with many girls coming from Kensington Prep and Glendower, which means space gets freed up at those schools also.
Falkner rarely has any vacancies after 4+ as hardly anyone leaves and somehow those that leave don’t always get replaced. Another place to consider is Pembridge which is non selective.

Thanks so much. This is for entry next September 2027, into yr 4. I read the Bute rarely has space available after y3. Thank you for your help

https://www.londonpreprep.com/2026/05/westminster-under-11-feeder-preps/

https://www.londonpreprep.com/2026/05/st-pauls-girls-school-feeder-schools-2026/

This lady writes a blog about this stuff - here are her posts from this year.

One thing - St Paul’s Girls now has a policy that they won’t take girls who have to travel more than 50 minutes door to door. So you would want to live in west London.

It's unclear how or whether they enforce that policy. I know that several girls who started within the last few years, long after they published the policy, have commutes of well over an hour. I don't know if their parents told the school that they would move house and didn't follow through, or if the school uses Google Maps driving time in no traffic when the girl actually takes public transport, or something else. Also the school itself sponsors a coach which is scheduled to take over an hour to/from the furthest stop at East Finchley.

Fair enough - I don’t know either. When I was looking at schools for my daughter, the policy was enough to put me off as Citymapper showed we were 53 minutes away (which, realistically, is too far away for an eleven year old to travel).

Thanks so much everyone, appreciate your help

I'd start with an important caveat: these schools aren't necessarily 'feeders' in any formal sense. Despite what league tables suggest, the majority of pupils who win places at Westminster and St Paul's Girls' have been heavily prepared and tutored for the entrance exams, so the school name on its own doesn't guarantee an outcome. Better to focus on tutoring for entry to these schools, as the schools are a business, and like to take the credit when most pupils have had intensive tuition for entry to Westminster or SPGS.

Kensington Prep now have an arrangement with GDST where the girls have a guaranteed place for Y7. In your shoes I’d go for that option so you have either SPGS else a range of GDST to pick from.

That’s interesting! Did they mention which GDST school they guarantee a place for ?

@nblove- the guarantee is for a place at a GDST senior school, so I’d assume any of them - depends on where you apply I guess. Not sure of the process but I’m sure Ken Prep will be eager to explain if you ask.

I’m a GDST parent and we got this via internal comms.

I’m just intrigued since the selectiveness of the school varies greatly within the GDST eg South Hampstead or Putney High vs Blackhealth high so even though they guarantee a place, if you lived in Fulham and get offered Blackhealth high, you are unlikely to accept despite the offer. It’s not like they are guaranteeing a place at the more selective ones.

Is it just for Kensington prep or even The Study in Wimbledon which is also prep?

The Study has also been recently included so yes they get a guaranteed place too.

i believe the GDST are reasonable and should allow you to pick a school within commuting distance. Perhaps you might not get your top choice (depending on the score) but you might get your 2nd/3rd choice?

I don’t know how it would work but I imagine if your child applies at 3 GDST schools, the admissions team would coordinate and see where they sit within each ranking and offer the one that suits them the most given demand / supply. It’s usually not terribly hard to move between GDST schools if vacancies arise.

Yes that makes sense and the fact the prep school already knows the child so can better place what is suitable for them. Thank you for the insider info