Getting into a north London private school at secondary

[littletinkers]

I have heard from a few friends that to get into schools like habs, or ucs or south hampstead school for girls or henrietta barnet you really have to have kids in a prep school unless they are exceptionally bright. Would be grateful for opinions on this. Thanks.

Not true. Especially for HB and QE Boys (know these schools well).

You may need to tutor your children, though. But only do it if they are very bright and high achieveing anyway. These schools can spot the 'tutored to within an inch of their lives' kids a mile off.

excuse typos. I am not a high achiever myself, obv

Hi Stikmatix!
My NLCS DD has friends around the corner and 1 1/2 hours away. They all live within a 45 min. radius of the school which seems to be the tolerance point. The CLSG DD has friends in Chelsea, Islington and Hampstead. UCS DS has mostly local friends.

When they get to senior school, you don't drive them around except at night. They don't want to be seen with you. This is different if you live in the 'burbs. In my experience, the Harrow and beyond crowd have much more sheltered kids. One mum was horrified when my 12 year old pitched up at Brent Cross having taken the bus to meet her DD who she wouldn't leave alone until the girls hooked up. Even then, she sat in Starbucks until they were ready to leave. Insisted on phoning me to make sure it was ok!

Some of the schools group the children in the early years by geography to encourage local friendships. Frankly though, they are so tired at the end of the day (much longer in private schools) that week day playdates are a bad idea.

Yes, you're in a different area to us, we fall into the "beyond" category, hence your kids schools were never on our radar, plus I wanted my DDs to go to my old school (managed the first 2, fingers crossed for DD3 for 2012!).

I hope that we're feeding the poster some useful info!

I don't have anywhere near those sort of distances though. Mine are all juniors still, and I agree a lot of parents are and will remain super sheltered. The thing is, there are a lot of areas where public transport is non-existant, so parents become taxis even in senior. Lucky for us we have a bus stop with 2 routes less than 5 mins walk and the tube station only 15 mins walk, so they'll be sorted when they get to senior!

One of each. We would consider moving if necessary. We have chance of a very very good local primary but not certain - small catchment of course. Not willing to split twins (they are v close and would be traumatic at 4) so would have to be a co-ed prep. Hampstead is ok as already north london. Going to apply to prep schools as a back up (should we not be in catchment) and if they get in then we'll make up our minds. Devonshire house is on our list. King Alfreds also. Mill Hill is maybe manageable - harrow too far. Any other coeds you know of? thanks.

By the way... what is G+T provision? I know G&T provision and doubt that happens in schools?!

G+T is gifted and talented (you may need one of the other kind...or 6!). Devonshire House does not have a great track record at 4+. Girls leave at 11 and boys at 13. King Alfred's is not academic. It is laid back, full of celebs and very trendy.
Many private schools have coaches. Worth getting the routes now if you want to move. I couldn't manage 3 kids at 3 schools without them.

We have boy/girl twins so v complicated. So far Devonshire house and Northbridge seem like options. Weighing up pros and cons of applying to single sex schools - will they be traumatised or willl it do them the world of good, develop separate identities etc etc. I am concerned more than anything about the commute as we can't really afford to live in the property we would want to in Hampstead and all our friends, big and small, are round here. Our local primary, if we get in it, is excellent. Top grade.

Devonshire House is great but in my opinion NBH is amaizng. All kids love it and are extremely happy. What is your local primary?

Trying not to step into a row - it is wrong to assume that all children at prep school are dim. Entry into these schools is competitive and all bright children do stand a chance. there are a lot of bright children, and there will be more applicants than places. All candidates, from whatever school, need a back up plan.

The current confounder for London day school entry is that children who might otherwise have been destined to board/flexi-board outside London are applying for day schools as their parents, whilst staying in the independent sector, are not feeling so confident about paying higher boarding fees. It's going to be a bit tougher competition for the next couple of years.

That said, go for it. Find out what the exam is like and engage a tutor if you think the school will not cover the necessary exam prep - with reasoning type papers you can only coach so far, but you child will have an unnecessary disadvantage if they are unfamiliar with what a paper is likely to look at. You can use test papers (Bond etc), and plot progress - it will rise as DD gets familiar with the type of question and then settle, that plateau is where further coaching achieves little/nothing.

Horsemadmom - perhaps you should also mention on here about private school kids intimidating teachers and reducing them to tears because they think they're so superior.

Now THAT's polite behaviour isn't it..?