London schools with 10+ entry?

[SummerExhibition]

Does anyone know which London schools have 10+ entry? I know about City (boys) and Emanuel (mixed). Anyone any experience of 10+ entry? Why did you choose this route? Does it tend to be a common route for children entering from state schools? Am interested as DCs (1 boy, 1 girl) are in a state school and we're considering private for secondary. I quite like the idea of them moving at 10+ so they avoid the SATs merry-go-round in Yr 6 and get an academic boost in that year which I think will help them in secondary school. DH moved from state to private at 10+ and it worked well for him, but that was out of London.

Hi there, both Whitgift and Trinity have ten plus entry points. A friend of mine DS got into Whitgift (the harder of the two) at 10+, albeit he came from a rather rubbish private school which she topped up with tons of extra tuition. He was also very bright irrespective of the additional tuition. Another boy from my son's state school will be starting in September at 10+ and his elder brother, also from state, have got in there too. I don't know the Mother well enough to establish how much tutoring was involved, but suspect it was quite a bit because it's a rather poor state school. They also offer generous bursaries with a high salary cut off point at both schools, I believe a third of their kids are from the state sector (possibly more) and bus pick up points from a wide area. You can also get 10+ pass exam papers from them.

It is a great entry point to consider as there are far more kids going for it at 11+ so you certainly avoid all that extra competition. I made my son do the tougher Whitgift one at 10+ just for exam practice. He didn't get it which was fine because our preferred choice was a different school. Moreover, if he had got in, which I guess is the downside, you miss out on the opportunity to get into schools that don't offer 10+.

I also believe, if your DS is particularly academic, Wetminster and St Pauls have a 10+ entry point, too.

Any school with a junior department or closely tied feeder prep may have occasional places at 10+, so it is worth enquiring for any school which yo think would be the right place for the secondary years.

Thanks. Out of interest, at what (DC) age do people generally start looking around secondaries?

I think Kings wimbledon have a 10+ entry as do City of London.
Colet Court do a deferred 11+ at age 10
All are boys schools, I don't know of any co-eds

Hampton (boys - 20 places) and Kingston Grammar (mixed) also offer 10+ deferred.

Colet Court 10+ deferred is for state school boys only and they offer up to 10 places; I don't know if there are restrictions on any of the other 10+ exams.

City of London Boys used to do it and offered very attractive scholarships( DS2 took the 10+ there a few years ago). I think the Kingston Grammar is now 10+ deferred for entry at 11+.

It is an extra year of school fees which will put a lot off. However it gives you two goes at secondary school entry, and a chance for state school kids to catch up with those from preps. And the group already in the school are established when the main cohort arrive.

However given that only a small number of schools do it I would be inclined to treat it as a "practice" great if you get it and a useful prompt to look further afield if you dont. I think in most cases you can try again at 11+. You have at least demonstrated you are keen!

@SummerExhibition: I thought I was being over zealous by starting at year 5, but not at all, there were tons of year 5 parents doing the same. The earliest I've heard of was a cousin starting to look around when her child was in yr4 and still I think there's nothing wrong in that as it gives you the opportunity to shortlist and re-visit closer to the time. TBH, for me, there were tons of schools to look at, so needed the two years to get them all in. There's also the odd school that, at most, has only 2 days viewing and you can bet your bottom dollar it will fall on the same 2 days as one of your others earmarked as favorites.

Admittedly, I was 'headmastered speech'd' out at the end of it all. What is also interesting to note is that the school I swore my son would be attending even before he was conceived, was awful and the school I said I wouldn't dream of sending my son to because of a friends experience and only visited because I had a free day, was terrific!

Thanks very much. So it sounds like the options that we know about are:
CLSB
Emanuel
Kings Wimbledon
Trinity
Whitgift
Colet Court -deferred. What does that actually mean? Is it that they do the exam at 10+ but don't start until 11+ (and what do they do in the meantime?) Kingston Grammar (ditto above)

The good news is that all of these are doable from where we live. The bad news is that only Emanuel and Kingston admit girls (so far as I know!).

Plus add in anywhere with an attached prep school if they have space to take someone in in Y6 (does anyone have any experience of this?) which extends our options a bit, but I wouldn't want to move again at 13 so it would need to be a school that went right through to 18, like Alleyns (they admit girls right?).

This is helpful thank you. It has given me a shortlist of schools to start my secondary school visits at. We're definitely in the 'use it as a practice' group needmoresleep I think. Bonus if DS gets in but not critical. He could definitely cope with that. Not so sure about DD yet but I have longer to worry about that!

I missed Hampton.

The deferred entrance for Colet Court is open only for state school students. They are accepted to start in Year 7, and remain in the school they are at when they take the exam until then. However, I believe that they are expected to do Saturday school at Colet to get them up to speed on some subjects not covered in state schools.

Th Satuday school is only for a few weeks in the summer term, for French nad Latin, and is for all the boys joining at 11+ (ie from state and indie) and has the added bonus of getting the newbies together in advance so they know each other before the start of term.

oops sorry, forgot about your little girl as I only have a son. Whitgift and Trinity are part of the whitgift foundation. The girls school of the group is Old Palace. They also have a 10 + entry and a junior's www.oldpalace.croydon.sch.uk/admissions. I think, depending on where you live both are doable to get to as I have a family member with a child in Trinity and one at Old Palace. They also have an open day on 16thJune if you wanted to have a nose around.

Another one worth considering as it's mixed and also have a junior school as well as senior's, is Royal Russell in Croydon. Results not in the region of St Pauls and the like, but still a nice school:).

Alleny's won't take kids in as late as year 6 into their Juniors. They have an almost guaranteed entry policy, into their seniors and with this in mind, can't be sure to get your child up to speed in that time. Moreover, because of the almost guaranteed entry policy, getting a space in their juniors is like gold dust. They are incredibly oversubscribed for that reason. It's a lovely senior school, I hasten to add:).

A lot of this really depends on how academic your children are too, because getting into schools like St Pauls compared to say Trinity, is like chalk and cheese. Hope this helps:)

I think Dulwich College also have a 10+ entry.