11 or 13 start at Emanuel?

[tothinkabout]

I have been quite taken with Emanuel for my ds but I don't know whether to try to get him at 11 (500 applicants for 85 places) or at 13 (80 applicants for 9 or so places) is the better route? he is very happy at his present prep school where he could stay till 13 but I wonder whether (a) its even more of a lottery at 13 to try to get in or (b) arriving at 13 with a cohort of 8 others would be a bit daunting - friends already been made / the majority of others know there way around etc than being a newbie with everyone at 11? anyone had any experience of this?

Just so you know, they went over numbers with this year's 11+ as they had reached their 500 cut off by the September open day, had to extend the cut off beyone the open day, obviously, and ended up with 650 or thereabouts sitting it. Given this year isn't even a boom year, those are coming up rapidly over the next few years, the pressure on Emanuel 11+ is only going to rise and talking to a teacher whilst waiting for ds to come out of the exam they don't know quite what they are going to do about it.

Not sure any of that helps apart from giving more info!

Although not Emanuel we have just done 13+ and although have the school we want I wish we had tried at 11+.

13+ definitely feels more of a lottery there are significantly less places to go round although there are less applicants. We stayed at prep because ds loved it but I genuinely feel he has out grown his prep and has missed out on opportunities a senior school could have provided.

Guess for you it may depend on the opportunities your prep can provide vs Emanuel.

Good luck

Have a go at 11+. If you dont get a place you then have another go and early warning that you may need to think hard about Plan Bs.

Emanuel is mainly an 11+ school. Preps to 13 can be fun especially for less mature boys, who might initially feel a bit lost in a secondary school. However this is outweighed by the advantages of starting with the main cohort.

Phew that is a lot of applicants mimbleandlittleme! thanks for that tip and many thanks to you all. I had expected him to stay until 13 when he first went to prep but I do not think he will be suited to the rigours of a St Pauls / Westminster/ KCS exam process at 13 anyway so the 2 years guided toward that wouldn't necessarily suit him and wouldn't want to miss out on a school like Emanuel which would be better suited (I think! but who knows!) by keeping him at the prep.

I think go at 11 if you are decided that that is the school for you. Prep schools will be doing the 2 year prep to CE (so lots of revision especially at the end....not necessarily inspiring stuff), and I think it's only worth staying if (i) the school you are going to has its main entry point at 13, or (ii) you are undecided about schools and want to try for several different options (eg. Emanuel and Dulwich for 13+ in the January of year 8). So much more fun for the child to arrive at school with the rest of the cohort and enjoy the opportunities a secondary can give vs a prep.

Have you done 11+ this year or are you year 5?

He is yr 5 and our first so total novices about the whole thing. We were told to go and look around a variety of schools including boarding, which I will go and see but as neither me nor BH have any boarding experience ourselves then I think boarding will be too big a leap for us so day school will be the preferred option. Dulwich I am down to visit but it is a bit far for us - an hour each way on the school bus i know local kids who do it so if we love Dulwich we might try that also. i guess the idea of the fall back to staying at the prep if he doesn't get in is a very comforting safety net!
Needholiday - i was also thinking that arriving at 13 with a small additional intake doesn't give much time to settle in before the real stuff of GCSE happens.
Don't know about everyone else but this year is flying by already!!

I don't have personal experience but am in the area and hear about Emanuel a lot. I would say that the numbers of applicants per place is probably misleading. Generally Emanuel is often seen as a back up option so a great many of those people applying will also be applying to other places as their first option and if they get in (which obviously they may not) to their other option then they won't take Emanuel if they do get in. Obviously, you can have no real idea about this and how it will impact you, but it would make me feel more confident about my DS getting in, either at 11+ or 13+

I agree with SavoirFaire, Emanuel is often taken at 13 by boys at my Ds's school in combination with Dulwich, Alleyns and sometimes Royal Russell, Whitgift etc . Dulwich has quite a large 13 plus entry, the others much less so but this all means the number of applicants can be quite misleading. I have yet to hear of a child apply to just one school !