sporty secondary

[Katryn]

My DD is in current year 4 state primary and is exceptionally gifted at sport, though not desperately academic. Can anyone recommend sporty independent schools, (not top tier academically) that she could maybe win a scholarship to? We are based in West London, but would perhaps consider boarding.

Obvious ones are Millfield ,Kelly College (esp swimming), Dartmouth etc but really depends on her specialisms. Many others have high level sports opportunities. Perhaps look at the lead u16 /u18 county and national squads in her sports and see where their members go and train.

Perhaps Queenswood? They have always been very sporty. But most Independents will offer a sport based scholarship - although they only usually amount to about 10% these days. What are her sports and what level is she competing at? This may give us a bit more to go on.

Not independent but have you look at Harefield Academy they say they are "a specialist sports academy".

Thanks for your suggestions - her sports are mainly gymnastics and swimming, but also trains for football and cricket,netball, volleyball etc.

Most independent schools offer sporting opportunities but very few will offer coaching etc which is at a similar standard to outside clubs and most in London will be academically selective as well.

Boarding gives you more options - Millfield, Plymouth College, Kelly College and St Bede's would all be possibilities for a swimmer but eyewateringly expensive and unless your child is in the top ten or so nationally for swimming any scholarship would not make much of a dent in the fees

Also, just to sound a note of caution, I'd be wary of mapping out your dd's educational future based on her sporting performance at age 9. My dc are swimmers - of the children who were doing fantastically well at 9 hardly any are still dominating the field at 16 - most have quit swimming altogether. The ones who are doing very well in their mid-late teens didn't even qualify for county champs at 9...

So make sure you look very carefully at any school you consider and ask yourself if it would still suit your dd if she wasn't involved in sport at a high level

Also at some point in the very near future she will have to choose between swimming and gymnastics as both demand increasing amounts of time as children progress. She physically won't be able to fit in the hours - the 9 year old gymnasts we know are already training 5 or 6 days a week and to make it in swimming children have to commit to hours and hours of training.

She might be better off committing to one sport in a year or two, finding a good club near where you live, and going to state secondary

My DS's have friends at St Edwards I understand a couple of the pupils are swimming Olympic hopefuls for 2016 (not for team GB) and the school is exceedingly supportive. Apparently sports is pretty big. Don't know about gymnastics or girls football/cricket.

In terms of West London Surbiton High may be reachable and is strong on gymnastics. Notting Hill and Ealing, LEH and Latymer Upper all have pools which are used by Clubs and so have better training opportunities.

Sports scholarships for girls are few and far between. Emanuel, and in South London JAGS and Alleyns are the only ones I can think of.

In terms of swimming schools worth looking at the English Schools Swimming Association website and seeing what schools are winning the relays etc. Ditto with gymnastics. Quite a lot of sports name the schools of those picked at county regional or national level.