School hunting - what age

[InnTheJungle]

DD is still in Y3. Big brother going to Hampton. The process of finding that school was quite stressful. Maybe we left it to late. But we are not sure if we know who DD is yet, IYSWIM.

What point do you look?

We are in Woking, there are LOTS of choices around the area.

Assuming your primary goes to Y6 then start going to open days in Y5, not much point before then as so many things can change (heads, your dd's interests, your location, etc...)

You could consider a prep school and transfer at 13. Some schools do this with girls. Does you DD not have any hobbies, interests or school reports to give you a steer? I would start thinking about it next year but if she is not a genius or anything else very obvious, then most middle ranking schools will suit. You must have some idea if a small school or the hustle and bustle of a larger school would be of interest. Your DD must have some personality traits that would point you in one direction or another? Yes, children do change, but you can prepare a long list and then reduce it to just a few next year.

She likes art/craft I suppose. And she's lazy, and not sporty.

We did the taster days of all local schools in year 5 then the ones we preferred again in year six.

Would she like dance? Quite a few non sporty children like dance. My children are not lazy, but my eldest is fairly poor at sport. She is just not put together to be able to do well. Both my girls tried though. Nearly all senior schools major on sport so that is impossible to avoid. Lots of schools have fantastic art, so focus on that. Are they putting on art shows etc? It seems like an academic hot house is not for her, so look for a school which nurtures all personalities and abilities.

She does ballet

We started looking yr 4, few more / repeat visits in yr 5, so we knew our choices by end of yr 5. Most girls co-ed day schools in the area (we are local to you) start at yr 7 / age 11