Private secondaries that will support gymnastics training (London)

[early30smum]

Thinking waaaaay ahead, but we are hoping DD will go to one of the London independent day schools in year 7. (She's currently year 3). She is a talented gymnast but will never be elite (ie GB level) but has a chance at club/regional level. This would mean 2 weekday nights a week plus one weekend session. Anyone have any tips on which schools might support this (ie see it as a good thing and allow her to leave school to get to training on time etc)

Without being too specific we are in SW London and the club is quite far towards west London. Schools we are thinking about are ones such as JAGS, Alleyns, Putney high, Wimbledon High, Kingston Grammar, Streatham and Clapham etc. I also know Surbiton high school is meant to be great for gymnastics but don't know much about it otherwise.

Generally she is very sporty, so even if she's not still doing so much gymnastics, which schools are known for really being very strong on sport? Apart from gymnastics, she loves diving, netball, cross country running etc.

I know I'm planning way too far ahead and this might not even be an issue, though.

I believe Streatham and Clapham girls do but only if the girls are members of Gemstones which is the club that trains there. So if they already identified as being a strong gymnast at Gemstones they will likely get chosen for the school team. This is just hearsay on my part, it's not from experience. But may be worth investigating. Good luck with it all.

All the "high" schools are good at gym, surbiton v good, streatham quite good, rest not so great but okay. I know a lot about this. My DD goes to one of these types of schools and it's only those doing the elite path that are allowed to leave early (my DD is one of them). Otherwise you just end up going to gym training late, gym clubs expect this of secondary school kids to be honest. its a pain for the teachers and your DD if they miss homework being set as well as missing out on learning so need to catch up. Your DD is very young, very few gymnasts continue training past the age of 11/12. Going to a school good at gymnastics is a good way of doing gym for a club level girl. Look up results from ISGA and IAPS to see which schools do well at gymnastics.

Surbiton High is known for gymnastics
www.surbitonhigh.com/457/senior-school/sport/gymnastics
Lady Eleanor Holles also has top flight gymnasts
www.lehs.org.uk/gb-selection-at-world-acrobatic-championships/1333923.html

Many schools will accommodate a child's sporting talents outside school - leaving school a bit early on certain days etc... but only a bit, not more than say 20 mins a couple of times a week.

If they are training a lot outside school though do choose your school carefully location wise, they will be so short on time and so tired (until you've had dds go through yr7 you will not realise quite how tired they get), don't force a heavy commute on your dc too.

KGS doesn't have any gymnastics as part of their sport or curriculum.
Surbiton High offers gym scholarships and is big on gymnastics. LEH pretty much excels at every sport.

Thanks very much for all the replies. It's not for ages yet, just wanted to start getting an idea of things. Whether we will even be able to afford these sorts of schools isn't certain, but that's another thread. I will definitely bear the commute in mind and if she is still doing her gymnastics at x club how the commute from school to gym would be too. Thanks again.

Interesting that LEH excels at every sport. It might be too much of a commute for us though.

I know it's not your area but I know of a child with a sports scholarship based on gymnastics who is at Mill Hill

GDST (the "High" schools in a few cases) are v supportive of girls' sporting achievements so I bet they'd be great.

It's also worth baring in mind that at that age and at county level my sister was training five days a week...

The two schools in SW London that spring to mind as supportive of gymnastics are already in your list (SCHS and PHS) and both have separate separate assessment sessions for gymnasts as part of their sports scholarship assessments.

I'd expect most London private schools to be supportive of missing school for high level sporting events. But probably not of missing part of the school day to get to a training session (unless it was a special case one-off/rare elite or pre-competition session).