SW London Independents - good pastoral care?

[WhatMeghanWants]

Hi - we're shortlisting schools for DD (just started Y6) and I'm trying to find out how the following schools fare on the pastoral side.

DD is bright but is a bit of a worrier and can lack confidence, so a supportive environment will be key. She's not musical or especially sporty but is interested in drama.

We've been recommended a (long) list of schools and I'd be really grateful if anyone can shed light on which are particularly hot on pastoral care. Or if there are others I've not included.

Wimbledon HS
Putney HS
Francis Holland SW1
G&L
Surbiton
Emanuel
Ibstock Place
Kew House
Kingston Grammar
St James' Girls
Harrodian
St John's Leatherhead

Thank you v v much!

That is quite a long list and you haven't got much time!

St J's Leatherhead has very good care but it's expensive from Year 9 onwards & I think the registration will close on 1 Nov.

Surbiton High (SHS) is very big, a good school but @ 160 girls in the year from all over SW London & Surrey.

Wimbledon High is very hard to get into, it's not the sort of school you consider 2 months before registration closes. See lasts years MN SW London school threads for more info.

See the other posts on MN re Kew House.

Kingston Grammar had 1 open day quite soon with places to be booked in advance. It's about 60 girls in the year but lots of sport, everyone is encouraged to play in a sports team on Saturdays, the sports fields are near Hampton Court.

Good luck, you are going to be busy!

Sutton High is very big on pastoral care. Definitely worth a look.

You could also try City of London Freemen's in Ashtead and Claremont in Esher. I seriously wouldn't look at Surbiton. It's a sink or swim school and I know a few girls who were bullied with no support from staff. One moved to Claremont and flourished there.

You might want to look at St Catherine's in Twickenham. Small, supportive and good with drama.

Where are you based?

Kew House and St Catherine's as previous poster are well known for being nurturing while at the same time getting the most out of our DC.

How academic is she? That's quite a spread you have on the list

KGS pastoral care is absolutely excellent ime

Second KGS - the pastoral care that my dd and her friends have received has been exceptional.

Streatham & Clapham High, part of GDST. my daughter loves it, good friends, good drama, music and sport. academically selective, but no massively pressured, good on pastoral side too.

I think a number of those you have listed have closing dates coming soon.

best of luck!

Thanks so much for the replies.

I should have explained that we're not starting from scratch this late in the day! We've visited all the schools, with the exception of KGS and Harrodian and are shortlisting to 4/5.

The pastoral side will be massively important, hence trying to gauge which schools are best for that.

DD is reasonably bright, not top of the class, very strong on the creative side but probably average in maths. We're in Barnes btw.

Thanks again.

@mummyinatizz - I've heard lots of good things about Streatham & Clapham HS, but it's a bit of a trek from Barnes so didn't really consider it.

@JoJoSM2 I really liked Sutton High, but again thought it was a bit far. Do you happen to know if there are many girls from Barnes/Mortlake there?

Thanks

Ah didn't realise you were that far west. Most girls at SCHS are fairly local school. best of luck!

Sutton High would probably be up to an hour via Clapham Junction so not nearly as convenient as some other schools.

In terms of girls coming from further afield, I haven’t heard of many from your neck of the woods. Quite a few come from Wimbledon or Surbiton/Kingston as well as South London and Surrey.

Very pleased with pastoral care at WHS. There's only 1 girl I think from DD's year from Barnes though as the journey isn't great.

If coming from Barnes I would opt for PHS rather than WHS. There are plenty of Barnes girls at Putney and if your DD took to rowing she'd have a nice bike ride to the boathouse.

There isn't much to choose between the two schools and we only opted for PHS over WHS because DD had a scholarship there.

St Caths Twickenham
Radnor House

OP, glad to hear you have already visited! You must have been stuck by the high standards of pastoral care at St J's with their Lower School and then house system, it's incomparable to somewhere like SHS although many dd will sit both school exams.

Are you in a Prep school who are advising as the academic ability levels of the list you have are quite wide? Are you many months into practice of VR & Non VR?
I'm sure you know this but you need a stretch school, 2 possibles and 1 or 2 back ups.

Another idea is to write down the dates of all the entrance exams, date clashes immediately help you rank a possible v a back up school. There are always exam back up dates but it's a lesser experience for the child. Also list the schools that have interviews as part of the selection process, ie SHS don't interview but you complete a paper about yourself instead.

It worth reading the "4 rejections from senior schools - options?" Thread from Jan 2019 if you can find it to see the heartbreak of poor advice from a tutor to a parent/dc re selection of schools.

Best of luck.

These are spread over a large area, I would concentrate on those easy to reach from your home, you say she's a worrier, a 2 hours journey won't help!

St John's would probably mean being out of the house for 12h/day.

And is Radnor House academic enough for a bright girl?

Tbh, I'd also be reluctant to put a girl lacking in confidence in one of the super academic schools like Wimbledon or Putney as being surrounded exclusively by high achievers might not do her confidence any favours at all. IMO somewhere like St Caths would be better as it's academic enough to stretch her but there's enough of a mix to be able to feel clever.

For top of middle, arty/creative types Ibstock place is definitely worth a look. (And probably quite convenient for Barnes?) My friends son has had a really good first year there. It seems aspiring without being too hot housed? You don't mention your preference for co-ed or single sex, but worriers can often do better in a diluted pool of male/female personalities. I also agree with PP to keep the commute as short as possible to reduce travel stress.

Is Ibstock considered a top of middle type school? It's firmly within the top 100 highest attaining indies nationally.

It’s definitely a high performing school JoJo, but from my experience last year, it was less oversubscribed than Emanuel (which has upped its bar considerably recently) or Alleyns (always been a SW favourite) due to its location which was seen by some as hard to get to.

This made it more accessible to the ‘top of middle’ (top 10 in class as opposed to top 5) as there was less competition for spaces. I’m not doubting it’s performance, academically or pastorally. It was described to me as a ‘hidden gem’. :-)

Have you considered Latymer Upper if you live in Barnes?

This is all massively helpful, thanks.
I've heard great things about St Catherine's, but we're not Catholic.
Will take a closer look at LU, thanks.
DD is sitting mock exams in a couple of weeks, which should help to steer our decision-making. Fingers crossed!