Westminster / Kings / Dulwich for non sporty boy

[springisnear]

DS surprised us all by securing 11+ offers at three schools. After a weekend of jubilation we now have the difficult task of accepting only one.

DS is at a state primary with very limited extracurricular offerings and we both work full time. Despite us trying him on different weekend activities he is now remotely interested in playing sports, music, or performing arts. He has a vast knowledge of many fields mainly through reading. He put minimal efforts in learning, did not have a tutor and only practised papers at home (mostly in half or third of the time prescribed to get over with and scoring around 70-90%) hence I said we were completely surprised when receiving the offers. No bursary or scholarship and we can afford the fees. He also passed super selective grammars.

So we know academically the three schools are as I listed in the subject. Sporting wise it seems the reverse order. Dh and I are discussing different schools of thought here. On the one hand, an academic child should go to a less academic school to explore other interests. On the other hand, he should go to an academic school to further extend his academic strengths.

Locatiom wise there is not much different. However DS and myself did not like Westminster for the commute to central London and the fact that whilst the Under School is lovely, the Great School did not feel like a school, too much grown up sort of place with buildings scattered around and no proper school grounds. Perhaps at 13+ some children fit in nicely but I just couldnt feel how my 10 year old could one day enjoy being there.

So we are gradually narrowing down to Kings and Dulwich. DS was won over by Dulwich on open day, test day (lunch was by far the best) and interview day (when somehow the teacher remembered their conversation on test day). I was very impressed with Dr Spence who spoke to parents in groups of 4 on interview day (I kept thinking how he did that for 30 odd times for 120 children being interviewed at 11+). Also the grounds are amazing , except for the Lower School where Year 7 and 8 are. So if we go for our first school of thought then Dulwich is the place.

My gut feel however is for Kings. We are going to offer holder day and see. Mr Halls was barely visible on test day and not seen on interview day. I hope we'll have better visibility this time.

Logistically for either school DS will take the train. For Kings the walk from the station is a bit far, but the area seems better than Dulwich.

Any Kings parent here, may I ask if many children walk from Wimbledon station?

I still hope he will gain interest in sports when he sees more friends doing it. So we are still undecided yet but hope to release those not wanted as soon as possible.

Any advice?

Well done to your DS! The 200 bus goes up the hill to the back gates of King’s from Wimbledon station. DS2 has 2 friends in Y7 at King’s who love it (and said the offer holder day was fantastic). We loved it too but chose WUS. I would suggest going to each of the offer holders days (FYI WUS doesn’t have a particular one but if you call admissions they will put you on a small group tour for offer holders) and then going with your gut feel for your child. They are all great schools and he will do well at any of them.

Thanks very much
Ds is adamant about not going to WS
We're torn between Kings and Dulwich

Apologies, your thread title suggests you are choosing between all three schools. That's why I mentioned WUS. My suggestion still stands though - go to the offer holder days and then go with your gut feel. You can’t really go wrong with those choices.

DS1 left a year ago but in the absence of any current parents posting I can tell you that Kings boys tend to use Raynes Park station as it is closer than Wimbledon, although it is still an uphill walk in the mornings. Alternatively it is a bus to/from Wimbledon station. Remember that having significantly extended the school buildings on site there is very little space for on site sports at Kings and the sports fields are at Motspur Park, a coach ride away I suspect in the wrong direction for you. Many after school sports clubs will take place there particularly as the boys get older.

KCS and Westminster get stronger results than DC (not much between them these days - KCS slightly higher in league tables but W has best hit rate for Oxbridge), but that's probably because they are able to cherry pick a brighter cohort - a bright boy will do just as well at DC.

Where do you think your DS is most likely to find boys with similar interests to his own (assuming they weren't to broaden as you hope)? And would he respond well to being entirely surrounded by bright kids, or would he do better being at the top of a more mixed cohort?

Other differences worth thinking about are whether he might be interested in IB which KCS offers but DC and W don't and the presence of girls in 6th form at both KCS and Westminster compared to boys only at DC.

Good luck, it's a nice dilemma to have!

Thanks all for responding
@cakeisalwaystheanswer I understand sports provision at Kings is less than DC, however I still hope DS will take up some sports when given the chance. He is willing to try but has so far resigned to the fact that he is not athletic. Interesting about Raynes Park station as on the map it looks further than Wimbledon and I guess there are not many buses from Raynes Park to Kings? So do DCs go to Wimbledon hoping to hop on the bus or just walk from Raynes Park?

@Notmynom I favour Kings due to the options of IB and presence of girls in six form. Not sure whether they have positive or negative impact but the more options / variety the better I hope. Cant see righr now how a 10 year old would develop in the next few years. His interests keep changing so I cannot tell where he will find boys with interests similar to his, and I hope he will keep exploring new interests as he grows.

@Talksunderwater
Thank you for your advice. I started the post thinking about the three choices (incredibly lucky I know). We have been on tour at WS and had a good idea of the journey. It was not as bad as City where DS came out of Open Day simply saying he hated it. He's summer born and still quite immature so the commute does not excite him at all.

I think the walk from Raynes Park is just less steep and seems an easier walk. We are village based which is a flat walk so I've never really thought much about why boys go to Raynes Park. Hopefully a commuter parent can explain all.

Westminster is good at sports for non sporty boys. Lots of options: climbing, squash, fencing etc. It’s about participation not being elite. Lots of boys we knew who had never considered themselves sporty then kept up their chosen sport at University.

A lot of the boys walk up from Raynes Park because there's quite a few living in SW20 and towards Kingston or New Malden. My own younger DS meets his local friends at the station and also the boys coming into RP from out towards Esher etc.

For the boys coming into Wimbledon the 200 bus is obvious but lots jump on the 93 and get off in the village and wander across the edge of the Common.

I've never found the sports ground at Kingway to be an issue in nearly 10 years as a parent. The younger boys get bussed there and there is a direct bus (131) back to RP and Wimbledon station - and it's very close to Motspur Park station. You might find you have a rower anyway and end up in Putney.

Thinking about it is may be because RP is Zone 4 so a cheaper train ticket than going on to Zone 3 (Wimbledon) if coming in from the other side of Wimbledon.

The boys coming into Wimbledon from London seem to use the District Line.

I guess you have moved on from W but don’t be put off by the grown up style of buildings. There is a huge sense of community and lovely spaces and my very ungrown up 14 year old loves it.

Agree though that Dulwich is more spectacular!

Westminster would be my choice for a clearly very academic boy who can pass entrance exams without much effort. Their Oxbridge rate is the highest

It needs to be your son's choice ultimately. It needs to be where you believe he will be happiest.

DS was v happy at KCS. Went at 8 and did v well. Was v sporty and v musical. Due to time commitments had to focus on one or the other and chose sport but I can attest that there were lots of non sporty pursuits available and the music and art depts were fabulous.

There were lots of sports on offer and I recall DS grumbling about never getting the chance to try things like fencing because he was 1st XI, XV, etc.

To be fair in 10 years at the school I never had a conversation with either of the Evanses or Dr Silverlock or Andrew Halls. I'd have been concerned if I'd had to. We are still on Xmas card terms with a couple of the masters though - it's an incredible community.

DS is 25 now and has some incredible friends from KCS - they are a tight knit group.

I know boys at Kings (very happy) but not Westminster. We didn't apply to Westminster solely because we didn't want our son to commute into central London when he will probably be doing that for years to come, although may consider applying for 6th form.

Hi @springisnear congratulations to your son. My DS also has an offer from both WUS and Kings and a few other schools. He goes to a state primary with no after school activities. Every weekend we try to figure out how to involve him in a sporting activity. His first choice has always been WUS. I understand your dilemma. I personally was more for Kings - the grounds, the empathy classes etc but I guess in the end it needs to be a collective decision.

A friend’s non-sporty son is in the L6 at Westminster, he goes cycling at a velodrome somewhere. If your son goes to KCS and you are considering DC does that mean you leave in between the two, lots of boys come from Esher, Cobham etc as the trains are quick so he might end up with friends miles away.

@songeur
Thanks for sharing our common quandary!
People say it's a nice dilemma to have :) I never thought I would be in this privileged position to choose from these top schools. DS was never keen om WS but I encouraged him to give a go. We narrowed down the list I agree it will be a collective decision. Will decide in the next few weeks.
@ LizziesTwin
I accept that London schools will always have children coming from miles away in different directions. We did consider moving out and looked at schools outside M25 but resigned to the fact that with both parents commuting to work we could not find a decent place within walking distance to stations with good quality of life. So we only chose London schools as a compromise.

It's a bit of a trek from the station to DC - a lot of boys come in on the extensive school coach network. DC very sporty, fantastic sports grounds and facilities. There is a sporting elite but there are other options for non sporty boys too. To me, it had a city banker/alpha male vibe but that might be what you are looking for! It has scholarship pupils but we know several boys who went who didn't pass the Grammar school tests so it has a wider academic range (and does very well with these boys).

WUS seemed to be the opposite - highbrow, sporty but not massively so, very intellectually sparky. Quite a few quirky kids but not the lovely grounds of DC.

I don't know Kings - seems to be a mixture of the two?

Thanks @ MrsPatmore
In my opinion (having looked around but not being a parent of any of these schools) KCS is indeed somewhere in between DC and WS part of the reason I'm leaning towards it. I cannot not foresee how DS grows in the next 7 years so taking the middle option on the table (a very good one) will hopefully leave me with less guilt :)
DS is not at all sporty so definitely not alpha male if thats what it means!!

One thing I would say is that although he may not be interested in sports/music now, these schools all have excellent clubs and opportunities in these areas. He will hopefully find wider interests.