All schools rejected at 11+. What now?

[lirik]

Apologies for the wall of text and a clickbaity title. One school, The Leys in Cambridge, put our daughter on waiting list with final answer due March 8th, and 10 others rejected.

We are based overseas, planning to move to UK this summer. Daughter is currently at NLCS (Singapore).

We have hired education consultants to help navigate UK schooling landscape, aid with school selection, applications, etc. We have also engaged tutors to help prep for 11+ over past year or so.

Now that most schools rejected, consultants are proposing to consider Fulham till 13+ and try again after two years, or just stay at Fulham senior till sixth form.
Another option is to try apply to few schools that haven't done their tests yet. Namely we currently have on our radar Eaton Square Senior School and Radnor House.
A good friend recommends to settle in area with good and outstanding schools only and hire tutors aiming for 13+ or sixth-form.
Locationwise we'd prefer London but can entertain outside London commutable to city. In a pinch if need be can consider pretty much anywhere in UK. I recon I can reach an agreement with the employer.

Radnor House near Teddington- usually one of the top places to live in London: e.g. www.timeout.com/london/news/is-teddington-really-the-best-place-to-live-in-london-we-weigh-up-the-evidence-032621

Teddington is part of the London Borough of Richmond, and easy walking distance to Radnor House.

I hear v good things about the school, though my DC are not there.

If possible - eg rent a small house? - there are also superb state schools: Waldegrave (a few years ago voted by the Sunday Times the best school in the country), Turing House School (amazing results for pupils' academic progress), and - if your child is sport in particular - Grey Court School is supposed to be vg..

Good luck OP.

hi @lirik - ignore all the spiky posters. lots of people on MN don’t like private schools 🤦🏽‍♀️ do you need to commute into london every day? if not, you could consider Cardiff - it’s a 2ish hour train into paddington, and has an excellent GDST school. there are 4 other private schools there but Howell’s would be the one I’d recommend. hope you get something sorted, it must be a very stressful time for you.

Radnor is moving to the other side of twickenham by the stadium from September. Will be called Kneller Hall.

I know you said you’ll consider anywhere OP but I’d narrow done areas you may want to live too. You’re looking at a huge area.

Id also consider asking for my money back from the Ed Consultants.

There’s some super judgy posts on this thread. It’s not as if it’s in AIBU.

OP, if you do end up considering options out of London, Edinburgh would be a good shout. Some wonderful schools, many firms have satellite offices here too. And gorgeous places to live in or out of the city. The good state schools are competitive as anywhere else, as is the rental market. But it’s an option for you should you need it.

Marymount International School?
IB curriculum, diverse student body, many expat families.

www.marymountlondon.com/admissions-process/

Try Kensington Park School

www.kps.co.uk/contact-us

I second Queenswood. It’s quite posh though!

Have you looked at Berkhamstead School? Or Haileybury?

Noting that I don't know London schools, and don't know much about the visa system either;

I wonder whether any of the schools that have turned you down have done so because you are still awaiting your visas? Boarding schools can offer places for international students knowing something about how they will get student entry visas, but I could imagine a day school could have had problems in the past with students' parents not getting visas when they expected, and thus not being able to attend after all?

This is of course something I would expect any decent educational consultant to be helping you with, and I echo those who wonder if you should be asking for a refund.

Good luck with the next steps one way or another.

@lirik
Im not sure if this has been suggested, but you could try Godstowe prep in High Wycombe in Bucks. This takes girls up to 13. Has great destinations after that. I’ve no idea if they have places but you would gain a place at a first class prep with an amazing track record and time to plan the 13 plus “campaign”. Winchester House in Brackley is a good shout too. Godstowe is closer to London and they have boarding if that helps. In your circumstances, I would speak to them.

Have you looked at More House OP? I have a friend with two daughters there and it might be a lovely school for your child.

www.morehouse.org.uk/admissions/joining-more-house/

There's also Northwood College too (in Northwood) and John Lyon (near Harrow on the hill) is now taking girls.

I agree with this. Caterham is another good school in this area.

Just to reassure you that if you wanted to go down the state school route they will find a place for your child but you can't apply until you have either exchanged contracts if buying or have a rental contract plus you will need visas plus be in the U.K. I've done it and had places for my kids within 3 days of arriving. People are right in saying choice may be limited as they can only allocate where there is space but kids move all the time and some parents have allocated state school places but give them up nearer to September as they also are holding private school offers.

Try not to worry- I suspect the educational consultant was over ambitious in their suggestions? They are all very popular high achieving schools, always a long shot moving from another education system. Plenty of private options aren't full but they won't be big name famous schools.

Where do you need to get to work wise, perhaps that would narrow down the best places to live

Honestly, looking at your list of schools they are all quite selective and definitely competitive - I don’t see any on there that look like “safe” options and I would question if your consultants have actually done their job properly.

I third getting in touch with Queenswood. Door to door transport from north London plus a flexi boarding option. They have international boarders there and girls come and go as a result. My DD has a friend who moved from Singapore and found the transition very easy (friend is a day girl) because of the mix of girls.

Gets fabulous results considering it selects for average ability and above, and is increasingly becoming a first choice school for those wanting to escape the academic driven London schools.

Can I ask out of interest which educational consultants you've used so far - you can DM of course!? I've never known so many rejections when consultants and tutors are involved. Both me and DP work in businesses where lots of families come back to the UK from overseas, and I know Singapore schools aren't generally as academically rigorous but I'm really surprised by that.
My cousin used a great consultant when she moved back from Dubai a couple of years ago, so much so DP's company now has them on a retainer, but obviously don't want to recommend them if you've already used them 🤣

Brighton College was definitely a long shot. Have you thought about Eastbourne College, Battle Abbey or Claremont on East Sussex.

Do try the girls day school trust

If you moved to Kingston/Sutton/Epsom/Leatherhead area, you’ll easily find somewhere. 30-40 minute london (quicker on a fast train) commute and schools that will take late applicants:
ewell castle
the hall wimbledon
feltonfleet (only goes up to y8)
Manor House
The Laurels (Norwood)
st Teresa’s effingham
prior’s field
sutton high gdst
croydon high gdst

I know that all of these took late applications when a friend relocated from Hong Kong last year at a similar time . All decent schools (some mixed and some girls only).

There are loads of good schools all over the country. Listing random selections doesn’t help OP.

OP needs a plan. First - decide where they want to live - top choice London.

So look for London prep schools that go to 13, that will give DD time to acclimatise to a new culture and new school system and figure out what kind of secondary school would suit her.

Or - take the place at Leys if it’s offered.

Personally I would take option 1 any day.

OP you asked for colour on Thomas's senior. I believe you start off at Thomas's Battersea or Fulham for Y7/8 and then move to the Putney senior site. They will definitely have places because they have annoyed a lot of people by the mess that was the Battersea Square site and now they'll only go to 16. Worth giving them a call at any rate.

London Park School is formerly Northwood in Streatham. They're moving to a new site right by Clapham South tube. They're scheduled to open on that site in September but your child will be educated on a building site for a year or two so not sure I'd be that keen on that option. Still it's owned by a PE firm called Duke's and they are throwing money at it by all accounts. The new head is from Putney High and they'll presumably have paid big bucks for her.

If you're looking in SW London I'd have a look at The Hall, Wimbledon (co-ed) or Streatham & Clapham. Neither is particularly academic but both decent enough.

Someone above mentioned More House in Knightsbridge but it's fairly hardcore Catholic so unless you're prepared to embrace that, it might not be the school for your DD.

Have you looked at Queens College, Harley Street (different/separate from Queen's Gate).

Good luck, OP. You will find something, remember that a lot of (lucky) children get multiple offers and once they start accepting their school, it'll free up places elsewhere.

Don’t know about Singapore, but I think that branch international schools are unlikely to be as academically top-drawer as the “parent” schools. They are drawing on a much more restricted pool of potential families and must therefore be far less selective, there isn’t the accountability because families move in and out of the schools making it hard to see how much progress is going on, staff often come and go, and there may be pupils whose English is behind. Just based on my own experiences in Tokyo.

None of this implies that these schools aren’t perfectly good schools, by the way, by the standards of any sane and normal person - only that they may not be as academically elite as the ones in the UK, which (let’s face it) represent about the top 0.01% of all kids in the UK. Not having a student body that is as ultra-over-achieving as St Paul’s Girls School or whatever is no shame on that school!

I am a big fan of great comprehensive schools, but let’s all bear in mind that the OP is bringing her daughter into highly populated parts of the UK where most school places will be already filled. It’s quite likely she will only be offered a state school place at a school that is not very good or is miles and miles away from where she lives or both. I think it’s understandable to focus on private options at this stage.

My only advice to the OP is that her daughter is probably quite an academically ordinary or only moderately bright girl, and she’ll probably struggle at a highly academic school even if she were to get in. There is nothing worse than being permanently at the bottom of your class (and kids do know this, even if nobody says it out loud). Focus on a school that’s the right level for her, and that will provide her with non-stressful support for any academic areas that she is a bit weak in. Above all, remember that she’s going through a lot of stress right now on top of adolescence and all the hormonal disruption that brings. It’s so hard on girls to leave their friends and everything that’s familiar to them.

As an American, I recommend against sending your daughter to a American curriculum school. The UK or IB curriculums are much better. Choose a school where your daughter will work well and be happy. It’s hard to be a cat in a school full of dogs.

I was also going to suggest RMS (Royal Masonic).

If no space available immediately, you could, for example, see whether there are any 11 plus places available at a local prep school - there are a few near RMS. York House? Move right on top of a nearby good secondary, like St Clement Danes, and get on their waiting list. Then apply for 13 plus.

Chances are something would come good before long.

I would second More House Knightsbridge. It's likely to have spaces for Year 7, is not deeply academically selective but able to cater for all abilities, and is very well run. It's Catholic, but welcomes all comers. If your daughter is happy there, she could stay until 18, instead of having to go through another round of applications and exams.

I meant exam taken as part of entrance into senior school year 7. What seems to be colloquially referred to as entering at 11+. Apologies for the confusion.

Until now we have only considered independent schools. I am trying to explore if state is an option. So far from replies in this thread it appears most believe it is bad idea because we'll arrive to UK too late -- this summer.