“Backup” private options in London

[Lindtnotlint]

My DD is prepping for 11+ at London indies. She is at a well-regarded private prep. Increasingly clear that our original ideas of her ending up at somewhere like CSLG/G&L are not realistic, and places like Putney/JAGS/FHSS (which we would be delighted with) feel really stretching… This is because her maths isn’t where it should be - she’s scoring ~60 per cent in practice maths papers. VR/NVR are ok though not stellar and English is ok to good, occasionally excellent.

Where should we be looking? We are thinking Queens Gate and Queens College? Emanuel looks like may be a stretch given how competitive it is getting. She’s a sparky, sensible, enthusiastic, hard working girl. I feel a bit shocked that she may end up with so few interesting options. Looking for central or west/south.

We are obviously prepping Maths pretty hard to try to offer her as many sensible school choices as we can - she is working hard and is happy. Just me who is freaking out a bit……

Streatham and Clapham

Queens College is quite hard to get into now. More House Knightsbridge a good backup.

Streatham and Clapham is a bit too far/awkward journey. That’s a bit depressing on Queens College. Will look at More House (though the results look like quite a big step down - maybe that’s just what I have to accept 🫣)

What about the local state options, OP? London secondaries are often excellent and non-selective, so she can blossom in her own time.

Sadly the state options near us really aren’t great, plus we have two other kids who are in private prep and will continue to private secondaries, so we are only looking for private. (Appreciate many will disagree with the approach!)

You can’t expect to benefit from a lower achieving intake than eg G&L and still get the higher achieving results of G&L, that’s not feasible. That’s not to say that your child might not do as well as she possibly can in a smaller school with a wider intake and excellent teaching. All we want is for them to do as well as they possibly can. How can she get there? Maybe More is the answer maybe not, but go in with an open mind.

What is the school suggestion from your current prep?

Agree with @Delphigirl - one of the reasons those schools get such results is because they select so strictly. It sounds like your DD would (currently) be totally unsuited to one of those schools. How would she keep up?

She may well go on to be a very high academic achiever but needs to have the space to do this or whatever else is right for her.

Where would she be travelling from?

Is St James a possibility?

Are you near Clapham Junction station?

If so, then Woldingham, or co-ed Royal Russell in Croydon

Totally, of course. Wasn’t saying that I was expecting G&L results levels! Rather just that the step from Queens College/Queens Gate to More House was a reasonably chunky one in results terms (was hoping for magical new ideas at the QC/QG results level…suspect they don’t exist so yes to being open minded all round)

School think she should hopefully get FHSS or Putney. Her English is good. I am more sceptical having done a lot of maths with her in last few weeks. She isn’t “totally unsuited” to an academic school per the above, she is a voracious reader, super vocab, great memory for facts and texts, curious etc etc - just she is not winning at maths right now (and may never of course, though I think important never to be absolutist about any strengths or weaknesses both of which can come and go!)

Maida Vale of Northbridge House? Those those are more north west London (and Co-Ed)

Try the schools that not in Consortium and do not have much maths in the entry test, for example Wimbeldon High only do VR / NVR.

Also suggest WHS- if she can get through the VR/ NVR she can use her strengths in the next round.

Ibstock?

Woldingham, Streatham and Clapham, St Dunstans, Radnor House, Fulham School, Kew House, Caterham?

Also 60% for Maths paper sounds good for the consortium schools listed above, some of which have to over offer a lot in the recent years.

WHS is a really good shout. But of a pig of a journey but could be done and we could move West if needed I guess! Streatham and Clapham same. Thank you. Woldingham, caterham, Kew and Radnor are all just really too far and the logistics are terrible for St Dunstans.

I will look at Fulham - I don’t know anything about it and can’t find much online (or even any 2022 results)

Roughly where are you as there are some surprisingly fast trains from Clapham Junction to the surrey schools or from Balham to the croydon schools.

I would also say 60% is also not that bad as you have another 2/3 months to prepare and I assume your prep school will be all over it next term?

DD goes to a selective prep with good exits and the average maths score was 65% in the year end assessments. Good luck!

Kew House? St Benedicts, Knightsbridge, Notting Hill and Ealing, Ibstock, Harrovian?

What would be really helpful is to understand a bit more about places people are suggesting - like where is good? (I don’t mean in terms of pure academic results - I mean a much broader picture of good). There is tonnes of chat online about the relative merits of SPGS/G&L/CSLG, and indeed I know tonnes of people with kids at them. It seems to be much harder to work out where is really great among this group of schools that are a bit less fiendish to get into. I am not really looking for lots more “deep backups” that are entirely non competitive - more looking for lovely schools with mid-tier standards that are not so demanding on entry and that will probably offer a place if we turn out to be a miss at FHSS/Putney….eg i thought I had come across Emanuel as a bit of a gem but turns out everyone else spotted that one already so it isn’t really hidden anymore!

@Lindtnotlint I totally feel for you (we are sitting the 11+ this year too) but I would try not to panic just yet. Presumably your prep school will do CAT tests pretty soon after they go back - I would wait and see the results of those and see how your DD is doing. Lots of kids do really well in a "real" test / exam situation but just don't quite (understandably) feel the urgency in a practice paper at home. So she may be further ahead than you think.

I think both Queen's Gate and Queen's College are good options (and not as hard to get into as a PP suggests). It depends where you're based but NHEHS in Ealing could definitely be an option. Could you feasibly try FHRP as well as FHSS?

Our school has said that some girls come on leaps and bounds between the start of school and the exams so it's all still very much to play for. Good luck!

Where are you based / what's a viable geographic spread and people will be able to offer more info on specific schools that might be relevant.

We can do anywhere in Dulwich, Battersea, Clapham, Kensington, central London, Fulham, Putney, Hammersmith. Not Ealing, Hampstead, Croydon, Sevenoaks. So of places listed so far the accessible ones are Wimbledon high (just), Streatham/Clapham high, St James, Knightsbridge school , Fulham school, FHRP.

My “schools that I thought she would go to when I hadn’t thought about her personal progress in maths” list was G&L/CSLG/Putney/Jags/FHSS/Emanuel which gives a sense of the spread of places.