London grammar and private senior school entry 2025

[CruCru]

Hi all

It doesn’t look as though one of these threads has been set up yet so I thought I’d do it.

I have a daughter going into year 6 and a son going into year 8 next month - both will be moving to senior school in 2025.

Hi, I've been a bit quiet as busy with other kids but the Surbiton results are out! We have an offer :) Still awaiting a few more so let's see. On another note I know some were talking before about a list of desired London girls private schools. I'm not looking at boys schools. So I thought I would start thinking about it. Obviously a lot depends on location but here goes:

Any grammar - with the VAT increase in fee's and the political situation/discrimination against private school pupils. Grammar's must appeal more than ever.
SPGS
NLCS
CLGS
JAGS
G&L
LEH
SHHS
WHS
PHS
NHEH
SHS
FHSS
FHRP

Any thoughts?

Congratulations on the Surbiton offer! Heard really good things about it. Only 2 weeks wait for offer day for most of us!😬

@Londonangst Congratulations on the offer! What else are you waiting on? I can't believe results are coming out soon! I wonder if any others coming out before the 14th? I know Harrodian is on the 7th.

Epsom College is also on 7th and Reeds is 11th. Everything else we've applied to is on 14th

Thanks everyone. Yes it was a very nice surprise! We are waiting on Putney, LEH and G&L.

Interesting! Is your list based on desirables subjectively or by fees or results?
just looked at the Times parent power. The rankings are mainly based on A levels which skews things for the likes of PHS and WHS as a lot leave for a 6th form coed, but then the A level stats (Times rankings) for eg KCS, Westminster are not higher than the GCSE ones for those schools save for KGS which is coed throughout anyway.
i know you are only looking at girls, but wondered about this, topping off at a coed.
I’m keen on Girls Ed, I hear from University students, including an Oxbridge student that the GDST girls have a balanced sense of confidence and bring a lot to Uni life.
I wonder if that’s the same for SHS, JAGs and FHS

Ps and massive congrats on the SHS offer! 👏It looks like a lovely school a neighbours daughter goes there

I’d add Channing and QCL (who has similar GCSE results last year to FHRP I believe).

Congratulations on the offer!

I think I may struggle with your list because I am not in SW London so don’t understand all the abbreviations. Is SHS Surbiton High School? And SHHS is South Hampstead? Perhaps you could add Channing and Queen’s College to the list - but I am not sure where they would fit in.

I have heard great things about NLCS but they are not actually in London (despite the name). We live very centrally but my daughter would need to get three separate tubes and it would take her about 1 hr 20 mins each way (I once looked it up).

Thanks! Yes not sure what to base it on exactly but just from what I've heard people will turn schools down for.

There are also some girls’ comprehensives near here which some people are very keen on. Camden School for Girls, Highbury Fields, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson - and of course Grey Coat Hospital. I know that Camden, in particular, are asking people not to register their daughters for the exam (for banding purposes) if they live more than 1.45 (ish) miles away because it’s an act of futility.

I think if you include NLCS on the list, you should include Habs. But no idea whether it is more or less desirable than JAGS

Out of interest: I've noticed girls schools in general have much higher fees than boys schools (SPGS or G&L vs St Paul's boys, for example. Why is that?

It could be because boys’ schools have bigger historic endowments and/or more investments/other assets than girls’ schools. That’s just a guess, but I’ve heard this suggested for the reason why girls’ school scholarships or bursaries are lower than for boys schools. The fees for my local boys’ and girls’ indies are almost the same, though I think the scholarships/bursaries are more generous at the boys’ school.

SPGS and St Paul's boys have pretty much identical fees - SPGS is £11,917 per term St Paul's boys is £11,325 for 13+. Westminster is £14,749 non boarding...

Ah! Yes, that makes sense. Thanks.

Yes, from Y9 onwards... But there's two years of (lower fees) SPJ first before boys move to the senior school, so in general the girls school is much pricier.

Seperately SPGS sixth form is 12886 higher than St Paul boys.

That's just a function of boys' schools historically admitting at 13. Once you add up the cost of fees over 7 years, it's a relatively small difference!

Only for new entrants to 6th form (of which there is a tiny handful each year). The fees for existing students going into the 6th form are the same as the rest of the school. Important that there's no misinformation on here.

It varies based on your definition of London and your place of residence. For instance, Surbiton and LEH are located in TFL Zone 6 or beyond, while NLCS near Edgware falls in TFL Zone 5.

To be honest I wouldn't consider Surbiton or LEH London schools either.

Note it is one of the few school that has charged different fee for sixth form new entrance. And this still means that, on average, the listed day school tuition fee for the entire period from Year 7 to Year 13 is higher than that of St Paul Boys.

I don't understand how you can come up with that conclusion.

Congratulations!