Getting through the prep-school maze

Not many of us have our 18-year-old child in mind when we first put him or her down for a place at nursery. But with the idiosyncratic English private school system such as it is, how you intend to educate your child in the second half of his/her school life will impact what you do with them when they are five.

In the state sector it is relatively straightforward. You go to primary school at 5 and leave at 11 for secondary school.

In the private sector, it can become ludicrously complicated. The trouble is that two historic systems are being yoked together. The crucial difference is the cross to secondary or ‘public’ school, traditionally made at thirteen for boys. Girls (and the state sector) move at 11, dovetailing in with the National Curriculum and the end of Key Stage 2.

Traditionally a boy would go to a pre-prep school from ages 5 to 8 and then a prep school from 8 to 13. However, as co-education grows in popularity, especially at primary level, the divisions have blurred. Do you send your son (or daughter) who you have ‘put down’ for a particular school at 13 to the co-ed school that you have set your heart on that finishes at 11? Or do you move him or her to a prep school at 8 (or increasingly 7)?

At 11 your child will have to take an exam. Some schools have clubbed together to use the same exam papers. All the traditional London girls’ secondary schools (Francis Holland, Godolphin and Latymer, St Pauls), some London boys’ schools (UCS, City of London, Hampton) and some of the mixed schools (Latymer Upper, Emmanuel, the Harrodian) have their main entry point at 11. If you want your child to move somewhere else at 13, it can be problematic as it is not in the school’s interest to prepare your child for the Common Entrance exam. Your alternative is to move at eleven to join the last two years of a prep school that is geared towards preparing children for Common Entrance.

There is a recognised entry point at eleven (albeit not nearly as big as at 7/8) at most major prep schools including Colet Court (prep for St Pauls), Westminster Under, King’s College Wimbledon and Highgate.

These schools take a handful of boys via highly competitive exam and interview and many come from state primaries. Whilst all boys will be expected to pass through into the senior school, all boys have to take Common Entrance.

Some London day schools take a few boys from the state sector a year early ie. aged ten, into Year 6 to give them ‘catch-up time’, particularly in languages and maths.

The other option is to send your child to a London prep that is not attached to a particular public school such as Thomas’ Clapham, Wetherby, Arnold House or Sussex House, all of which feed the major public schools at 13. There will be some kind of informal assessment and/or interview for entry at eleven.

There is a small but growing crop of (co-ed) day preps that go from 5-13 such as Thomas’, Fulham Prep, Trevor Roberts and Notting Hill Prep. The possible downside is that they will be at the same school for eight years.

Take a tour of a boarding prep, even if you are as convinced as I am that you will not send your child. It will give you a sense of perspective. Boarding schools have changed dramatically in the past twenty years or so and although eight may seem too young, ten or eleven might be OK. Entry to London day schools at eleven is highly competitive and not for everyone.

If you are thinking of boarding, there are advantages to boarding at 11. “Children who have had boarding experience are definitely at an advantage, being a little more independent and thus ready to cope with senior school life. In the worst case scenario starting at eleven, if things do go wrong there is still time to change direction at thirteen in order to go down a day route rather than a boarding one," says Desmond Devitt, Registrar of the Dragon School in Oxford.

With entry at 11, the school may require your child to have a conditional place at a public school, based on his having passed the pre-selection process at age eleven that allows them to actually sit Common Entrance at thirteen. Most of the top senior schools in the country screen boys at eleven or twelve (school report, assessment and interview) for entrance at thirteen.

This is the traditional preparatory route. Once again, it isn’t straightforward. Until relatively recently, you moved your boys at the end of Year 3 (rising 9) after they had taken an 8+ exam the previous January.

This is the stage when most pre-prep schools (including the co-ed ones which keep girls to 11) ‘lose’ their boys. However, over the last ten years, there has been a steady increase in prep schools taking boys at the end of Year 2, following a 7+ exam. The 7+ arose through parents wanting their boys to start prep school earlier in order to benefit from all the activities on offer. Most London preps now apportion about half their places at 7+ and half at 8+. Exceptions to this are Latymer Under and Highgate which now only offer places at 7+ . (Latymer is in a slightly different category to other preps in that the transfer to Latymer Upper occurs at 11 rather than 13).

Which option to go for is a tricky one – by going for the 7+ you have the chance to re-apply if your son doesn’t get in but, conversely, children mature at different stages and a very bright child may not be ready to take a fairly daunting exam paper before his seventh birthday. Barry Evans, head of the Falcons School in Chiswick, is emphatic in his belief that each child matures emotionally and academically at different times and parents shouldn’t lose heart. He uses his own son, Barnaby, as an example. Barnaby, now grown up, failed the 7+ for Westminster Under School as he just wasn’t ready. His birthday is August 24th. He sat the 8+ the following year and was in the top five boys to pass.

By going before the end of Year 3, your son is missing out on being the ‘senior’ boy in his school. Also, some pre-preps will not prepare boys for the 7+. If your child is in the state system, there will be absolutely no encouragement to remove your child before eleven and send him/her to private school.

Don’t forget scholarships/bursaries, which are usually available for children over eleven. There are many more opportunities than there used to be, though with less money off fees than previously – usually a maximum of 50% off. Boys’ scholarships are still worth a lot more than girls’ scholarships due to the build-up of funds invested over centuries. Take note that for a music scholarship a child needs to be learning two instruments, usually piano and one other. For more details you need to contact the schools individually. There is also more information on scholarships in the books/web sites listed below.

If your child is already at private school, the school should alert you as to when to look round schools, when to apply and give you advice about any extra coaching. Be warned – it is not only state primary school children who are tutored – up to 75% of boys at a London day prep will be being tutored for Common entrance too! If your child is at a state primary, you need to be much more careful as it is not within the remit of state school heads to prepare parents or children for entry to private school, although, of course, headteachers at the better schools will. Don’t leave it too late to register your child for private schools. You can always look round later. Occasionally senior schools will close their registration lists for Common Entrance years in advance if they have several hundred children already registered so don’t get caught out.

If you decide to have your child tutored for exams at eleven, then one year is generally enough – say, from January in year 5. And, obvious really, you need to put his/her name down on the tutor’s waiting list as soon as possible as the best ones get very booked up.

In some ways the parents who know they want little Johnny to go to Daddy’s old prep and then on to Daddy’s old public school have it the easiest, assuming their child is in the 80% of children who don’t have special educational needs of some kind. But a plea from the heart. Do focus on your child and think about what kind of environment is best for him or her. Does he/she have difficulties that a particular school may or may not be able to accommodate? Is your child just good at sport rather than really interested in sport? Is your reluctance to consider boarding school more about you and your issues/bad experience?

If all this seems like a great big headache, then do some positive thinking. Current complications in the system are largely to do with the rise in equality of education for women. Our education system is famed throughout the world. Make it work for you. Think ahead and plan backwards. We are better educated about our children, communications between school and home are much improved and parents can research schools on the internet. Listen to the head teacher. Try not to be influenced or upset by other parents in the playground. If you are honest and practical about your child’s strengths and weaknesses you will be doing the best for your child and they will thank you for it later. Above all remember that the single most important thing in your child’s life is not what school they go to, or how many scholarships they get or which team they play for, but that they feel valued and are happy with themselves. After all, in the end, isn’t that really what it’s all about? 

Source:  http://www.angelsandurchins.co.uk/news/item/14/Getting-through-the-prep-school-maze