Re: Planning your child’s schooling
Glad I can help. In regards to the bold - by Prep schools, do you mean Private Primary or just Primary level schools (state run)? Prep school is actually the former.
Ofsted rating is about as far as you can go for state primary schools .. even though I would take this with a pinch of salt. I wish our Milly was here to tell you what she thinks of Ofsted. The league tables for secondary schools are based on exam results. Although children do take SATS in primary school.. to rank schools by SATS results is not fair or helpful for children of that age. Classes will be mixed ability and the results will always reflect that. The important thing is, is the teaching and environment good and will it help get the best from my child? As I mentioned either above or in the other thread, you will still need to teach your child outside of school time, or hire a tutor, regardless of how good the school is to prepare them for 11+ tests.
As for a polished a groomed environment… Grammar school admission is purely on the results on the 11+, they don’t interview pupils. Private schools sometimes will hold interviews.
Having gone through this for my 5 siblings and my cousins who are the same age as my siblings, the single most important factor is what you do at home.