DUCKS to Alleyn's at 5+

[Bionic_Dave]

* We have a little one (LO) due to start at Ducks this Sept (rising 3).

* LO has the potential to stay there til age of 7 but we are keen for LO to try for Alleyn's reception entry.

* I anticipate that Ducks don't prepare their pupils for the 5+ entrance/assessment because they gear them up for the 7+ and (for the boys), the 11+.

* Has anyone out there got or heard of success stories of LO's moving from Ducks to Alleyn's reception? Any tips? Any advice? And (warnings!) re Ducks? (We liked it a lot but we are new to the area so we might be missing out on other hidden gems).

* Other options for us are Townsend Montessori in F.Hill and Rosemead. HH and Oakfield aren't options for us as we weren't keen on them.

Thanks in advance.

:-)

[alaska721]

I don't have personal experience of Ducks (my daughter is currently at HH) but I do know that reception places at Alleyn's are oversubscribed.

A friend of mine applied for a reception place at Alleyn's for a September 2014 start for her daughter (so she did the assessment in January of this year). There were approximately 200 applicants for the 18 places at reception (split: 9 places for boys and 9 places for girls). Unfortunately she didn't get in although she was offered a place at JAPS.

[slh2009]

My son is in the preschool room at Townsend Montessori and we are very happy with it, they have a great Montessori teacher who really prepares the class well for school. Happy to answer any questions you might have.

[enjoy]

Don't get too stressed about the whole Alleyn's thing.

LO is to young for predictions yet.

There are a lot of great schools around here, Alleyn's is very competitive

and not everybody is happy and thriving there.

Keep your mind open, let your little one develop and then see where to go ...

I know that does not answer your questions, but l wanted to throw in my 50p!

[Parkrunner]

Our son is also in the pre-school room at Townsend Montessori and we are very happy with the preparation it has given him for school. However, I'm not sure it's a fair comparison with somewhere like Ducks. Ducks is part of a private school and so I would imagine more likely to prepare children for private school entrance assessments, whereas Townsend is a daycare facility with a very good pre-school room, but with most children going on to local state primaries.

That is not to do Townsend down in any way, but it just depends what you're looking for. Without any sort of 'official' preparation, our son sat the assessments for St Dunstan's, Dulwich Prep and Alleyn's. He was offered a place for St Dunstan's, put on a short waiting list for Dulwich Prep and got nowhere with Alleyn's. We weren't overly distressed at this as we had liked the feel of St Dunstan's the best and had been pretty underwhelmed by the reception classroom at Alleyn's, which felt like a broom cupboard - for ?14k a year!

As another poster here has already said, reception places at Alleyn's are more than 10:1 over-subscribed so chances are extremely slim. Even if your child does get in at Alleyn's, the school does not then automatically offer younger siblings a place when they are due to start school, so you may find yourself having to do the school run to two different places in due course if you do have other children.

However, if your heart is set on Alleyn's, the ratio of applicants to places at 7+ is better than at 4+ for reception. So you may be better off going with Ducks, as if you are unsuccessful at 4+, Ducks will continue preparing them for 7+. An acquaintance of mine has both her children at Ducks and is very happy with it; loves the nurturing environment. However, she is looking at transfer to Sydenham High at 7, not somewhere as competitive as Alleyn's.

If money's no object, then fair enough, just decide which private school you like best, but if you're in the same boat as us, where private primary would mean no holidays for the foreseeable future, then don't rule out the local state primaries either as there are some good ones. Much as we loved St Dunstan's, we decided it wasn't ?13k a year better than our first choice local school and we could make up the extra sport, music etc outside of school.

Good luck with your decision - it's incredibly tough!

[alaska721]

I know you said Herne Hill School wasn't an option for you but I do think they are particularly good at preparing children for the 7+ entrance (of course I'm totally biased as my LO is there!).

I've just received their Year 2 destinations information for Sept 2014 entry which hasn't been posted on their website and it goes as follows: Alleyn's = 10 acceptances (15 offers), Dulwich College = 6 acceptances (10 offers), Dulwich Prep = 6 acceptances (13 offers) and JAPS = 3 acceptances (7 offers). There are offers for other independents but I only included the main Dulwich schools.

When I was looking for a pre-prep for my LO I do remember being underwhelmed by the ISI inspection report of Ducks whereas Herne Hill's report was outstanding in every aspect. Of course there are more to schools than their inspection reports but you should go with your gut feeling and what you think is best for your LO.