Prep school - how to judge standards
Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 9:01 am
I'm considering a girls' prep school which ends at year 6; there is a senior department too but many girls leave at the end of year 6 to go on to selective indies (the senior dept is not selective) and some do the Kent 11+ at the start of year 6 and go to Kent grammars. At the moment it's the latter route I would be envisaging for my DDs.
What sort of info is standard for a prep school to supply to prospective parents to enable you to judge whether standards in year 5 / 6 are high enough to give your child a fair chance in selective entry schools? At the moment all I have is their "word" that some children go to Kent grammars, others go to selective indies (and and I don't know how selective these particular schools are), and that the majority of children would be of level 5 standard by the end of year 6 (but they don't do the real SATs I don't think).
I have seen some written work and maths work at KS1 and had a vague feeling for reading standards, but I didn't think they were "flying" relative to the state primary my children are at. But there were other aspects of the school that greatly attracted me, and the wider curriculum seemed to have a lot to offer.
The ISC report is not particularly up to date - there has been a change in leadership of the school since then. Also I find ISC reports hard to get a grip on - the language is always very positive and I don't know what a mediocre kind of report looks like relative to a superb one if you see what I mean.
What sort of info is standard for a prep school to supply to prospective parents to enable you to judge whether standards in year 5 / 6 are high enough to give your child a fair chance in selective entry schools? At the moment all I have is their "word" that some children go to Kent grammars, others go to selective indies (and and I don't know how selective these particular schools are), and that the majority of children would be of level 5 standard by the end of year 6 (but they don't do the real SATs I don't think).
I have seen some written work and maths work at KS1 and had a vague feeling for reading standards, but I didn't think they were "flying" relative to the state primary my children are at. But there were other aspects of the school that greatly attracted me, and the wider curriculum seemed to have a lot to offer.
The ISC report is not particularly up to date - there has been a change in leadership of the school since then. Also I find ISC reports hard to get a grip on - the language is always very positive and I don't know what a mediocre kind of report looks like relative to a superb one if you see what I mean.