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Prep to senior boarding school choices at age 11 or 13

School gate and dinner party banter as well as league tables and glossy magazine reviews can make the senior school choice process confusing for parents. We are fortunate to have diversity of choice countrywide, but how do parents decide on picking the right school that is best suited to the needs of their child?


It’s tricky to understand the differences between senior boarding schools such as Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Radley, Wycombe Abbey, Downe House, Wellington College, Shrewsbury, Rugby, Uppingham, Oundle – the list is exhaustive.


Our team of friendly, professional consultants have years of experience in supporting parents with this decision. Our independent viewpoint brings clarity to the decision-making process.


Your current school knows your child well and will give you advice on boarding schools to consider as the next step on their education journey. We highly value our working relationships with prep and international schools, complementing the advice they give, with our independent perspective. In our experience, parents like to have the reassurance they have considered all the potential schools, before feeling confident they are picking the right school.


Our future schools planning service


Our future schools planning service regularly assists parents to:

  • Review the academic and other attainments of your child to match these up to the right school and consider any additional support they may need.

  • Draw up a list of boarding schools to accommodate your search criteria – day or boarding, single sex or co-ed, academic strengths and interests of your child, any additional support your child may need and transport links.

  • Make a short-list of schools to visit and assist with making visit appointments.

  • Prepare a list of questions to ask while visiting.

  • Get a feel for atmosphere, ethos, educational philosophy of the Head, staff-pupil relationships.

  • Check the curriculum supports your child’s strengths and interests, as well as their future career ambitions.

  • Accompany parents on senior school visits, especially where English is not their first language.

  • Understand the pros and cons of each school after their visits. There may be a couple of front-runners that might need a second visit.

  • Navigate the registration, application, pre-test and interview preparation process.


The complete list of how we help parents when picking the right school choice would be too long for this webpage.


The best thing to do now is to get in touch and talk to us about your child and what the perfect school looks like for them. Share with us your queries and worries about your future school choices, so we can let you know how we can help.



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