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Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has experience of their children starting at Tring younger than yr 7? My daughter is very keen to go from yr5. She is very mature for her age and loves the idea of boarding. Knowing the amount of time we spend at the moment going to dance/drama/singing classes we are concerned that balancing school and all the additional training out of school will become impossible in the future. This is the main reason we are considering a specialist school to get the right balance. Are there many there that board before year 7? I am guessing there is less demand for places in the younger years ?
Any advice and experience would be greatly appreciated

Hi, pre-preps i.e year 5&6 pupils are in the minority at Tring & are therefore mixed in with year 7&8 boarders. Boarders are usually 4 to a room. The best advice I can offer if you are seriously considering Tring is to make an appointment to look round with your daughter during what would constitute as a 'normal' school day. When we were considering Tring, we visited not only on the open day & audition days but also separately by appointment. This was an informal visit during a working school day where we were fortunate enough to speak personally to house parents and younger pupils experiencing 'real life' at Tring. This was an invaluable experience for our son who got to ask all the questions that were playing on his mind re boarding etc. The school are amazingly supportive & experienced at settling in new pupils/boarders & life at Tring is like a whole school community family, regardless of age. Everyone looks out for each other. Good luck with your choice.

Years 5 and 6 are very tiny and are taught together. When my dd started a few years ago (she joined in Year 9) there was only one prep boarder. As already said, you best bet is to visit the school and get a real feel for it. It may be that having seen the school your dd might prefer to join in Year 7 anyway but you need to be aware that the prep dept is tiny.