Big question for you is whether it's there to be found. But besides the obvious - listen to all stories, read reviews, study the school webpage, visit and pay close attention to the head, the teachers and the pupils and how they all interact - the main thing I think we did right was:
- think about where the interests of the school as organisation lie. How well aligned are they with what you want for your child?
In our case, most of the schools we looked at took in children, with or without selection, with or without fees, and were judged/advertised themselves essentially on average achievement at the end of the school, with a lowish ceiling above which better didn't really matter to them (for their own sake, I mean). The difference in the one we chose - with which we've been close to blissfully happy for six years so far - was that it is judged and advertises itself largely on the best achievements at the end of the school. It's a prep school in the UK sense; non-selective at intake, it sends pupils on to a wide range of senior schools and "here is our list of scholarships gained this year" is prominent information and they really care. The hardest scholarships are very hard indeed, so there's no meaningful ceiling on the achievement level it's in their interest to help pupils reach. I don't feel I'm expected to be grateful when they work out how to stretch DS (though I am!); they're acting in their own interest too.
