• Heathside Preparatory School is friendly, family scaled and continuity minded, with close attention to the individual and a calm all-age rhythm both central to the school's identity.

• Will suit families who want a co-educational all-through day school in Camden where continuity and personal knowledge of pupils matter.

Admissions at Heathside Preparatory School are designed to feel welcoming rather than theatrical, with a family-sized approach that should make the process more conversational than intimidating. The important question is whether parents want a school that starts early and offers continuity through the senior years without losing that close-knit feel.

Scholarships are not the headline here. The stronger appeal is continuity in a co-educational all-through day school where pupils can be known well over time.

Published information is fairly modest but specific enough to give parents a usable first impression. As with many family-sized schools, a visit and careful questioning will matter more than glossy positioning.

Heathside is refreshingly explicit that it is not academically selective. Admissions are based around a tour, a taster session or day, previous school information and a judgement about fit rather than formal testing, which suggests that day-to-day assessment is more about close classroom knowledge and preparation for next steps than about ranking children early.