Methods of Entry to senior schools
COMMON ENTRANCE (CE)
Most Headmaster’s Conference Schools (HMC) and other Public Schools accept pupils at 13+ on Common Entrance (CE). These examinations are set by a common body, sat at the child’s Prep School and marked and graded by the senior schools themselves. Pupils sit papers in the following subjects: English, Maths, Science, French, History, Geography and Religious Studies.
Many of the schools to which we send our pupils use this as the recognised method of academic assessment. The senior school's requirements do vary as some will require a higher overall average mark than others. Together with these papers a detailed report from the school is required and pupils are usually interviewed. ALL our pupils, whether or not the school of their choice requires it, will sit the Common Entrance examinations at the end of Y8.
In addition, some senior schools will pre test applicants in Y6 or 7 and offer a place subject to CE. Pretesting is usually a morning or afternoon and consists of an interview, reasoning tests and a report from the pupils' current Headteacher.
SCHOLARSHIP
If your child is talented in a particular area, he or she could be recommended to sit for a scholarship. Academic, Sport, Music, Arts and All Rounder awards are available and may carry a financial award, commonly between 10 - 20% of the termly fees. It is worth considering, however, that some major senior schools plan to continue to offer scholarships but will remove the monetary award in favour of bursary places for families who require financial assistance.
For Academic awards, some schools use a Common Scholarship, although others still use their own papers. The exams usually include the same spread of subjects as C.E. although the timing of the exams varies from school to school. These examinations are extremely competitive, and require a considerable commitment from teachers, pupils and parents. We will try to identify potential candidates as early as possible, although parents rather than school are required to enter the child for a scholarship.
DEFERRED PLACES
Deferred places are offered by some schools who are happy for pupils to sit their own examination in the January of Y6 and offer a place based upon this for entry in Y9, subject to continued academic performance and report from the Prep school. Currently,The Abbey, The Marist and St George’s, Ascot all offer this facility for our pupils. All these schools have their own assessment in English, Maths, Science and reasoning.
INTERVIEW and INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
Some schools accept pupils as a result of an interview and their own internal assessment.
