S1 Entrance exams for Edinburgh private schools

[mumszer]

Hi, we've recently moved up from England and DD who is 11 will be sitting entrance exams in January for three of the independent schools in Edinburgh - George Watson's, George Heriots, and Erskine Stuart's Melville's. Thinking of doing a little revision with her over the next few weeks just to brush up on basics, does anyone know where we could see past papers for the assessments for Edinburgh schools to get an idea of the topics covered? In England is fairly easy to know as it's the '11+', but i understand the Edinburgh schools set their own papers so was wondering what topics etc are covered/at what level? Thanks.

[tubularfells]

Welcome to Edinburgh! There aren't any past papers. Mine had to write a story on a topic, there was spelling and then maths. It might be worth getting a couple of Bond books just to double check your DD is up to speed on doing tests - moving on from a hard question, etc. - but my children found them quite straightforward.

[guessmyusername]

Those are the 3 that my dd did. As pp says there are no past papers. I downloaded from the internet some NVR papers to practice as these are not covered at school so that she was familiar with the style. I also discussed general exam technique. Must have worked as she was offered places at GW and ESM. Heriots didn't offer her a place, but there were approximately 150 applicants for around 40 places (or at least that is what I was told) and dd didn't like the school much anyway. PM me if you have any specific questions. I went to one, dd went to another and my mum taught at the third!

[motherstongue]

If you have plans to return to England before her schooling finishes I would recommend St George's or Fettes instead as they both do GCSEs rather than Nationals with the later going on to do A levels. However, you've probably already considered that so please feel free to just ignore my musings.

[WSH2020]

Hi there, we're in the same position with moving up from England to Edinburgh and DD due to sit the exams next Jan. How did your DD get on with the exams? Do you feel the English and Scottish curriculum are different? Which resources did you find useful given lack of past papers - Bond books? Hope she's happy with the outcome! Thanks.