Private secondaries with entrance exams..what proportion get in from state school?

[Beatrixpotty]

know it's a bit vague as depends on school but in general anyone got an idea or have one there already and know roughly? Wondering if preps prepare them more for the exams..

[EdithWeston]

It varies so much from school to school (sorry). Overall, there are joiners to the private sector (as witnessed by their being more pupils in secondary schools than in prep), but that's no guide for specific schools where there may be eg large numbers of foreign students or, if boarding, state pupils from specific communities such as Forces.

Prep schools are generally geared up to good preparation for entrance exams parents would swerve them so quickly if they didn't get pupils into the parents' top one o two choice of secondary).

Some schools publish, or will supply on request, the schools that sent pupils to them in recent years. Perhaps you could enquire at the schools you are interested in?

[Copthallresident]

A lot of private schools actively encourage state school pupils, have access and mentoring schemes, bursaries etc. and will take into account whether a pupil has been to a Prep or tutored. They are looking for potential. Around here there are a few snotty schools that have the attitude of take it or leave it, we will not take anyone who hasn't achieved a high standard of attainment because they will be too far behind. However most are the former and have quite high proportions coming from state primaries. The entrance exam will be a clue. If it is based on the National Curriculum and or has an element of Verbal/Non Verbal Reasoning it is a clue that they are looking at ability rather than attainment.

[eatyourveg]

I've never noticed that our school favours one over the other. Probably 60/40 in favour of preps but we have the 11+ here so lots of people go to the grammars which are free. The entrance exam has 3 parts vr nvr and maths and although there is a pass mark it is not insurmountable assuming you are 100 - SD+1 they use it more to determine your sets for english and maths

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

If you are looking at boys only for example, most of the state school pupils would go in at 11+ but a lot of the prep school boys would go in at 13+

At Merchant Taylors (boys Public School) it looks like around 30-40% of the 11+ entries are from state schools
see in here they list the 11+ and 13+ entrants and their schoolwww.mtsn.org.uk/fileadmin/content/_Publications/Taylorian-July-2012.swf

[Farewelltoarms]

It's the proportion of successful applicants that's interesting I guess. The head at city boys said at 10 and 11 these proportions were the same. He did sound like he was making this up on the spot tho. Anecdotally I can't see any difference in success rates but the sort of person who sends state for primary and then private might be more intellectually confident - again only anecdotal but seems so round us.

[AngelEyes46]

For my ds' year, 4 went independent at secondary (out of a class of 30). 1 went to grammar, 24 went to the RC secondary and 1 went to her local secondary (but more so because she didn't get into the RC secondary). This is a faith primary school so would be interesting to know how that percentage compares with normal schools.

[Knowsabitabouteducation]

The highly selective school my DSs went to worked out at around half from their own prep school, a quarter from independent junior and prep schools and a quarter from maintained primaries.

The highly selective school my DDs go to is about half and half. They don't have their own prep school or designated feeder school, so that makes a difference. It makes them a lot more "independent".

[SkippyYourFriendEverTrue]

Some private schools have entrance exams that are just for show tbh. They are not that selective.

The more selective ones at a 11+ will take bright children from any school, but at 13+ you are likely to require Latin and such like

[LIZS]

At dc school I would say less than 20% at 11+. About half come from the attached Prep school although they do now have to sit the same exam so (officially at least) have no guaranteed place. However at other local schools it is probably nearer to half especially where there is no attached prep, offers a wide range of financial support or is in an area with some selective state schools so children are prepared for entrance tests anyway.

[LIZS]

And in answer to your q about preparation, ime traditional preps that go up to 13+ focus more on Common Entrance/CAS/13+ preparation and make a token effort with 11+ candidates. Those that only go up to 11+ rely more heavily on success at this age and therefore do a lot more practice in lesson time, working towards the dates of various tests.

[Bunbaker]

My experience is only with DD's state primary school. The success rate for the last couple of years has been 100% because the children aren't entered for the entrance exams uness they have a good chance of passing. Also the private schools aren't interested in children who aren't forecasted level 5s in their KS2 SATS.

DD passed the entrance exam for a private girl's school that has high academic achievements, but we didn't send her there because we couldn't afford the fees.