Westminster School - Upper 2014 Entry

Goinggetstough - they could run it like the UCAS admissions system and have the CE marked centrally with transcript copies available for schools who want to see the actual answered papers. Then applicants could apply to two or three highly competitive schools and a couple of not quite so competitive should as back up. Schools then call boys to interview (and perhaps ask the school for references, examples of work etc) and then offer a place or reject a candidate. The candidate then has a given number of days to accept or reject the place/s once the candidate has heard from all his schools.

At the moment the system is all for the benefit of the schools (it's basically a cartel) and offers no choice whatsoever to the end user.

Colleger they do try to stop people holding two places on a list. 18 months out certainly the school we applied to asked for a very large deposit to secure the place prior to CE. This will not obviously put off those who are able to pay but it certainly makes some families decide ( we were in this group). Then secondly I believe (unless it has changed recently) that you have to go firm in the February before you sit CE which school will be marking the papers. Pre-testing at 10/11 also cuts down the applicants. Depending on the school it can be different for scholarship candidates but then they surely need another option if they don't get a scholarship. I am not sure how they could improve this system even though I agree it is far from perfect. How would you change it?

City Girls is a good school but I do not like City Boys at all.

I do think there should be some sort of rule about holding a place at two schools that have similar CE requirements. It is so unfair to those on the waiting list and the schools should try and stop this from happening. It's different if a child is borderline CE so has a safety option but if a child gets into E or W, the odds of the failing CE is slim.

Sensible schools like City of London hold their exams and offer places early. I really like City of London both the boys' and girls' school it's so no-nonsense and unpretentious.

The drop out is for a number of reasons. Many who apply to Westminster also apply to Eton and choose Eton and vice versa. Westminster has exceptionally high day fees in London, so St Paul's is a more affordable option, and then some decide against/can't afford private school or move out of London.

...and after pre-testing a lot of children will be holding several offers. Their parents will fork out £££ in deposits and only decide which school at the last minute when CE entries have to go in. Shame for all the other children with waiting list places, who do not know which school they are going to go to until those with multiple offers eventually choose one school. There must be a better system....

Ah I didn't realise Westminster pre-tested. So the offers number Colleger is talking about are presumably the number that are pre-tested as worthy of an offer subject to meeting the required standard in CE and those who drop out are those who know they aren't going to meet the CE standard so opt to sit CE for a different school?

MrsJAlfred - I think St Pauls and Westminster hold their scholarship exams on the same day(s) but you can also get in via the Common Entrance exam so it would be possible to sit the scholarship for one and the CE for the other IYSWIM.
Why you would want to do that is a different question, not much of a safety net for the boy in that scenario.

The offers are given after the pre-test which takes place in year 6, the offer is conditional on a high score (70%+ in every exam) at 13+ or success at the challenge (scholarship exams). At this stage boys may apply to several schools - many keep there options open for boarding too as 11 year boys may not be sure about boarding at 13and need time to think about it . Following pretest a boy may well select to be on the CE/Challenge list for either St Paul's or Westminster but will not usually remain on both, but they may keep Eton or Winchester until closer to CE. At some point a hefty deposit is payable. Some boys don't score high enough at CE and are not accepted or indeed don't get the equivalent level in the challenge and pull out not wishing to do the CE exams in their weak subjects.

Why so many rejections of a place for which you've applied and sat an exam? As an academic day school it only really has St Paul's (pseudo boarding) as its competitor, no? Do they not hold their entrance exams on the same day?

They offer around 175 places as they assume around 50 reject.

There are 120 boys in Year 9 (Fifth Form).

The bursar recently indicated to me that about 450 boys sit for about 100 places at 13+