Common Entrane Exams

Oh crikey, didn't realise that you meant for this September! Have you not got a conditional offer? Or is ti down to the fact that he isn't achieving what he should be?

Would second the options of looking at schools which sit their own 13+ entrance exams instead of/as well as CE. Whitgift in South London will offer boarding from Sept 13, has its 13+ in Jan with offers in Feb. Caterham has co-ed boarding and similarly 13+ in Jan. Oakham does a nonCE 13+ in January. you need to check which subjects are covered, but Whitgift, Caterham are Maths, English and VR, whereas Oakham tests in French and Science as well.

I have heard of several cases where the DC sits a scholarship exam, doesn't get a scholarship but gets offered a normal, non-scholarship place that is not conditional on CE. In other words, a good performance on the scholarship papers removes the need for CE.

OP, it sounds as though your DS is sitting CE for a school that has a relatively high pass mark and that you are now being advised that he is unlikely to obtain that score? Hence the need for a back-up school?

You just need to find a school that is undersubscribed...

Well good luck. Fingers crossed that it all works out in the end.

Take a look at some sample papers on say the st Edwards website. That should give you an idea of the level they are looking for at the scholarship. I would ask them if they will give a CE place if he does not achieve the scholarship, but i dont know how they then manage their numbers for CE where children already have conditional offers. Their passmark is 55% so not materially different from the 60% you are looking at from the other two. good luck. Keep the pressure on the prep school head. This is what you are paying him for....

OP you had a thread last week where you were looking for alternative schools for this year as mocks had not gone so well. Now you're asking about sitting a scholarship? I'm confused!!! Scholarship sample papers are generally available for your chosen school so you could look at those. Has your DS done scholarship classes at his prep school? If people hold more than one offer it is normally from a non CE school and the child then sits for a CE school. Can get costly though with multiple deposits. What advice is your prep school head giving?

I have never heard of boys being able to hold onto 2 places till such a late date, you have to name your 1st preference school before sitting.
Mrs Meaner is right even if your DS doesn't do well enough to be offered a scholarship, he should do well enough to pass scholarship entrance. If he doesn't make scholarship entrance then he will have to sit common entrance as well a few weeks later, most of the stuff is the same but he will then have to sit RS. If he only failled one paper at scholarship entrance most schools will just make him sit that paper as part of common entrance.
Most schools pre-test now, and all the heads at schools we short-listed said they weren't worried about CE marks, it was the pre-test that was important. These are some of the top schools in the country.

Further to the OP's situation, if your DS is not awarded a scholarship, do you not wish to take a full fee place at that school?

Typically, boys get their senior school place when they sit their pretest (late Y6, early Y7), and the CE is a formality. If they 'fail' their scholarship papers, they will undoubtably be offered a full fee place with or without sitting CE.

It is very unusual for boys to hold two school places around CE time.

The best thing to do is to talk to your HT or DoS at your prep school. They are the absolute experts in local senior schools, and are able to do a bit of work behind the scenes if everything goes pear-shaped.

There is Common Entrance and Common Scholarship offered by the Independent Schools Examinations Board.

Some schools use ISEB papers, others use their own (particularly for scholarship), but all prep schools follow the ISEB specification.

Typically, scholarship candidates are identified before the start of Year 8, and then they may have their own stream (if in a large school) or have lunchtime/twilight scholarship lessons.

Scholarship exams (though not CS) usually take place in the Spring term of Year 8, and if the candidate makes a decent show, they do not have to sit CE in June.

Sometimes Art/Drama/Music/PE scholarships are dependent on a certain passmark in CE.

It is all up to the individual senior school. The Director of Studies and Headteacher in the prep school will have all the answers you need.

ds took some subjects at CAS and others CE so it must be possible to do both. However the critieria and curriculum differ so you may find he won't do as well in either than if he just focussed on one. I assume he isn't sitting them this year as you haven't sorted this out yet. Also many schools offer on the basis of their own exams taken earlier in the academic year, so not dependent on CE. Perhaps such a school would be a better option for your ds ?