Admission to Independent schools

Not all borders go home - some do after Saturday lessons and return Sunday evening or Monday morning.

What does your current school recommend? What age does it go up to?

Bella you may be better starting new thread with a title of

Secondary in north London (state or Indy) for DS with HFA

They should be preparing for the pre-test. Peculiar that the aren’t.

I could really do with some advice...my DS in in need of a secondary school in north London, independent or mainstream. It would be great if anyone knows of one with the 'right balance' he has HFA( high functioning autism) and needs great pastoral care and academic progression to enable him even further. Or someone might know of a very small setting. Ideally we don't want to send him to a special school, but are struggling to hv his needs met in current secondary school. Any advice would be gratefully received.😊

hi rose1947, my son recently sat the pretest. We found out today he has been invited to the Harrow test next Autumn and to meet housemasters in January. His school is a prep school, but in Yorkshire, and not used to pretest. We did a lot of the Bond ten minute test books in VR , NVR, English and Maths as well as the pretestplus website and planet BOFA. He said the tests were very hard towards the end but as they are adaptive if they get very hard questions it means they are doing well. Hope that helps

Ds is at a prep school. He applied to Eton, Winchester and Harrow. He did not one iota of preparation. He got offers from the first two and passed the Harrow pre-test (and by that time we had settled on Eton so he didn’t take the Harrow selection any further.)

All the schools say you don’t need to prepare. Ds came out of the Eton and Winchester interview/tests telling me he’d enjoyed it. I’m glad I didn’t waste time and money tutoring him

Westminster underschool 11+ and big school 13+ conditional offer in year 6 processes both start with the iseb computer test, as do Harrow and eton (although the latter sits theirs I. Year 7 giving a second bite at the cherry.

Buy a few verbal and non verbal books (not bond - cgp better) and get him to do Bofa (search Bofa 11+). Make sure has covered the indicated maths syllabus.

My boys were at westminster under and the only focussed preparation was giving them a few BT and nvr papers to take home. Those at neighbouring london preps were told to do bofa.

It is is odd how little is sone in school for the pre-screening compares to the sheer flog 11+ schools do for 11+ entry when it is largely the same test

And yes, your prep is clearly not really a prep, more of a local feeder school. Do they not send children to any "name" boarding schools?

Mrs Patmore, are you talking about the admission process for year 7 entry at WUS? This isn’t the same as the pre-test for Westminster School.
OP, bear in mind that as mentioned already Westminster isn’t a boarding school in the way that Eton and Harrow are.

Forgot to say, Ds said the super selective school tests were on a par with WUS. Second round at WUS a bit harder. The interviews with the English and Maths masters really probed DS skills further so that was different from the Grammar tests.

Rose, the test is adaptive apparently so if you get a question wrong, it gives you another one at the same level and the child moves up or down. I think it is designed not to be finished and the questions are timed, certainly Ds said you needed to be quick thinking. I think there is a website called Bofa that does computer test practice but Ds said he'd never encountered some of the question types before but I guess the 11+ practice does get them up to speed.
The second round was challenging; wordy maths and written English (creative and analysis of a poem). Then when you pass that, final hurdle of verbal interview with a maths and English master and a group interview with the Master of the Under School and the Master of the Great School. Very gruelling for Ds but he did get offered a place.

This thread is giving me much food for thought re DD who is at a prep which feeds almost exclusively local public schools none of which I think, now she's nearing the age, is really right for her.
Wondering about moving her and trying for 13+ entry somewhere that's really right.

Sorry this doesn't particularly help OP, but I think this thread just shows that when people choose a Prep, they need some kind of idea of the type of school they will want after Prep and also the entry methods - then to choose a Prep that actually does Prep in the way needed.

I have known 1 genuine Prep - ie one that goes to 13+ and preps for a range of secondary options. It offered 11+ preparation for those applying to go to secondary at 11 or needing to do a pre-test in Yr6, for a 13+ offer. It also offered 13+ prep for those taking schools own entrance exams in Yr8, as well as prepping the Ye 7 and 8s for CE - so all bases covered. 2/3 left at 13 and 1/3 at 11.

Things are changing. Most 13+ schools have their own entrance exams now and even if they still use CE, it is more of a formality and not the reason why an offer is given in the first place. Most 13+ schools want an exam taken in Yr6 either to be a pre-test before other tests, or as a test for a deferred entry place. Therefore, Preps NEED to be prepping kids for exams in Yr6. It's really important unless they are not a true Prep, just a Junior who sends all their kids to a 13+ which has no entry criteria other than CE.

Lots of Preps are increasingly tied in with senior schools. The seniors like to have Junior Departments to guarantee a certain number of people moving through each year. More of the truly independent Preps not tied to seniors are stopping at 11, as more and more secondaries take at 11 to grab people before they go elsewhere and to guarantee a longer term stream of fees. Even if they take in at 13, they also take in at 11. The amount if Preps where everyone goes at 13 or who don't need to do any exams at all at 11 must be a tiny number and they only really work for people going to a tiny number of senior schools now.

Ds sat the computer pre test for Westminster Under (so it may have been a different test?). He had prepared quite intensively for the 11+ grammar school tests in vr/nvr/spacial reasoning, maths and English. He'd never done an adaptive computer test before. He sailed through! I think the 13+ prevtest sat in Year 6 is either the same or similar. GL practice papers are good and speed is of the essence.

I also think you are in the wrong school. It has a cosy role in sending boys to local schools, not the bigger names by the look of it. One in five yearsto Harrow tells you all you need to know. You do need to move him to a school that preps for the schools you want and maybe could get you look at other very good schools too, such as Rugby, Oundle, Charterhouse etc.

From personal experience if you are looking at these super selective the pre-tests are the important hurdle, the CE13+ is just really to keep them learning as very few fail to get their place. To stand the greatest chance of obtaining a highly sought after place at one of these schools you will need the full support of your prep school in every respect. If your prep school does not send boys (yes plural) to these schools every year they are not best placed to do this. You may have to seriously consider moving prep schools if your school is not a frequent feeder. Harsh but true.

Tuition for grammar schools will help your son with English/Maths/verbal - the curriculum is the same everywhere and there's only so many different things they can ask. However, it won't help you with things like the interview or references so those will need to get sorted out.

A boarding prep people may mean rather than what you have locally
Badgers certificates aren't going to get your child into Eton you need proper support