All schools rejected at 11+. What now?

This is true! At Radnor two new students joined my son's class during yr7. This was over lockdown and they started their lessons telecommuting in from Dubai and Singapore on Teams!! They should have places as like said previously, it's not one of the highly prized schools.

Some schools will set their own tests. Others use the ISEB. Etc.

“You haven't mentioned if your child has actually taken the 11+ exam , had it marked, and "passed". Or failed.”

By 11+, OP does not mean a grammar school 11+, she means the entrance process to a bunch of private schools at the 11+ (Year 7) entry point. There is no “mark” per se.

OP- don't stress too much. You will find a school. In a few weeks all schools will know what their y7 intakes are looking at and there will be spaces. A friend moved late to the uk and got a place at Radnor - they had been at an international school and Radnor understood they were a bit behind- they soon caught up. Lots of families move and manage to find places.

Interested in the comment:

"NLCS London is out of question. We did apply, mostly because daughter wanted to try and we wanted to encourage her will to take up the challenge. Predictably got rejected. Very few manage to move from NLCS (something) to NLCS London."

What exactly is the relationship between NLCS and its offshoots? They seem to sell themselves as part of the same family. Is there any link at all, did they support preparing for the exams, can they support working out a good fit?

We have hired education consultants to help navigate UK schooling landscape, aid with school selection, applications, etc. We have also engaged tutors to help prep for 11+ over past year or so.

Hmmmmmm... but from the rest of your post I'm not sure you entirely understand the "UK schooling landscape".

You haven't mentioned if your child has actually taken the 11+ exam , had it marked, and "passed". Or failed.

Or were you referring to education at age 11 plus?

Are you considering only private feepaying schools?
There are excellent (free) state schools, some of which are academically selective (11+ exam) and others not.

it sounds like the educational consultants did not do their job properly. it must be hugely damaging for a young child to have that many assessments and be rejected by every one. a good consultancy would put in the effort to ensure that the schools applied for included at least 2 "certain" schools which would definitely offer a place, as well as a small number of "aspirational" schools where it was less certain.

to be honest in your situation I would not bother with applying for state schools. admissions are done on the basis of how close you live to the school so people coming in from overseas only get places at the worst schools, that no one else wants. there are special arrangements for the children of parents who are in the military forces or diplomatic service overseas to allow them to be treated as local, but you won't be able to access those.

I don't know the schools of London well enough to make a recommendation but goodschoolsguide.co.uk allows you to do an advanced search for schools and I did a search for independent schools that are not academically selective and got a long list of possibilities, so I suggest starting there, and sending some emails to see which of them are still able to consider candidates for the coming September's intake.

for a lot of these schools, they will know that they are the "backup" option which parents apply for just in case their child doesn't perform well in the academic assessments, so they will have made offers in the knowledge that a lot will be declined and they may have space - like the school you mentioned in your op - after the deadline they gave to successful applicants to accept or decline their offer has elapsed.

I think at this stage, not having an address in the U.K. and not being here physically might be having an impact on the chances of getting into a school.
You could look at schools further down the list for the ones that don’t have the academic achievements but have good pastoral care and you feel happy with when you look around.

What you have to realise when you see schools which have amazing GCSE and A level results and who have an entrance exam. It maybe not that the school is amazing at teaching but more to do with the fact that’s only took brilliant pupils to begin with.
And those pupils have private tutors on top of the private school fees.

@lirik , you have already been rejected from the Stephen Perse Foundation which rules out the other academics schools. The Leys has boarding and a more affluent cohort.

But yes if you have recently visited the city and are keen on the location then a prep school for 2 years would be an option.

In your shoes I'd think about where you want to live (maybe north London based on your list) and get on the phone straight after half term to talk about the possibility of a place in all the potential schools. So if you pick N London, call Mill Hill, King Alfreds etc

Look on www.locrating.com/schoolsmap.aspx to track down all the schools you'd consider (indies are in blue).

Once you've got a place secured somewhere, then you can think about registering for occasional places, state places etc at other schools you fancy. But before that, you need to get something in the bag.

This will only take half a day. If no luck in N London, think about the next area on your list, and so on. (If you have a Fulham offer, I'd grab it with both hands.)

Your consultants don't sound great.

Highly recommend boarding! At least until you are UK residents :) then she can just be a day student.

This is how my parents navigated moving back to the UK with kids. (However we ended up in state schools in the end as my parents divorced)

Boarding temporarily was fun though. Like an adventure.

Maybe part of work relocation package? Had a pal moving from Norfolk to Austin, Texas and they had one to help the family. Due to different education level and systems in play can be very confusing or challenging.

Email the London schools suggested in all these posts from very helpful MN and call them up tomorrow for an idea if space is available due to country relocation.
Maida Vale School, Knightsbridge school, Fulham Prep, Thomas senior.

Also, there is a new school call London Park school, in Clapham, opening this September with head teacher are who was head of Putney. Their registration open and deadline in 22 Feb for 11+. Yes, new school but your kid will be joining new cohorts and not a school group already established if that is important for you.

Would you consider weekly boarding? Plenty of schools have spaces due to Russian students being withdrawn I've been told via contacts in the business (it's worrying them).

I’m not loving a lot of the responses to the OP. She’s a foreigner and is trying to get a spot in a school in a country she doesn’t currently live in. Presumably getting educational consultants is a fairly normal thing to do in Singapore?

I would say most areas operate the comprehensive system now.
When Dd and Ds were looking at secondary school they could get into what were called the towns grammar schools because of the catchment area we lived in. If you lived out of the area and wanted to go to these particular schools then you could take the 11+ and if you passed and were and had an interest in Sports or Science you could maybe get in
I would say the 11+ is something that not many take nowadays
Most private schools have their own exams and the 11+ is for somewhere like Kent which still operate the grammar school/secondary modern system.

Hi OP,

It might be worth giving Notting Hill Prep a call. They go through 13 but tend to have quite a few girls leave at 11, so sometimes have places in the top two years. Their new head is from Glendower and has a very good reputation.

If you want to stay in the private sector, find a school place and then find somewhere to live.

If you want your daughter to go to a free state school. You will need a uk address to apply, and then will be allocated a space at the nearest school with capacity to take her. This may or may not be one of the schools you have considered. If you are going down this route, try and avoid living in a socially deprived location and be mindful that good state schools are generally over subscribed.

@lirik , you need to get your visas, move to the uk, rent a home and then apply for a state school that isn't full for Year 7 in Sept 2023. The year 7 places are allocated on 1st March. You will be at the bottom of any list for a state school place. Focus on London schools like Fulham School where you may have a place anyway. Don't consider Cambridge unless you get the offer from The Leys which is walking distance from the train station. I know Cambridge well and The Leys has a slightly different pupil body to other private secondary schools.