I worked in admissions at a selective school. AMA

[AdmissionsChief]

I worked in the admissions team at a selective private school in the south of England until the end of last year. Ask me anything you like!

(btw I have namechanged for this thread)

The admissions officer at a selective state school removed my child from the list of those who were going to take the selection test because my child is autistic.
I should have complained, shouldn't I?

That might even be unlawful. Austism is a disability under UK law. Did they explain their reasoning any further?

I was told that my child would have a " massive meltdown" and that the admissions officer was " removing them from the list".
There was nothing to suggest that my child would have and I am sure that I could have arranged to be near where the test took place in case of any problems.
No explanation. I was told to " not bother the SLT at the child's Primary school" to provide any evidence about what plans were in place for upcoming SATs". The SLT hadn't considered it a " bother" at all.
I still feel that I could have complained but I wasn't sure that the school was the correct setting for my child and I didn't.
It left me with a horrible feeling though- I used to work there and had always defended the school when people levelled criticism about it not being inclusive. Friends of mine who still worked there were shocked when I told them.

Hmm…. That sounds very discriminatory. I’m certainly no expert, but I suspect they were breaking the law.

Thank you.

Did the children who were accepted due to the bursaries ever leave due to the difference in income?

What percentage came from state schools?

If you are rejected at one entry point and apply again will your previous rejection count against you?

i found this thread really interesting. In my opinion many prep schools are propped up by nursery and pre school as parents can afford these with child care vouchers. . The children often leave for state school when the time comes so the school expand their nurseries to financially prop up the school itself

How much tutoring do you think parents do to get into the top schools? I just went through the 11+ with DD and she did not get an offer at a super selective London private (not St Paul’s level but usually top 8).

I was secretly surprised as she has a top 2% IQ and got extremely high scores in her maths (138) and English (125) mocks. NVR and VR also very high. It made me wonder how other kids actually get in! It wasn’t our first choice though and our prep head knew this as we always wanted her to go to older siblings very good school but decided to do this more elite one just to see! We went through many rounds but then were wait listed.

Does the school choose students based on the results of their test results on the day (using the ISEB for example) and how do they balance those results with the CAT scores, school report, SEN report of any and interview?

Other than the offers of bribes, what was the worst behaviour you experienced from parents?

Did you find that any children got in sort of as an "anomaly"? I went to a highly selective school but found there were some in each year who passed the exam at 10/11 but probably would have been more suited in a different school as they really struggled to attain the standard expected at 16/18.

I just want to say Thank You for your post... I work in school admissions for a council dealing with state schools, and it has been really interesting to get a bit of understanding about the admissions in an Independent school.

I’ve done the same for an LA - I should do an AMA.

And yes, we have had bribes offered (and threats of violence) for a place at certain schools. My favourite story from a colleague was a parent who dropped to their knees and started to loudly pray when their kid didn’t get a place at their choice of school. Security had to be called.

OMG! I can so clearly picture that! 😂

I’m a teacher and I didn’t think IQ tests were a thing anymore.

A question that DH and I have been pondering - how good can a school truly claim to be when the admissions process mean they only take the brightest children anyway? Surely, those children would go on to do exceptionally well at GCSE regardless of which school they went to?

Which makes me think - a non-selective or very lightly selective schools, who take on a broad range of abilities at year 7 but still get 90% of those kids to a 7-9 grade - are maybe the better school? (Better teaching, closer tracking, more diffentiation etc - I think in state schools this is referred to as a Progress 8 score). They may not get 90% of kids to a 8-9 grade but if they're getting 90% to 7-9 they have to objectively be a better school as they aren't taking A* students to begin with.

As someone on the inside of the system - what would you say to that?

When I had my daughter assessed by an Ed Psych and then Psychiatrist for dyslexia and adhd, they both use IQ tests. The evidence says they are good predictors of academic ability. They are obviously not an indicator of success or happiness but they do correlate strongly to how well you will do academically. DD is a member of Mensa which I also didn’t know is a thing anymore. However, she didn’t get into this particular school and I think it’s go to do with how much tutoring we did and potentially the fact that she has adhd too.

Thanks for the great AMA post.
I'm really keen to know how you viewed State educated vs prep school applicants.
I hear from friends who have children in prep schools that only the heavily tutored are passing admissions tests to the most selective secondary schools these days. Is that true?

When a child is on the waitlist, does it help if the head of the prep school calls and puts in a good word?

Or if there’s no prep head if a parent does this, reminding you that the family would snap up the place offered and saying something along the lines: this is a very ambitious girl, playing academy level football etc.

Is there such a school? A non-selective school where 90% of kids get grades 7-9?

Sorry you are right to pull me up on that. I was looking at overall pass marks. The way the schools break it out, it's a bit confusing. 90% was pass rate not 9-7 - sorry!

It depends on the school. Some seem to love CAT4, which is a type of IQ test, others not so much.

@Kerry242 surely the real benefit of independent schools is that you can look beyond exam results?

Each parent and child will have their own idea of what constitutes better; it will almost certainly include the ethos and character of a school, the impression of the school community as a whole and the opportunities available for each individual child. I recall when choosing a prep school we were hugely taken with the light and the use of space in one. The coziness of the library, the den down by the river. At a senior boarding school the individual rooms for each child all through the school was much more important than whether another school might have scored a 5% higher total of A stars. You choose according to where you think your child will thrive, and where you anticipate they’ll have the best possible quality of life, make friends, enjoy learning, discover their talents … And somewhere they’ll be able to look back on with contentment in twenty and fifty years time.