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)

No - but quite a few didn’t accept a place in the first place if they weren’t offered 100% bursary

Roughly 50:50 at Year 7.

But overwhelmingly privately-educated children at year 9 (apart from the bursary children).

Did you aim for a mix of backgrounds in the applicant intake? Would you aim for 50-50 M/F for thereabouts if a mixed-sex school? If so, what happened if one sex performed much better than others in the entrance exam?

What if all the children that were offered places came from one ethnic background? If all the highest performing applicants that were offered places were of, say, east Asian (Chinese) background, would the school take only students of Chinese background? Would the school consider it a problem if every single student came from one ethnic background (whatever that might be)? Was there a formal policy on this?

Related to the above, how much discretion did the admissions team have for making offers? You've said previously that it's all on test scores, but you've also said it would be unusual not to offer a sibling a place. Is it all on test scores, really? Or do you have to say that (and have it codified in admissions policy) to avoid accusations of discrimination, either positive or negative?

If there is discretion, who gets the ultimate decision - the admissions team? Headteacher, senior leadership team, governors?

Yes I agree with this.
I think a lot of people assume that the majority of people send their children to independent schools in order to get better exam results, but that was actually pretty low down on our priority list. I knew mine would do well academically wherever they went (both got academic scholarships to independent secondary from state primary), but it was everything else that made us make the switch… sporting opportunities and facilities, focus on STEM for girls that they wouldn’t have got in our state options, the breadth of co-curricular clubs, the pastoral care etc. It was potential for overall happiness we focussed on, not exam results.

OP at your school were the standards of entry different for children from the feeder preps as they were from outside entrants?

No, not at all. Every application was treated as a new one.

Quite common for children not to get in to Year 7 and then be successful for Year 9… whether due to tutoring, extra maturity or whatever else, who can say!

I totally agree with you about nurseries and the funded hours propping up the prep schools. And I believe that, in the current rush for senior schools and prep schools to merge, this has been overlooked by the decision-makers!

London is very different from the area I’m in (you have much more competition for school places, plus far more schools!) so it’s hard for me to comment on this, but yes a lot of our applicants were heavily tutored which is not always a good thing!

The school says that they take into the entrance exam scores plus interview plus school reference but, in practice, the entrance exam is 95% of it

Sorry I forgot about SEN reports - yes these are looked at and meetings held with our SENCO etc to make sure we can meet need before offering a place (very very rare for us to say No)

A couple of parents, during my time, have become very emotional and upset during meetings - crying, shouting etc - often a child will move from state school to private because something has gone “wrong” at the current school, leading to heightened emotions for all. This is understandable and we always tried to manage this tactfully.

Generally the worse behaviour I’ve experienced from parents has been total arrogance / entitlement (this happens A LOT). And parents over sharing which is surprisingly common.

Yes!

I think that, if you can find such a school, you should definitely enrol your child there

My former school isn’t in London and I’m guessing you are? It’s very different outside London - it’s just not as competitive. I would say that, if you have the money and your child is on “top table” at primary school, they will get into a selective private non-London school but yes you may need to tutor them. Private prep schools may well cover things - especially VR and non-VR - that state schools don’t.

Personally I’d ban tutoring!

Tbh that approach just annoyed me intensely and made no difference at all. I believe it works in London (anecdotally).

Agree 100%

If exam results are 95% of the decision making then what is the purpose of the interview? And what were your quotas? I heard they need a variety of backgrounds and equal split of genders etc. Also I am curious why people say children are selected on parents, is that also just a London thing? My child was rejected (very condescendingly) from a top selective primary when they found out I was a single mum, so I’m a little wary of applying for selective private for secondary in case the stigma makes it pointless.

I had a father from the Indian sub-continent offer me a bribe to help with an MSc admission when I worked in a university. I had no control over admissions - they were solely based on results and information on the application form. He was extremely annoyed and was clearly used to dealing with his life by bribery.

The interviews are a sop to the ex-London parents who expect an interview, and also to make the school seem more grandiose. N.B. I wasn’t in charge of this policy.

We had no quotas at all. We did not select based on parents. I think that must be a London thing.

Sorry I forgot the part where you said you’re a single parent. This would not have been a factor in our decision-making at all. Many of our parents (and staff) were single parents. I’m sorry that other schools took such a ridiculous view (I’m sure they justified it on the basis that they thought you were a higher risk of not paying the fees, sadly).

That doesn’t surprise me sadly.

I found that some parents (ok fathers!) from more patriarchal societies tended to prefer to deal with me rather than with my female colleagues. And they were often much more polite to me than they were to my female colleagues 😢

At my daughter's selective school all applicants who'd done reasonably well in the exam were interviewed, in London admittedly. However from conversations with the head and staff I later gathered that interviews did affect who was accepted, particularly if it was found that a DC had a lot of tuition to prepare for the exam. If two children did equally well in the exam but numbers were limited it was sometimes those who did it without tuition who would be preferred.

The latter behaviour is not limited to the independent sector, I can assure you!

I think that’s a valid point about tuition.

it’s so different outside the London bubble!

I hear you.

“The school fees I’m paying are literally paying your wages so you work for me and you’ll do what I say” is something I’ve heard more than once.

Mate. You don’t pay fees here yet…

"I pay your wages" is also frequently heard - which apparently gives them a free pass to the most oversubscribed school in the borough.

Do you get - "HAVE YOU GOT KIDS, EH? EH?" ?

Because apparently you can't work in schools admissions if you don't.