Harrow/Eton/Radley/Winchester Entry 2028

[MrsHLQ]

Starting a thread for all those parents whose sons are currently in Year 6 and who are hoping to join one of these 4 schools in 2028

As the first stage of their assessment process, the boys are sitting ISEB exams this month

Here we can discuss anything and everything to do with the entire application and assessment process over the next 6 or so months or so. By which time we should all know if we have offers, rejections or have been waitlisted

Good luck to all the boys sitting ISEB exams!

Thank you for starting this for 2028 entry. Winchester will send interview invitation on 9th December.

Thank you for letting us know.

Good luck to all those who have applied to Winchester!

ISEB exam testing window closes on 30th Nov.

So offers and rejections for interview for all schools should start coming through very soon

I heard Harrow send interview invitations on a rolling base. Some students took iseb earlier have already received next round invitation. Eton may send interview invitation by the end of term, 11th or 12th December afternoon. Winchester on 9th December(morning?).

Interesting thanks

So Harrow don’t wait for all applicants to sit the test first?

I’m surprised at that because one needs to asses the whole cohort.

those sitting the test earlier may be a particularly good bunch or a particularly poor bunch

so to select a sample from them without knowing how everyone else performed is quite an unusual strategy IMO

I wouldn't worry about the timeline of when Harrow Test invitations are sent out. Almost every pupil will get a Harrow Test invitation, post ISEB, usually immediately after having taken the ISEB. Very few pupils fall at the first hurdle.

My understanding was that for these schools the likelihood of getting called for interview is about 50%

Then at interview stage they cull about 65% of candidates

So there’s a 1 in 3 chance of getting a place after interview

and so overall for an applicant it’s approximately a 1 in 5 or a 1 in 6 chance of getting a place

VERY Rough metrics

Speaking from direct experience. Harrow's academic bar is not as high, and they look at the whole child profile (HM reference and strength of co curricular) in the round, that isnt just marketing speak. Harrow is not the same as Eton re ISEB results. They will not cull 50% at ISEB. Happy for you to DM me.

We received our invite to sit the Harrow test the day after my son completed the ISEB. They certainly don’t wait for all applicants to sit the ISEB before sending out invites. My recollection is that about 530 boys sat the Harrow test last year.

hi do you mean you got a response from Harrow for this current year application year6 kids ?
they only send an un explicit email yesterday evening an am still trying to understand why .

please can anyone update if they equally had gotten a response from either of aforementioned schools above for the current year 6 applicants.

Some students already got their Harrow test invitations. However we haven’t got ours yet. They will respond to the rest of us in the coming weeks before Christmas, maybe next week.

Fingers crossed for every candidates, interview invitations will be send out in the next week, Winchester 9th Dec, Eton 11th or 12th(random guess).

This is very interesting, we did the ISEB test very erly in the moth of November, I am wondering why there are sending responses to
som and not the other way around. On what basis are some people getting the email erlier , does anyone has an idea?
this information if making the waiting game even more killin

Winchester interview invitation out today

Hi Eton just emailed to confirm results will be out mid week commencing 15/12

Update as of 9th December based on what I have been told so far by various friends and what I have read on various MN threads:

Radley: Some for interview and rejections have been received

Winchester: Some offers for interview and rejections have been received

Harrow: Some offers for interview have been sent out but many still pending. Not heard of any rejections.

Eton: Nothing has been released. Some contact from the school expected next week

Eton invitations are out

Yes both email are out
Eton and Harrow. Good luck to everyone

I was just wondering if anyone had got a vibe of how difficult it is to get into these schools this year, i.e. more rejections than you would have thought or the VAT is impacting applications? Especially wondering about Radley .... TIA

That is a very difficult one to find out since exams is still on the process no one can tell
until offer letter is out

None of these schools are short of applicants

Since you ask about Radley, we know a lot of boys with Radley invites

As mentioned above, my understanding is that the schools will interview about 500 boys, which for Radley (and Harrow) is about 3x the number of actual places available at the school

All private schools will be under pressure to an extent. The schools listed in this thread will feel the pinch the least. They are over subscribed year after year and will have their pick of applicants to fill their 13+ entry.

Does anyone know what type of ISEB scores are needed to get interviews at these schools?

It really depends , most resources would say the child needs to be above average at around 110-125 sas score, when it comes to ISEB itself no parents can really now the child score as it is not disclosed to any parent but only schools has access to results.

Every School would have their cut off that might be individual(per subject) or and combine.
all of the above schools are very academic in selection for the first stage , Winchester even more than the other. This year we no a family Friend that their son failed to meet the cut off for Tombridge, and Radley, but was invited for Winchester interview ( meet the cut off for Winchester). Hence the reason am saying it depends. @PrideOfLions can I asked why did you ask ?

I agree with this

I have heard it’s 130+ for the super selective places like Westminster and St Paul’s

I’ve also heard 120+ for Radley

no idea if these are true.

in reality I suspect there’s a little bit of leeway given that schools read the prep school report too and can weigh that against any ISEB scores which perhaps don’t meet their ideal cut off. In interview offer letters they make a point of mentioning both ISEB and school report.

The assessment days are give yet another data point on the DC and they can evaluate it all in the round

this is probably to determine which DC have been given overly strong references from Prep school. After all, are prep schools ever going to give a bad reference? No, but also I bet some ridiculously pump up the references to an unrealistic perspective as it s good PR for prep schools to say “Johnny got into Eton” or “X number of kids went to Harrow”

i say that because I local headmaster in the area I grew up in became well known for it. Reason being is that borderline kids would be given a place with his strong backing. Only to constantly underperform. Only takes a few years of that to get the reputation which he got. I’m sure senior school heads weren’t very pleased with him.

That leads me to my other point…. I also strongly suspect that after the assessment days there’s also some behind the scenes stuff with senior schools admissions teams liaising with prep school heads but that is of course not documented anywhere and will never be spoken about/admitted .

harrow and Radley will I’m sure be keen to know if the boy has applied to Eton, knowing that in all likelihood Eton is top choice. Not for all but for the vast vast majority it is.

I also suspect the schools are figuring out “what will this DS add”

they need athletes, maths and science geeks, musicians, actors, linguists.

we know quite a few very middle of the road kids (whose parents are happy to say they don’t excel in any one area) who have had interviews in the past and been rejected

likely for that very reason