CE exam for Eton

[Happypeeps11]

Hi, my DS has conditional place for Eton 2016. He currently attends a private school but which does not prepare for CE. Do I need to move him to a prep school? this would be sad as he is happy at current school. Any suggestions for alternatives please?

Honestly, Happy, I would have thought the best advice on this would come from Eton itself.

What a daft question.

Well done to your DS!

He will not only need to sit CE, but he will have to do very well at the top tier paper (70 or 75%, cannot remember which).

You do need to contact Admissions for proper advice on this, not least because they will have flexibility for boys who have only done two years preparation for CE. However, they will need to be made aware of your DSs situation and the sooner the better.

What does the school prepare for if not CE?

Thanks for messages, I have contacted admissions this morning and they are calling me/ mailing me back with info! My sons current school is a high school in which he moves up to secondary at year 7. Grovel, i was hoping to use tutoring or home schooling etc. but not sure how much of the syllabus they will already cover at school. lots to research i thinks

Having taught the CE syllabus in prep schools and also taught in private schools not preparing boys for CE I would suggest that if your son is taking CE 13+ it would be useful to have some tutoring in preparation for this, preferably from a teacher who is used to the demands of Eton or similar schools as the CE expectations from different schools vary greatly (as you know.) You can also get past papers your son can practise which at the very least will give him some confidence in the style of questions asked which will probably be a bit different from what he is used to. Good luck!

If your ds goes to a private primary then presumably some of the pupils will go to private secondary schools - many of which require CE. Therefore I'm surprised they don't prepare pupils for it.
Well done your ds getting a place at Eton - he'll love it.

If he is at a state school I would have thought they might cut some slack on how many papers you have to sit. Otherwise , I think it would be quite tricky to sit CE successfully from a year 7-13 school as the curricula will be very different, and that moving would be the only really practical course.

I’d like to add my congratulations to Happy’s son for having secured a place at Eton albeit a conditional one. One happy thought to note is that in the last four or five years (as I remember it) there’s less than 1% of boys who had a conditional offer but failed the CE. Eton are quite pleased with themselves for this remarkable success because they see this as their own success too in offering the places to the right boys.

Yes, I’d recommend you send your DS to a proper prep school and not be complacent about the CE in spite of what is written above. Don’t forget, your boy will enter Eton to meet some 260 highly competitive boys!

Some very helpful comments, thank you. Awaiting more info from the school, but they have suggested that I compare the school syllabus with that of CE. Then speak to them regarding options.

Agree that I can't be complacent though! DS really pleased to be going.

I teach in a school which prepares for CE. I think you should move khan to somewhere which will provide adequate preparation for this exam.

*him

mmm it may be inevitable.

Can't see much point in him moving to the high school. Suggest finding a prep that sends boys to Eton (so that he has a chance to make friends with other boys going there) and move him in the summer term if you can take the hit on fees. From what I've heard, it is not that CE level for Eton or equivalent is hard but as a syllabus to get through it would take a lot of extra work by you if not covered by the school.

Of course he needs to go to a prep school that prepares for CE, what on earth is his private school doing?

Presumably he's only year 6 so is the private 11+ intake into seniors or do they run a parallel stream for those taking 13+/CE. Why would they suggest you apply to Eton if they can't provide support to get him there or suggest a route (ie feeder prep) to do so .

11+ into seniors and school didn't suggest eton, our choice.

if you really want Eton don't take the chance, move him to a prep school that does CE and that has a good record of boys going to top senior schools incl. Eton feeders

I'd agree , if he/you wants to aim for Eton he has to move. CE requires specific tuition and technique especially if you have a conditional score to meet. Be very careful scrutinising the prospective preps though . Some may have had one or two go to Eton in recent past whereas others will send a number each year and be more fully geared up to the expectations of such schools.

My son's prep school, which is linked to a senior school, told us that if we wanted our boys to go to a different senior school we should transfer them to a prep school which would prepare them for that school.

We moved our son (after him getting an A list offer) to a

BTW, the school he's been at is The Elms, Malvern.

Surely they have an alternative method of examining kids who eg go to State school / come from abroad who therefore won't be doing CE?? My kids' schools both have alternatives for non-"standard" applications

Yes, they do allow for a slimmed down version of CE for non-prep school kids, which is what we were going to go for when we moved house and put our son into an 11+ switch school. However, we took the view that if he was joining Eton with a majority who had done CE (Practically GCSE in some subjects) he would start off disadvantaged, and we wanted him to start such a vast school in the best possible way, hence our decision to move him in year 7 when we knew we could. The Elms has been first-rate in bridging the gaps he'd missed out on in his 18 months out of the prep school system.