ISEB and secondary school applications

[angryserenity]

Can you sit the ISEB and use the results to then apply to appropriate secondary schools that require them or are you supposed to apply to the schools first in the hope your dc does ok in the exams?! TIA

You have to apply to schools and tell ISEB which schools you have applied for, BEFORE the test.
You then sit the test.
ISEB sends your scores automatically to the schools you applied for.
The schools then decide whether to offer you a place (or in some cases, whether to invite you for an interview).

There is no point sitting ISEB if you have not applied anywhere yet, a) because families aren’t told their child’s results and b) because schools don’t tell anyone what ISEB score they require. So speculatively taking it doesn’t give you any useful information about your chances of getting into school X or Y.

For this reason, most families rely heavily on their prep schools to give them a steer on which schools to apply to, prior to ISEB.

The good news is that many of the less selective schools allow you to sit ISEB in year 7 (age adjusted). So if you misjudge which schools to apply for in Y6 you can have another go with a different set of schools in Y7.

Thanks @Ziegfeld that is very helpful, can our prep school see what secondary schools we have listed for iseb? Our prep school has not been very helpful and dc has been a bit up and down with their 'mock' results making everything more difficult to choose a school

Hi sorry only just seen this.

No I don’t think the prep school sees the list - only ISEB.
However, your current school will sooner or later find out where you have applied because the senior schools you’ve chosen will contact your prep school’s head to ask for a reference. Those references plus the ISEB results plus the interview will determine whether the senior schools offer your child a place or not.