School entrance exams

[mrsbjj]

I'm hoping someone can offer some advice please regarding entrance exams for independent schools. We are considering an independent school (Dame Allan's is 1st choice) for our daughter. She is nearly 10 and although lively, interested in a variety of topics and bright she is only average academically. Having no personal experience of entrance exams but a suspicion that it will be very competitive I am really unsure as to how she would do if we were to apply to the schools. I really don't want to put her through something which could lead to failure and affect her confidence about her abilities. The local secondary schools are not wonderful so this is our preferred option as the alternative is moving house which we don't really want to consider.
Help please!
Thanks

I went to Dame Allan's. I took the entry exam to go into year 6, to do 1 year of juniors before moving up to the main school.
I went from being pretty clever in a standard primary in Newcastle, to be average at DA. I passed the entrance exam, and while it was a very different situation for me to be in, I think if you daughter wants to go there, she will adapt to the set up.

I would suggest contacting DA to arrange a visit. You would probably be taken on a tour of the school by a teacher and/or 6th formers, will get a view of the classes and ideally chat to potential teachers who would teach your dd if she were to go there.

Anything else you want to know, feel free to drop me a message. (although I did leave 6th form 8 years ago)