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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

FETTES PREP SCHOOL ENTRANCE EXAM

10 replies

towerfarm · 19/09/2011 19:50

Hi there just moving to Edinburgh and thinking of Fettes for my 9 year old son. Can anyone tell me anything about their entrance exam? Is it really hard? What should he expect? It's not until January if we decide to go with this school, but any help would be appreciated.

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Yirkmum · 19/09/2011 20:24

Try Mumsnet local for Edinburgh as well. HTH.

Yirkmum · 19/09/2011 20:26

oh and dh is from Edinburgh and describes Fettes as 'posh' - there are lots of good independants in Edinburgh that aren't perhaps as quite as pleased with themselves.

Edinmum1 · 21/09/2011 13:47

Yirkmum - I take exception to that description of Fettes - do you have firsthand experience of Fettes? No, thought not. I am a current parent and I am not 'posh' nor am I snooty or look down on other people. Fettes is a great school and the view of them as elitist or snobby is such a ignorant stereotype. There is a huge range of kids who attend some are very wealthy and affluent but lots are children of hard working parents who love what Fettes offers our children. I won't make any comparisons with other schools as I do not have first hand experience of them so wouldn't want to judge! Fettes is a warm, friendly place and testament to that is the happy kids who are polite, friendly and certainly not snooty either.

Yirkmum · 21/09/2011 18:35

Err sorry to burst your indignant bubble but yes actually dh does have firsthand experience of the independant sector in Edinburgh.

curiouscate · 21/09/2011 21:53

Fettes senior school has a high % of boarders, the prep school has a much lower %. Fettes senior school fees are over £20000 per year for day pupils (higher for boarders). That is double what most of the other Edinburgh Independant Schools charge. It is hard to compare the results to see if Fettes really gets double the value for money as they follow more of an English style curriculum than the Scottish curriculum that the other schools offer. And yes, I know exam results aren't everything!

mani83 · 01/10/2011 21:26

Well said Edinmum1!

1666 · 21/10/2011 22:26

Fettes has a very international feel about the place, not only because of the wide range of nationalities that are there but because an awful lot of leavers go to universities outside of Scotland, so I think that makes it different to other schools in Edinburgh (my son at Fettes, my sisters son is at GH)

iggly2 · 22/10/2011 07:51

Anywhere that produces Tony Blair and Tilda Swinton is a bit in my book........................

caveat they went to the senior school, not sure about the junior school.

margerykemp · 22/10/2011 08:33

Edinmum1- your comment about 'hard working' parents gives away more than you attended. Lots of hard working parents still cant afford 20k pa fees, if you dont ynderstand this, you do exist in a bubble of affluence

Edinmum1 · 11/01/2012 14:29

margerykemp just to clarify...the fees in the prep school are about £12k for day pupil and pretty much my salary after tax pays for the fees. I am hard working! There are lots of scholarships and bursaries too so some kids go there paying no fees at all as it is all based on parents income so that is what i meant.

Sorry if my earlier post was a bit of a rant just annoys me when people think everyone at Fettes is rich or a snob.

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