See below....
The marking of papers for the entrance examination has now been completed and I have drawn up a list of those I hope to interview for bursaries or fee-paying places. I regret, however, that it has not been possible for me to include xxxxxxx. on this list.
We had a very large number of candidates for the places available for those coming from schools outside our own Junior School. We will be interviewing more than one hundred of these candidates and this is the largest number that we can see – in the limited time available – with any hope of making the interviews in any way meaningful.
I am quite aware that a written examination taken on a particular day can often be misleading, and there may be some amongst those not called for interview who will later achieve results which are equal to those of the pupils whom we admit. However, choosing only a small number from amongst the ablest eleven year olds over a wide area, we are forced to turn away some whom we would have otherwise been pleased to welcome into the school.
It is also the case that with only a limited amount of bursary support to allocate we do not interview those who have finished too far down the rank order to be considered for such support. This year we have over 150 applicants for bursary places and expect to award in the region of 15 bursaries so inevitably we have had to say no at this stage to a good number whose rank order places them below other candidates for bursaries. This applies even in cases where you would require only partial support as the available money will be allocated to those eligible who have finished higher up the final rank order.
Please try and explain to xxxxxxx that there is no question of having ‘failed’ the examination: other boys and girls did better on this particular occasion, but if xxxxxxx works hard at GCSE and A-Level, the results of the future may well bear testimony to a successful school career. I wish x xxxxxx all the best for the future.
Yours sincerely