Falkner House Girls’ School

[Westbournemum]

We did the tour and really loved the school. However, I’ve heard it’s hard to get into with only 1 class per year and many bright girls competing for the 20 or so Reception spots. Our DD sits the 4+ in January 2019. Any advice welcome.

Advice is to sign up for several schools. Both ‘academic’ and more ‘balanced’.
And - just let your daughter develop naturally - provide her with input and opportunities to see and experience the world. But don’t sit her down and force her to do numbers/letters.
Read her books. Take her to museums.

At FH specifically - it’s not only the child who gets selected, but also the parents. Either you fit with what Mrs.G is looking for in a FH family, or you don’t. Not much you can do about it.

Also - helps if your daughter is born in the fall. Or early winter, latest.

If you are looking for advice on how to prepare for the assessment, there is no real way to do that. They don't test on letters and numbers. They just give the girls tasks that they would encounter in nursery, all age appropriate. My daughter did the assessment in Jan 2018 (this past year) and told me all the "tasks" that were involved and they are not out of the ordinary for girls of that age.

I am also not sure I agree with the comment that parents are selected because there is no parent interview involved. The girls are assessed in small groups and the parents drop off and pick up. They are not hosted by the school during the assessment.