If your child goes to a private school or school that requires entrance assessment

[BsshBossh]

Aside from academic abilities, did your DC's extracurricular activities come into consideration of the secondary school assessors? If so, which activities?

(Re-posted from Primary education forum)

Completely depends on the school. I know some schools that won't allow a child to sit the music scholarship unless they have passed the entrance exam. I find this very short sighted as many musicians have had reduced timetables (choristers) and once at senior school often outperform those that appeared brighter than them. So in that instance the extra-curric is not important. Schools like Eton select on all-round ability with a small percentage of exceptionally bright children who offer nothing else getting in. Most of the London day schools only select on the test mark.

at my dss' very academically selective london day school the test results are all that is of interest at the first stage, but at the second stage of interviews i would say other things are of interest and can assist or hinder... that would include the boy's interests (are they going to contribute to school life through sport / music / drama?) and the report from primary / prep school about their character and behaviour (are they going to be so difficult / disruptive as to be a liability to themselves and others?). So whilst I wouldnt advocate taking up new exotic hobbies for the purpose of impressing at interview it is worth thinking about how a boy can frame his interests in a way that will appeal! at my dc' school there are 12 applicants for every place (and yes i KNOW that most applicants will have made a number of applications) and 2x as many boys are interviewed as offers are made....

If it's a state school, there are strict limits on what they can assess. So if they have a number of places for aptitude in a specific area, they may assess only that. Wider interviews are not permitted. So there doesn't appear to be any benefit to be had in that sector.

Independent schools vary. The sensible thing to do would be to find out from the schools you think you may be interested in. Something to ask on an open day, perhaps?

Our DSs go to a school where there are sports and music scholarships.

Obviously their extra curricular ability is crucial in deciding sport and music scholarships but they still have to show they can achieve a minimum level of academic achievement before they can be considered for a sport or music scholarship.

In our case the entrance exam was the main thing they looked at. I suspect they realise that for primary school kids their interests will be strongly determined by their parents. Different if it's a music school where interests are relevent.

My DS was interviewed/ Pre tested in yr 6 for entrance into yr 9 of his very selective boarding school. I'm sure his extra curricular activities were taken into consideration and do remember the term can cover a wide variety of things not just the 1 st 15 rugby team and playing the flugal horn to grade 8. It does give a child something to talk about in the interview but I think they were looking for someone who was articulate as well and would fit into the boarding house. Basically I do think extra curricular activities were important but maybe not essential.

Surely it depends hugely on the school, its ethos, and how competitive entry is?

DS took entrance exams for two local independents (city day schools, not London) and got into both. One was on exam results only, the other he had an interview with the head. I can't even remember if there was a question about extra-curricular stuff on the entrance forms, but I would suspect it would only be useful if applying for a sport/music scholarship.

But then our local area is over-supplied with independent schools and I think the acceptance rate is over 50 per cent for both schools. Presumably when it comes to the ultra-competitive London day schools or big-name boarding schools it might be rather different.

If you named the school(s) you are interested in, people could probably give you more relevant advice.

My sons school uses their own exam papers or CE results(when done in summer), plus interview with head and deputy then a NVR and a VR exam followed by scholarship papers, and interviews with teachers involved in scholarship subjects. Was 2 very hard days. Glad its over now.

Quite a few children at my DS old prep were made to play instruments (or even two?!) by their parents because the parents thought it would "look good" at an interview. For a reason beyond me the instrument chosen when not the piano was often a particularly difficult one to learn the e.g. the oboe, after 5-6 yrs of expensive lessons and little practice because the child was often completely uninterested they had usually if lucky only achieved a grade 2. I suspect that most schools are not stupid and know that it is the parents pushing this particular extra curricular activity. So whatever extra curricular activity your child pursues I think a school wants to see real and genuine enthusiasm on the part of the child, not necessarily competition results especially if your child is doing a minority sport because they may not have the opportunity to compete at prep school level, but a real passion and the feeling that given a chance they will carry on with it when changing schools not drop it like a hot potato.
Extra curricular activities don't have to be expensive either, a friends DC has been writing a book since yr 7 and is an avid follower of politics, my own DS is mad on 20th century art (lots of books in our local Oxfam shop).