Entrance to St Pauls/ Westminster / Eton

[MGJO]

What is the best way to check if my son has the academic skills to have a chance at getting into these schools? To what extent is a strong result in the entrance exam critical to getting in? Do you have children at these schools, and what feedback do you have on the admissions process and how to maximise the chance of acceptance? My son is in year 4 now.

[AnimulaVagulaBlandula]

Holland45 - I would say you probably came back in the nick of time in terms of ensuring he has a decent shot at CE. I guess they make allowances but up to a point. Did he do Latin and French in the UAE? Is he struggling academically or in the top sets already? What is the school doing to bring him up to speed? I would recommend you speak to the HM soon to see what he/she thinks as he/she would be best placed to set your expectations.

[Holland45]

my son has started in year 6 in a very good prep school. we applied to quite a few schools; Eton; Winchester ; Harrow; Sevenoaks as examples.His current prep does send a number of boys to these outstanding Senior schools. My worry is this is his first year in England having studied abroad at a British school in the UAE. When he was practising the tests he was getting decent marks but some tests are using the same script but asking different questions. Anyone know if for overseas students they make allowances to look at potential rather than the scores themselves alone ? i was told by WC that they look at the potential of the child as well as results from their own test /HH recommendation . My main worry is that my son has not had enough preparation as he has just started school in the UK.

[MerryM]

Hello all
Do any of you have boys who have sat the Eton Kings scholarship examination this year or in the passed. My son recently sat his and was successful though not a kings scholar, I am trying to understand the grading system, as I have the impression that the exams are of GCSE standard or above?

[Touchlinedad]

Don't know if there has been any movement but they have sent out a letter explaining that there is going to be an extra bulge class for 2013 entry and that this is not a permanent move to increase the intake.

[suppermummie]

has any one heard from st pauls for sept 2013 (reserved list)...
has there bin any movement in the reserved list

[happygardening]

We put DS2 through the interview process for St Pauls although I we didn't really want the place. The man interviewing us (not the DS) told us we were unlikely to get offered a place as we were not at a prep they knew. I was quite chuffed because I didn't want it and lo behold he got offered a place!! We then had a dilemma, as my DS said it would have been so much easier if we hadn't got it and it is a fantastic school but in the end we stuck with plan A and I have never regretted it. Neither have I regretted doing it DS wasn't stressed about it in the slightest, it actually helped us to work out what it was that really mattered about a school and it was an interesting experience (perhaps I need to get out more).

[RosamundLehmann]

OP, if you want to find out what your DC may be capable of you can use a great service from the Good Schools Guide who will come out and assess the child through interview and looking at school work.

This really helped us - DCs in state primary and we wanted to know where to aim with secondary. The assessment helped us understand what the child was capable of and gave us confidence to aim high with school applications. The DC in question, our eldest, is now in a very competitive independent day school in central London

[Copthallresident]

islandmama I totally get your post, and I'm guessing we may have lived on the same or similar island? I appeased the ancestors by at one point sending DDs to a French International School, thankfully said ancestors were appeased after DD1 was knocked out in a Battle of Agincourt incident in the playground and DD2 (and french friends) returned home wet because they were left to pee on the pavement because as reception kids they boarded the bus early and were not allowed back in to the school (and all responsibility for children's welfare ended at the classroom door). They were both out of there in a month and I was therefore spared by relieved DH all mention of Catholic Boarding Schools, actually all boarding schools, and all Catholic Schools, whatever the Benedictine brothers offered to sort out for us. Oundle a great experience for the DCs of quite a few expat friends

[Colleger]

Islandmama's post is disingenuous. Either she has a very odd marriage and one where mutual respect is absent or she is perturbed that her son wasn't offered a place. I wouldn't have celebrated in such a fashion if I knew my husband would have been upset and I would never have sent my son to the "slaughter". The fact she mentions her son is in top sets is irrelevant to the post but she is trying to excuse why he didn't get in but wanting to convince herself and everyone else that he is bright, and that she didn't want a place anyway. Very odd.

I've had some OE wife's say that they didn't want to send their son's to Eton (after they didn't get in, so went through the motions ) because the school had changed beyond recognition and wasnt the real Eton as it was letting in the likes of our family.

[dapplegrey]

Islandmama - so you paid the registration fee and put your ds through the stress of the test and interview of a school you didn't want him to go to? What would you have done if he'd been offered a place?

[nokissymum]

Islandmama - thank you so much for your post which has really made me laugh and congratulations to your ds!

[Needmoresleep]

Sorry

"They made the RIGHT choice."

[Needmoresleep]

That is a bit harsh. I am sure we are not the only ones who put our DC down for super-selective independents when not absolutely sure that they were right. Choice at this level is as much about the school choosing as you. The selection process then tells you quite a lot more about the school. Schools also have good experience of who will thrive within their culture.

As it turned out DD was not given the choice, but our son was. (not Eton - though in retrospect he might have been a candidate, we had simply assumed we would not be posh enough.) By this point I was happy that he would fit, and therefore happy to leave it to him. He chose the school we had wanted him to go to in the first place. We too were not unhappy that the girls school backed up our instinct that their school was not right for our daughter, even though she has several friends who are all very happy there. I think she would now agree they made the choice.

[peteneras]

"The day we had the rejection letter was one of the best in my life".

I?m afraid you lost me there completely. If not wanting to get into Eton is your main objective and failing to gain entry officially makes it one of the best days of your life and whooping with joy, then I'm really puzzled why you bothered in the first place?

Okay, the in-laws might have insisted you tried but what?s there to stop you, or more precisely your DS to go into the computer and other pretests and put crosses all over it and walk out in two minutes? That way you would have saved yourselves another visit to the school for the interview.

But I?m thrilled for you and your DS (and DD) who are now in the school that you actually want which is all that matters.

[QuintessentialShadows]

Op, if you are overseas and your son is in year 4, how old is he? As you know, children start school at the age of 4 here, so starts secondary at 11+, after year 6, and make their application during the first term in year 6.
When are you moving here?

The reason why I am asking is that we moved to the UK from Norway a year ago, where my son joined Y5, aged 9.
This means, as they start school at 6 in Norway, he jumped from Year 3 to year 5 as a result of the move.

I should add he did reception and Y1 in the uk as he was born here, but had three years starting from scratch.

[Gunznroses]

Mominatrix - Aww bless !

[Mominatrix]

Sorry about the above message - I left the computer on this page, and DS1 decided to type in the message - nothing to do with Eton/St. Paul's/Westminster

As you were!

[Mominatrix]

I love building lego with my son .Anyone like building lego with your son?

[MGJO]

Except for Gabbitas, can anyone recommend a company, or individual, who is suitable for making a solid assesment of DS and his suitability for these schools? planning a trip to london soon, would like to make the best use of it. thankyou

[peteneras]

MGJO, please rest assured as far as modern Eton is concerned, a boy's social background is of little or no concern to the school. I personally know of boys who come from (officially) Britain's most expensive postcode, I said postcode and not postcodes and there are sons and/or relatives of African chiefs, foreign prime minister(s) and even a Sultan's son currently there.

All the above in addition to sons of unemployed asylum seekers, office cleaners, postcodes of London's inner cities, etc. And they say you can't get a 'real life' experience at Eton! I'd argue you can't get a real life experience from a state comprehensive because you don't see a Lord or an Earl or a multi-billionaire there at the state school.

[Colleger]

I think there is social screening at these schools unless a child offers something exceptional. I never used to think this was the case but looking I'm now convinced. I would say that this is not the case with the London schools though.

[MGJO]

My question is to what degree there is a social screening element at either school? My perception is that Eton may have , and less so at westminster, and i'd really like to hear from those who have experience on this

[Michaelahpurple]

If Westminster won't take middle class "kids", who do you think they will take?

[MGJO]

OK, three more questions:
To get into eton, westminster, or st pauls, does it matter if your boy is non-religious?
Also, do these schools ask for references beyond the current school for the boy?
Finally, does class matter? Will Eton or Westminster take middle class kids (not scholarship, for normal entry?)?